Trish Regan Says Her Maternity Leave Was a ‘Mistake I Want to Make Sure Other Women Don’t Make’

What Trish Regan perceives as a mistake has become a teachable moment for fellow working moms.

The Fox Business Network anchor, 45, recently spoke to PEOPLE of her regrets about taking only six weeks of maternity leave after giving birth to twin girls Elizabeth and Alexandra, now 8. Even more shocking, Regan took only three weeks off of work after her second pregnancy with son Jamie, now 5.

“That was a mistake, in retrospect, it was a big mistake. I look back on it and for sure it was a mistake,” Regan recalls of her brief stints of maternity leave. “It’s a mistake that I really want to make sure other women don’t make.”

The mother of three, who was promoted to the primetime lineup in September, knows firsthand what it means to be “driven” in a workplace but she advises that time away from a newborn doesn’t always mean it’s time well spent.

“Make sure you take every bit of time because the reality is the job will always be here but that time with your child, you will never get back,” she says. “That’s important time for you as a mother. One of the things that is so important as a working parent is to remember: What are our priorities?”

RELATED: Women Who Delay Returning to Work Breast-Feed Longer

Regan adds, “The time they spend with their family is really important. I may have not made some of the decisions that I made [and] I can’t go back and change it but I can try to make it better for people I work with now.”

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

RELATED: Co-Workers Gifting New Moms PTO to Help Extend Short Maternity Leaves — and People Have Opinions

But Regan understands the feelings new parents have when away from work with a new baby. Whether it’s being worried about losing opportunities or not getting first dibs on projects or simply not wanting to be away from their job for a period of time, the star wants women to think about respecting their own needs.

“There’s a sense of guilt you feel because you want to be able to live up to your responsibilities and don’t want to lose opportunities as a woman but I probably should’ve taken a step back,” she says. “Even if I brought the baby with me, it might’ve made a whole lot more sense.”

RELATED: Gabrielle Union Says Working Moms Face Discrimination

“What I try to reinforce with young women and men is you need to give people who work with you that space and that support. In many ways, as challenging as that was, the big takeaway for me was exactly that.”

RELATED VIDEO: Lindsay Czarniak and Craig Melvin on Dealing With Mommy Guilt and Maternity/Paternity Leave

More than ever, she has put her kids first. In September, Fox Business Network announced a new primetime business lineup anchored by Regan at 8 p.m.

The move prompted her and her husband of 17 years James Ben to rearrange their family time and be more strategic with their schedules that once was framed around her 2 p.m. start time.

“We thought, ‘What can we do to make sure our children have as normal [of a life] as we can, despite the fact that Mommy is working every night?’ For us, that’s family breakfast. We used to do family dinner every night at 6:00 at the table. Now we have family breakfast,” she shares.

RELATED: Louise Roe’s Blog_ The Realities of Redefining “Maternity Leave” in 2018

Every household may be different and every working parent may have their own unique alternatives, but Regan emphasizes that new parents have the same right to put their needs first.

“You have to be a little bit selfish and you have to be willing to be a little bit selfish,” she says. “You can’t be too hard on yourself. You need to understand what’s important to you.”

Adds the mom of three, “You want to be in an environment that appreciates you and part of that is your family and your kids. If a company, manager or boss doesn’t understand or respect that, then you need to think long and hard [about] where you are.”

Trish Regan Primetime debuts on Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. EST on Fox Business Network.

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Health Benefits of Yoga – Health

Downward dog devotees swear that yoga helps them tone up and chill out—and certainly, the mind-body benefits of a regular practice have been well documented. But the ancient art of breathing paired with movement can also be a treatment for very specific health problems, both physical and emotional.

“Yoga enhances human health,” says Loren Fishman, M.D., a rehabilitation specialist and assistant clinical professor at Columbia University Medical Center, who studied yoga in India under world-famous yogi B.K.S. Iyengar and prescribes Iyengar yoga regularly to his patients. “Combinations and adaptations of poses bring different ways to confront different problems.”

Unlike medications or high-tech physical therapy, Dr. Fishman says, yoga is inexpensive and has few negative side effects. Plus, he adds, “yoga’s asana are memorable, can be practiced on your own, and are fulfilling in truly marvelous ways.” So in honor of Yoga Awareness Month, here are five common injuries, ailments, or chronic conditions for which a little “om” may help bring some relief.

