Laurice Dee PhD's Health & Well Being Workout RoutineSummer 2009 Hi everyone! My name is Laurice, and I am a friend of Junette’s. She has asked me to share about myself, as well as how I have been able to maintain my health and well-being throughout the years. (Stressful years, of course!) And I am most happy to do so! I am a firm believer in maintaining overall fitness, and this is even more crucial as we get older, as in my case. I will always be very grateful that I have been able to stay fit through my daily workouts at the club, as well as through my regular hikes. I started swimming when I was around 5 years old and swam on various teams throughout grade school, high school, and college. Even though I do not compete like I used to, lap swimming continues to be a part of my daily routine. I’d hit the pool for an hour or more of continuous lap swimming. Even though I do not count the number of laps I swim, I’d do the freestyle during the first half of my workout and then use my pull buoy and paddles to work on my upper body while doing the freestyle. I’d do this during the remainder of my workout.
I am so used to working out every day that I do not even know what I would do without my workouts! The most difficult part of the day for me is getting up to face the day. But once I hit the club and get in my swim workout, I am all ready to start off the day! I find this to be extremely helpful in keeping my allergic symptoms under control, as well as maintaining my emotions. I believe that certain hormones come to play during exercise that help keep emotions, as well as allergy-related symptoms, in check. I always appreciate the positive feelings I’d experience every time I get in my workout. It is always nice to leave the club with an euphoric feeling after having a great workout!
Maintaining overall fitness is something that one cannot do by himself or herself. I, for one, consult with a holistic health provider on health-related issues and receive assistance on the problem areas via applied kinesiology, spinal manipulation, pranic healing, and supplements. After working with Mark Force, DC (Elements of Health) for many years, I am now working with Donald Baker, DC (House of Natural Medicine). Both doctors incorporate applied kinesiology and various naturopathic means in their practices. Having covered quite a bit about my fitness, I would like to share a bit about my professional background. When I was at the University of Arizona for my undergraduate studies, I decided that I would teach math at a deaf school. Since I am profoundly deaf myself, I thought I’d work well with the deaf students. However, it was not the case since I am an oralist and these students used mostly American Sign Language to communicate. Besides, I realized that teaching was not my cup of tea. Fortunately, I had another interest in the wings, namely Kinesiology (Biomechanics). I jumped right into the Masters program in Sports Biomechanics at Purdue University after graduating from the University of Arizona. After completing my Masters thesis, giving an oral presentation, and receiving my Masters degree, I began my 5-year doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, specializing in the fields of Kinesiology and Human Factors Engineering. I spent a considerable amount of my time as a Ph.D. student doing research, performing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, writing up papers, and giving slide and poster presentations at scientific meetings. After completing my dissertation and giving my poster presentation on the results of my dissertation experiment at the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) conference at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), I worked on one research project before I was hired to work for an aerospace company in Arizona. After getting laid off a couple of times due to downsizing, dealing with lack of funding for my research projects, and trying my hand on various tasks relating to ergonomics, I learned that the market was not quite viable for employment in specialized fields like mine. I realized that it was time for me to try different things and see if I could make a career out of something quite interesting. Let me back up just a little bit on one thing. I started my flight training for my private pilot’s license shortly before my first layoff. Because my dad was a WWII pilot for the Army Corps and had been an influence to my interest in aviation, flying was something that I had always wanted to do. My being laid off did not stop me from continuing with my training. Since I was in a ‘career transition’, I figured that I would pursue my training for my instrument, commercial, and ATP tickets and then train to fly for the airlines. I was discouraged from doing so because of my profound deafness that would not allow me to use the radios to communicate with the air traffic controllers. This was definitely a big blow to me, since flying for the airlines would make for a very nice career. While I was between jobs, I developed a very deep interest in robotic solar system exploration. After learning about the different missions that explored our celestial neighborhood, I became one of the Solar System Ambassadors (SSA) doing public outreach here in Arizona for Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA. While sharing the excitement of various missions that explored the Sun, planets, asteroids, and comets through my slide / poster presentations and written articles, I began to realize NASA’s goal of sending humans to our Moon and Mars for exploration and potential residence. Besides having deep reservations about humans working and living outside of Earth, I realized that our very own planet truly needed attention, especially with so much strife occurring everywhere. While signing online petitions concerning wildlife and the environment, I came across a petition that truly had a profound effect on me. A graphic photo of dolphins being killed in a bloodbath off the coast of Japan truly got to me. I decided right there that I would speak up on their behalf! After firing a series of e-mails and letters to the United States and Japanese governments, I caught up with a bit of research so that I could learn more about the dolphins and other small cetaceans (porpoises and small whales), as well as large cetaceans (large whales). I stumbled across a cetacean news website tursiops.org while learning about Castaway, an offshore Atlantic bottle-nose dolphin that was rescued in November of 2006. While becoming involved with tursiops.org as a volunteer news contributor, I developed a much greater awareness of the plight of cetaceans and their habitats through the forums. I learned that their greatest threat lies with humans and their destructive activities. I realized that this is one example of our planet Earth needing our help. From there on, I have been advocating on behalf of all cetaceans, other marine wildlife, and their watery environments through my spoken and written words. Besides my involvement with tursiops.org, I’ve participated in other forums and websites that devote to the conservation of our oceans and marine wildlife. Even though my interest in space exploration has shifted somewhat, I continue my volunteer work as a SSA, specializing in robotic (unmanned) solar system exploration. I continue to submit my write-ups to a few astronomy newsletters. While keeping up with my physical fitness through regular workouts and maintaining my
deviantART site
, my involvement with robotic solar system exploration and the welfare of cetaceans could not have been more rewarding, especially when dealing with the stress of determining a career!
While deciding on a profession, I would like to give profound thanks to Junette for allowing me to share about myself and my interests / experiences and be a vital part of her wonderful website! I highly recommend this website for everyone, since it contains interesting and insightful information on various health-related issues. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to Contact me!
Here is a Health care article that stresses personal responsibility and the Healthcare Debate.
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Besides my daily swim workouts, I’d hit the Wind Cave trail (at Usery Pass Mountain) a few times a week during the evening hours. I’d hike the steep trail all the way up to the cave which is about 1.6 miles from the trailhead with an ascent of about 800 feet. After spending the time with my special prayer rock and enjoying the view of the valley from the cave, I’d hike back down the same trail.
Since my future is quite uncertain due to lack of profession, my swim workouts and hiking have been an integral part of my life. I will continue to keep up with them even after establishing my professional career. Since stress never ceases to get to me, maintaining my physical fitness is even more important. And I should mention that healthy eating is very much part of the stress management as maintaining physical fitness. I have my own little motto: “How you feel is determined by what you eat.” What you eat would make all the difference to how you feel and how much energy / strength that you’d have for your workouts and daily tasks. 
