University Wellness Program

• Safe Stretching
• Sleep well, live well
• Positive Thinking
• Plants are great both indoors and out
• Time to Learn
• Save Money and the Environment
• Boosting Your Emotional Wellness
• Composting is Recycling
• Rechargeable Batteries
• Cholesterol and Your Health
• Maximize Your World Experience
• Food Journal to Success
• Preserve or Even Enhance Your Memory As You Age

Safe Stretching

Always warm up before stretching to prevent injury and maximize the benefits of your workout.
A warm up would consist of low-impact aerobic activity for 10-15 mins.
Examples would include: eliptical machines, stationary bikes, light, slow jog.

We know time is always an issue during busy days. Therefore, it would be appropriate to only stretch after your workout if it is a low impact, moderate intensity aerobic workout. If you have any muscular concerns or injuries visit the Athletic Trainers in the RAC. 
To learn more about stretching, seek the expertise of one of CRI's Personal Trainers.

Sleep well, live well

• The average adult needs about 7-8 hours of sleep each day. The amount of sleep each person gets each day impacts his/her mood, energy, cognitive functioning, health, hormone production and interaction, how our body repairs and regenerates itself for the following day, and fights infections, just to name a few. Research suggests that people who sleep less are more likely to develop diabetes, to be overweight or obese, and to prefer eating foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates.

  Strategies for enhancing the quality of your sleep include:

  -develop a regular sleep schedule (bed & wake time, even on weekends)
  -relax and wind down at least an hour before bed (no television), read, listen to relaxing music, day dream
  -eat any main meals several hours before your scheduled bedtime
  -limit your intake of alcoholic beverages, caffeine, caffeinated beverages, chocolate, etc.
  -exercise 5-6 hours before bedtime to allow your body to wind down
  -ensure your bedroom is relaxing, free of electronic devices, bright lights and loud noises
  -if you cannot sleep after 20 minutes, get up and read or do something relaxing until sleepy

Positive Thinking .

• Is your glass half-empty or half-full is a well-worn phrase that reflects our outlook on life.
  Which are you?

  Our outlook on life greatly impacts our health and well-being. Positive thinking has been shown to increase a person's resistance to diseases, reduce common physical health risk factors, reduce stress, enhance coping skills, and improve relationships to name just a few!

  Some strategies to use at work to enable you to remain positive include:

  • view new or difficult tasks as opportunities to learn, improve and/or collaborate with others
  • when time is an issue, use this as an opportunity to prioritize tasks and/or seek new more efficient strategies to complete a task or project
  • when something doesn't work out as well as you hoped, reflect upon it seeking strategies to improve, or use it as an opportunity to interact and learn with a colleague
  • view change as a fresh start or new opportunity/possibility
  • be open to options in completing set tasks
  • where possible and appropriate, seek to complete tasks and meet challenges that satisfy the needs of all involved
  • use words/phrases such as "maybe", "what if?", "perhaps we could", etc.

  Remember, keep filling your glass and that "tomorrow is always fresh and free of mistakes." Anne of Green Gables

What plants can do both indoors and out!

• Indoors, plants can rid the air of the organic chemicals and toxins that cause asthma and other ailments, while reducing stress and improving our mental well-being (and we ALL need that!). Two common and easy to maintain plants that are good for this are the rubber plant and snake plant.

  Outdoors, we can save a lot of water if we design our landscapes wisely. First, limit our grassy areas. Second, select native trees, shrubs and flowers which have adapted to the local climatic conditions and will require less maintenance and water. This will leave you with more time to enjoy the outdoors. Third, when watering, use the following strategies: a) a hand held hose applied directly to the roots; b) use the trickle/drip method to avoid/limit runoff; c) water this way heavily twice a week to establish a strong root base; d) ensure root base of plants are heavily mulched to avoid moisture loss. Using these strategies can save in excess of 40% of our typical water usage.

  Enjoy the outdoors and be well.

Time to Learn!