 

Joint and muscle pain

Twice-weekly sessions of Iyengar yoga can help ease chronic lower back pain, according to a 2009 study from West Virginia University; study participants who did regular yoga also had less functional disability and fewer symptoms of depression than those who didn’t.

Fishman says the pain-relieving benefits of yoga extend beyond the back, as well. “A short sequence of asana can make the disability of rotator cuff disappear forever, retraining muscles of the shoulder,” he says. “Another can reverse osteoporosis, by stressing the osteocytes in bones.” A 2013 study, for example, found that yoga decreased pain and stiffness and improved quality of life in women with knee osteoarthritis.

RELATED: 15 Exercises for People in Pain

Insomnia (and fatigue)

Anyone who’s ever felt thoroughly relaxed after spending a few minutes in savasana won’t be surprised to know that yoga promotes peaceful slumber. But studies show that it can even help cure insomnia in cancer survivors and women going through menopause—two groups that often suffer from chronic sleep problems.

In fact, yoga can affect energy levels in both directions, says Dr. Fishman. “Forward bends really can increase a person’s calm, while back bends really can invigorate people,” he says. “When driving with fatigue at night, getting out of your car and doing a few back bends is as good as a cup of coffee.”

RELATED: Best and Worst Foods for Sleep

Heart rhythm disorder

Atrial fibrillation—a common condition in which the heart’s upper chambers don’t contract normally—can cause dizziness, shortness of breath, and palpitations, and can raise a person’s risk of heart failure. But practicing yoga at least twice a week appears to improve symptoms, according to a small 2013 study from the University of Kansas. The authors caution, however, that yoga should be added to an existing treatment plan, and should not replace a person’s current medication or other therapies.

Breast cancer recovery

Yoga can’t prevent or cure breast cancer, but research suggests that it can help patients manage the side effects of both the disease and its often difficult treatments, like radiation and chemotherapy. A recent study from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, for example, found that breast cancer patients who practiced up to three hours of yoga a week while undergoing radiation experienced less fatigue and a greater reduction in stress hormone levels than patients who practiced simple stretching or nothing at all.

Another study, from Ohio State University, likewise found that breast cancer survivors who took Hatha yoga classes twice a week had less fatigue and lower levels of inflammation than those who were placed on a waiting list. And in a 2009 Wake Forest University study, restorative yoga sessions helped breast cancer patients report a 50% reduction in feelings of depression and a 12% increase in feelings of peace.

High blood pressure

Doing yoga two to three times a week was associated with lower blood pressure in a 2013 University of Pennsylvania study—on average, participants’ levels dropped from 133/80 (considered prehypertension) to 130/70 over a six-month period.

Physical exercise in general has been shown to lower blood pressure, says Dr. Fishman, but he believes that yoga’s benefits also stem from its ability to relieve stress and boost mood. “I think the really critical healing function of yoga is uniting the physical, mental and also the spiritual elements,” he says. “One should feel each of those three aspects every time one does yoga, whether using it to heal or not.”

RELATED: 10 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure

Doctor’s orders

Yoga isn’t automatically a cure for everything, though. “There are paradoxical reactions in yoga just as there are with medications,” says Dr. Fishman. If you’re interested in using yoga in conjunction with a current treatment regimen, talk with your physician first. Then, he says, “find an instructor with the experience and the empathy for your individual situation, who can inspire creative remedies.” Finally, he adds, recognize that yoga, like many medical treatments, can take time to be effective. You may not feel better overnight, but eventually, your practice will pay off.

 

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Air Pollution May Cancel Out the Health Benefits of Walking

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

Simple though it may be, walking is one of the best things you can do for your body. Research has shown that it can extend your life and improve your heart health, along with a host of other health metrics.

A new study published in the Lancet, however, suggests that where you walk matters. Strolling along heavily polluted streets, researchers found, may actually cancel out many of the benefits associated with walking.

A team of researchers recruited 119 people over age 60. Of these, 40 were healthy; 40 had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease; and 39 had ischemic heart disease, which is caused by a narrowing of the arteries.

