‘American Idol’ 2019 winner Laine Hardy diagnosed with virus

This summer, Manitobans aren’t just sweating under the August sun — we’re coughing, wheezing and blinking through a haze so thick you could mistake Portage Avenue for a foggy morning in San Francisco.

Recent air-quality readings put Winnipeg at the worst in Canada, with PM2.5 levels soaring well past the “very unhealthy” threshold. Health experts aren’t mincing words: prolonged exposure to this kind of pollution can increase risks of heart attacks, worsen asthma and even impact brain function and mental health. It’s not just your lungs feeling the burn, it’s your energy, recovery and overall resilience.

And while the headlines are everywhere, the lesson isn’t: you can’t out-train bad air. The basics of health — movement, nutrition, recovery — don’t change, but how you approach them needs to adjust when the environment throws you a curveball.

Here’s how to stay fit despite the forest-fire smoke.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My wife believes in magic potions, which used to make me laugh. But since Halloween season started this year, she’s been acting in a way that frightens me. She seems to think she’s a modern-day “witch.” Give me a break!

Now she has three friends who think they are really casting spells when they get together! And this year on Halloween night she’s being formally accepted into their little witchy group meeting at one of their homes, and is getting a new sorceress name. It’s creepy! How do I cope? I’ve had enough of this.

— Seriously Upset, South St. Vital

Dear Upset: Don’t buy into the hocus pocus by being afraid of it and expressing any trepidation to your wife. She needs you to be strong, so she knows she has a solid anchor and can drop out of this witchy group if it becomes too scary or silly for her.