Some of the people were instructed to walk for two hours per day along London’s Oxford Street, a downtown thoroughfare heavily trafficked by buses and cars, while the others spent the same amount of time walking through a quiet part of the city’s Hyde Park. Three to eight weeks later, the groups swapped routes. After each outing, researchers measured pollutant concentrations in each environment, along with a number of health markers in the participants, including lung capacity, breathlessness, wheezing, coughing and arterial stiffness, which is related to high blood pressure.

After walking through Hyde Park, the healthy people saw big improvements in their lung capacity and arterial stiffness. But after walking along Oxford Street—and breathing in a number of airborne pollutants—people saw only modest improvements in lung capacity and a worsening of arterial stiffness, suggesting that the air quality nullified many of walking’s health benefits, according to the paper.

MORE: Here’s How Many People Die from Pollution Around the World

People with COPD and those with heart disease both experienced negligible improvements in lung capacity after walking in either location. However, people with COPD showed more respiratory issues—including coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath—after walking along Oxford Street, as well more arterial stiffness. People with heart disease also saw more severe arterial stiffness after walking through the urban environment, unless they were taking cardiovascular drugs, which appear to offer some protective benefits.

“You should avoid polluted areas for doing any form of exercise, specifically walking,” explains lead researcher Kian Fan Chung, a professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute. “In London, we have a lot of open spaces, green space, where the amount of pollution is going to be less than what it is outside the park. If that’s not available, people should probably exercise indoors.”

Without a sedentary control group, the researchers note, it’s not possible to say that walking was directly responsible for the physical changes observed in the study. But the results suggest that where you exercise matters, perhaps as much as the activity itself.

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Signs You Need a New Gym

Breaking up with your pedicurist, tailor, and electrician? Easy. Breaking up with a best friend, boyfriend, or girlfriend? Way less easy.

But another tie that can be hard to cut—and hard to know when to cut? Your ties to your gym.

Between fitness plateaus, lack of cleanliness, and a way-too-long commute, there are tons of signs it’s time to dump your gym—whether it’s a boutique studio or big box fitness facility. Below, nine reasons to join a different gym, according to experts.

RELATED: 10 Mistakes That Will Make Everyone Hate You at the Gym

The broken equipment isn’t getting fixed

If you lived in an apartment with broken appliances that the landlord never got around to fixing, chances are you’d either take legal action or find a new place to live when your lease was up. Similarly, when equipment breaks, a well-run gym will take the necessary measures to get it fixed—and quickly, especially in the age of overnight shipping and TaskRabbit. If it’s taking weeks for broken equipment to get fixed, it’s reflective of a gym that either doesn’t have the funds or is apathetic about the conditions of the space. Either way, it’s a sign your gym deserves dumping.

It takes you longer than 30 minutes to get there

How often have you wished that there were more than 24 hours in a day? Exactly. Rhetorical question. Spending a long time commuting to the gym is an automatic reason to switch up your sweat session. For some people—depending on where you live—even 20 to 30 minutes may be too far. In cities, for example, it’s wise to pick a gym that’s within 15 minutes walking or subway distance. More than that, and it’ll be easy to find an excuse when it’s cold, dark, or late. If the gym is close, you’ll have one less excuse for subbing the barbell (or bootcamp) for Buffy reruns.

The fitness classes offered just aren’t doing it for you

Maybe when you joined the gym you liked the class schedule and instructors. But somewhere along the way your fave instructor found a new job and the Pilates class you like was swapped with Zumba or a HIIT class you can’t get into (so. many. burpees!). Use this as an opportunity to scope out other gyms’ class offerings. While you’re there, pay attention to the type and timing of the classes to know if they’ll make things more exciting for you.

RELATED: 9 Thoughts Everyone Has the First Time They Try a Fitness Class

You’re overpaying

A recent survey from supplement and fitness company Myprotein found that Americans spend an average of around $34,000 on gym memberships, personal trainers, or workout plans over their lifetimes. “One sign that should make you consider breaking up with your gym is when you start to balance your checkbook in order to afford it,” says iFit trainer Becca Capell. While the financial tipping point will be different for everyone, there are a number of affordable alternatives that fitness enthusiasts can use for the sake of their bank accounts. Capell recommends getting a treadmill or rower and a set of weights to build an at-home gym. There are also countless free fitness apps that are both challenging and accessible for every level.

The space is dirty

Gyms are filled with sweaty people. Some gyms cultivate a community where everyone wipes down their equipment after use. Some gyms don’t. But beyond just treadmill and kettlebell handles, there are tons of places in a gym that need to be cleaned. If there are hairballs in the corners, grime on the showers and sinks, dust on less popular equipment, and holes in mats or carpeting, it’s a dirty gym. Considering that you can pick up infections at a dirty gym, this should be an automatic out.

There’s zero community

Forming a #fitfam may be more important to some people—CrossFit athletes and yogis, for example—than others. But if you haven’t made acquaintances within the first few months, it’s worth considering a swap, says certified strength and conditioning specialist Alena Luciani, founder of Training2xl. “I work at a place where everyone knows your name. But even if your gym isn’t that friendly, usually within three or four months, little communities are automatically formed by people who show up to sweat at the same time.”

You’ll have to ask yourself if community is important to you personally, but a gym friend group can add an element of accountability and comfort. “At the very least, you don’t want to go to a gym with a bunch of dudes who annoy you,” Luciani jokes.

RELATED: My CrossFit Transformation Was Much More Drastic Than I Expected–But Not for the Reason You’d Think

The overall vibe isn’t encouraging

“There’s definitely a vibe when you walk into a gym. If you walk in and the vibe makes you feel self-conscious or generally discouraged, switch gyms,” says Luciani. It’s a huge warning sign if the instructors and staff aren’t friendly and if the clientele put out a negative or overly competitive vibe. “You’ll be able to feel whether or not the gym’s energy works for you within one or two visits. Pay attention to it.” 

It’s worth taking inventory of the vibe every few months, she adds. “A gym’s vibe can change if there’s been an influx of new clientele, a change in management, or if your needs change, so keep checking in.”

The gym uses high-pressure sales tactics

You know this game when you see it: You feel like you can’t do a single bicep curl without a personal trainer trying to convince you to invest in some one-on-one training. “You don’t want to go to a gym where you feel like every time you walk in the door the trainers are trying to measure your BMI, talk to you about weight loss, or push their training on you,” says Luciani. For one, it’s annoying. But for another, it can create a body-negative, unsupportive environment. And if you don’t feel supported, you’re more likely to skip your workout.

You’ve plateaued

If you’re a member of a gym or a boutique studio that only offers one type of workout and you’ve plateaued, you may actually need to switch up your fitness routine. “Ask yourself, ‘Are these classes getting progressively more challenging? Am I getting stronger or better?’” says Luciani. If the answer is no, you might be doing yourself a disservice. “Your body will adapt to the fitness routine that you’re doing. You don’t want your body to get too efficient. If you adapt, you plateau,” she says. The solution: Add something new to your routine at a new gym–or at least do something different a few days a week like getting outside, going on a run, or trying yoga, she says.

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Manduka GRP Yoga Mat Review

Hot yoga fans know the struggle: you’re in the zone, holding an impeccable downward dog position, and suddenly, you’re slipping out of the pose—fast—thanks to sweaty palms and feet. Help!

While yoga mat towels that provide a barrier between your perspiring bod and the slippery mat can improve the sticky situation, there’s now an even better solution: Manduka’s brand-new GRP mat ($98; manduka.com, dickssportinggoods.com, rei.com), which is designed to absorb moisture and nix odors on even the sweatiest mats. 

According to Manduka, the mat’s innermost rubber layer is infused with charcoal, which helps filter out moisture and eliminate smells. The anti-slip surface also increases traction so you’re less likely to slide out of poses while you sweat it out in the studio.

You don’t have to be into hot yoga to use the GRP mat, either. The brand tells us that their newest product is appropriate for all types of sweat conditions, so you can use it for an unheated restorative class or a full-fledged Bikram practice. It all works.

RELATED: 3 Basic Yoga Poses You’ve Been Doing Wrong—and How to Fix Your Form

To buy: $98; manduka.com, dickssportinggoods.com, rei.com

If you’re thinking the GRP sounds too good to be true, I get it. I, too, was skeptical when I first heard about the product. But after taking a hot vinyasa/HIIT combo class hosted by Manduka last week, I can confidently say I’m convinced of the new mat’s mega powers.

Though I wasn’t drenched during the class—and thus can’t speak to its ultimate absorption abilities—I was more than a little taken with its undeniable quality. At 6mm thick, the mat felt sturdier than any other I’ve practiced on. With a bottom layer that basically suctioned itself to the studio floor, it didn’t budge, even as I burpeed my way through the HIIT portion of the class. The GRP’s subtly bumpy top layer also cushioned my hands and provided just enough grip to keep them supported and slip-free through my hot vinyasa flow. Translation: I was a big fan.

So, there you have it. My honest endorsement of Manduka’s newest creation. Yes, it’s pricier than your run of the mill mat, but I also think it’s worth the money. Plus, once you’ve worked out on the GRP, chances are you’ll never forget it at home…and inevitably have to pay the $5 mat rental fee at your fave studio. Just saying.

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How Exercise Makes You Look Younger

Age in reverse

The powers of a steady fitness routine are impressive: regular exercise can help you build stronger muscles, stave off chronic illnesses, and make your clothes fit a whole lot better. But there’s another benefit of physical activity that deserves a shout-out: the way even moderate amounts seem to shave years off your age, no matter how many birthdays you’ve actually celebrated. Of course, you can’t change your chronological age, but exercise can improve your health to the point where you look and feel younger than you are, says Frank Frisch, PhD, director of kinesiology at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. Behold the 15 physical and mental effects a sweat session can have on your brain and body. Just reading this list will motivate you to never blow off a gym session again.

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Anna Victoria Shares Her 10-Year Fitness and Healthy Eating Transformation

You might know Anna Victoria for her killer Fit Body Guide workouts, pretty smoothie bowls, and candidness about her stomach rolls and posed fitness photos. That’s why it makes it hard to believe that the Instagram fitness sensation used to cringe at the people who spent hours meal planning and working out.

“Growing up in a small town in Southern California, I thought that people who worked out a lot and ate healthily were just really into themselves and cared about what they looked like,” she recently said in a YouTube video on her channel. While Victoria admits her generalization wasn’t fair, at the time, she thought healthy living seem unnecessary and pretentious. “While I definitely wished for a flat tummy…I never cared enough to do something about it,” she said.

Victoria continued the video by walking through her fitness journey, starting with her childhood. “I did not grow up with the least amount of knowledge about healthy eating or working out—and to be honest, I really didn’t care,” she said, adding that she also loved fast food, which contributed to an unhealthy lifestyle.

“I was eating microwavable food, fast food, packaged and processed food—that made up 100 percent of my diet from when I was 12 up until I was in college,” she said.

Eventually, that led to a series of health problems. “I had a lot of digestive issues…a lot of GI issues,” she said. “[But] I wasn’t putting two and two together.”

At the beginning of her senior year of college, Victoria even found herself in the emergency room with excruciating stomach pain. The doctors just gave her some medicine and sent her home. Victoria went back to her poor eating habits and continued living her life the same way. Looking back, she realizes the issues were all a result of her poor diet. (Related: How Anna Victoria Learned to Become a Runner)

Then she met Luca—now her husband. “He’s Italian and they eat really really fresh, whole, natural foods—and they’re very balanced,” she said. “When he came into my life and started noticing how I was eating, he’d tell me stuff like, ‘Anna, you can’t keep eating Goldfish crackers for dinner.'”

At first she was hesitant to heed his advice, but eventually, as she started trying different foods, she realized how much eating affected her body. “[Before], I had no energy levels, I had poor sleep quality, and that was all coming from what I was eating and my activity level,” she said.

In 2012, Victoria decided it was time to make some significant changes in her life. She had just moved to China to study abroad and found time to research about health and fitness. She also started her first fitness Instagram account, where she shared inspirational quotes and transformation pictures to hold herself accountable. “I pretty much threw myself into my fitness journey,” she said. (Related: This 15-Minute Metabolic Workout from Anna Victoria Will Work Your Entire Body)

Victoria started gaining followers who began motivating her to continue finding a healthy lifestyle that worked for her. But that didn’t mean it was always easy. “My biggest struggles were always mental,” she said. “I had a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that I needed to hone in on my calories and macros. There came a point where I plateaued and wasn’t seeing results. I really had to swallow my pride a little bit and look into what macros were all about.”

For example, Victoria realized that her fat intake was too high and her carb intake was too low, she shared. “Once I addressed that, I saw my body go to another level,” she said.

She also had to find a balance between lifting and cross-training to help reach an optimal fitness level. (Related: Anna Victoria Wants You to Know That Lifting Weights Doesn’t Make You Less Feminine)

Overall, Victoria hopes that by sharing how much her mindset changed and all the ups and downs she had, that people will realize that no fitness journey is linear. “I wish I knew that I didn’t need to be perfect and that I just needed to focus on my progress,” she said. (Related: Anna Victoria Has a Message for Anyone Who Says They “Prefer” Her Body to Look a Certain Way)

She ended her video by reminding viewers not to compare themselves to others and to focus on their own journeys. “Everyone’s journeys are going to look different, everyone’s bodies are going to look different,” she said. “So don’t let that get you down.”

Watch her entire video below to learn more about how Anna transformed her life both mentally and physically to get to where she is today.

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Mom Shares How She Knew to Challenge Doctor’s Diagnosis After 3-Year-Old Is Partially Paralyzed From Polio-Like Illness

Cami Abernathy, of Cartersville, Georgia, says she never expected that her son’s common cold symptoms would mark the start of an ordeal that would change the family forever.

It was nearing the end of August when 3-year-old Carter Abernathy had a running nose and cough for about a week. When Carter developed a fever, Cami took the boy to a hospital where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Just one day later, his health took a turn for the worst.

RELATED: Flea-Borne Typhus Cases Are Rising in Los Angeles. Here’s What You Need to Know

“His arm just quit working. He went to use the restroom and when he went to pull his underwear back up, his arm would not work,” Cami, 30, tells PEOPLE. “He couldn’t grasp his underwear to pull it up.”

She and her husband, 30-year-old Rhyne Abernathy, took Carter to a local emergency room where doctors “dismissed” the ailment as nursemaid’s elbow, a common condition in which a child’s arm is pulled and partially dislocates.

However, when Carter was still unable to move his arm after treatment, the family took him to Children’s Hospital of Atlanta where he was again diagnosed with the common dislocation.

“At first we thought he had a stroke,” Cami tells PEOPLE of herself, her husband and her mother. “We felt like something was wrong from the beginning. We knew deep down that it was more than nursemaid’s elbow.”

RELATED: Six Minnesota Children Under 10 Have Contracted a Rare ‘Polio-Like’ Illness

So, she and her mother did some research on the Internet, where they learned about acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a rare, polio-like condition that affect’s a person’s nervous system and causes weakness in the arms or legs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Her suspicions were correct and a doctor diagnosed Carter with AFM in early September.

“We were devastated,” Cami says of the moments she and her family got the diagnosis, noting that Carter had been hospitalized for at least five days before doctors determined he has the illness. “We were worried and scared.”

Less than one in a million people are diagnosed with AFM in the United States each year, according to the CDC. From August 2014 through August 2018, a total of 362 cases of AFM from across the U.S. have been identified by the CDC. In rare cases, AFM can result in death.

“He was very depressed in the hospital. He couldn’t leave the room because of the virus he had because it was contagious. So he spent six days in the hospital room. Then the last day we were there, he was able to get around and go outside.”

Doctors reassured the concerned parents that Carter would be okay. He has since undergone physical therapy to regain the use of his left arm and to remedy the weakness in his legs. Although his health has improved in the last month, Cami says she is unsure of Carter’s future.

“It’s changed our lives. We’ve had to learn how to make life easier for Carter with only one arm that has full movement,” she tells PEOPLE, adding that Carter has “adapted very well.” “Right now we’re kind of lost because we don’t know if [his arm] will get better or if the progress we have seen is all we’ll see.”

Despite the struggle, Cami says Carter has managed to maintain a positive attitude during the ordeal.

“He is outgoing. He’s full of personality. He’s funny,” she tells PEOPLE. “He is wide open from the moment he gets up to the moment he gets to sleep at night. He is back to his old self for sure.”

The mysterious illness has been making headlines recently, as cases of the condition have appeared to skyrocket in recent weeks. In Minnesota alone, six children have been diagnosed since mid-September. The average for the state is less than one case a year.

Majority of those affected are children under the age of 10, and there is no clear cause behind its spread since 2014, the CDC reported. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, symptoms include sudden muscle weakness in the arms or legs, sometimes following a respiratory illness, neck weakness or stiffness, drooping eyelids or a facial droop, and difficulty swallowing or slurred speech.

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