• Summer can be a great time to learn something new, individually or with a friend or family member. The benefits can be tremendous and wide-ranging depending upon the courses or programs in which you choose to participate. For example, learning about financial planning can help someone plan for college or a dream vacation, while learning more about nutrition can help your entire family improve their eating habits! Other benefits include: developing new skills, talents and friendships; learning more about your friends and family members; realizing what you have learned; identifying what you need to learn; taking risks; stimulating the brain and body; learning more about yourself; and/or becoming excited about a new phase of your career. So take time this summer to explore a learning opportunity that is right for you!

   

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience,” – Henry Miller
Leap and be well.

Save Money and the Environment!

What are strategies to decrease your fossil fuel consumption? First, decrease the use of your vehicle(s). Whenever possible, walk or cycle. Plan all of your trips in vehicles. Car pool with co-workers, neighbors, friends and family members to travel to work, go shopping or attend social events. Plan all of your trips in your vehicles to ensure you travel the least distance and complete the most tasks. For example, visit a friend, the bakery, grocery store and video store all in one trip without ever back tracking. Second, maintain your vehicle via regular service schedule. A well maintained vehicle runs more efficiently and will consume less fuel. Check your tires to ensure they are all inflated to the appropriate pressure. Third, drive economically (more smoothly). Accelerate gently from stop lights and signs, anticipate upcoming traffic conditions and decelerate once you see a red light, stop sign or intersection. On the relatively flat roads we have in our area, use your cruise control to drive more consistently. Drive at an economical speed, typically under 60 miles an hour. Finally, remove any unnecessary weight from your vehicle to decrease the work load on your engine. Also bike racks, open sun roofs and windows all will impact the aerodynamics of your vehicle and add to the fuel consumption of your vehicle.

Drive wisely and be well!

Boosting your emotional wellness

We all need to get a boost from time to time. Keeping our focus positive and energies high takes some care and effort. Utilize these strategies to enhance your emotional wellness.

• Exercise – it relaxes, relieves stress, improves mood and improves body function.
• Journal – list your thoughts and feelings on paper. Ensure you balance positive and negative thoughts.
• Seek new experiences - move out of your comfort zone and explore your new capabilities and the new you!
• Plan for the future – establish a savings plan and stick to it, schedule a holiday, set goals, identify a career path so that you have a definite life path in mind.
• Enjoy solitude – take time to be by yourself to relax and reflect on your day, meditate or just escape from the world for a few minutes.
• Have fun – “…dance like nobody is watching..” be silly, laugh, and enjoy all the special  moments we are lucky enough to have each day!!
• Identify a passion – make a list of issues important to you (e.g. environment, hunger, etc.) and identify ways in which you can contribute positively to these causes.
• Spend time with friends/colleagues – join groups and organizations from work and within your community to meet people from differing backgrounds and interests.

Be positive and be well

Composting and Recylcling

Organic wastes including yard and kitchen waste represent about 36% of the waste stream. Composting is a great way to: reduce the waste stream; save money; enhance your garden; grow your own vegetables; save water; and help the environment. Items that you can compost include grass clippings, leaves, shrub prunings (chopped), flowers, weeds, sawdust, hair, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, and small amounts of uncoated paper.

To learn the specifics about composting in Georgia go here

This pamphlet provides specific details on the entire process. We also have them available at the Wellness Center.

Enjoy your gardening and be well.

Rechargeable Batteries

On average, each person will throw away more than eight sets of batteries this year. That’s a lot of money and a lot of waste. Typically it costs approximately $40 for a charger and a set of rechargeable batteries but you can get up to 1,000 charges saving you about $80 over the year.

There are three types of rechargeable batteries:

• nickel cadmium battery (NiCd) - long life but lower voltage potential than its competitors.
• nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) has higher voltage that the NiCd, but requires more charges.
• lithium-ion considered the best type of battery being more expensive than other rechargeable batteries, storing more energy and lasting longer between charges. They’re better for the environment because they don’t contain harmful toxins and being a natural metal, it is available in great quantities.

When taken to landfills, most batteries (including rechargeable) can release harmful metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium into the environment. The good news is rechargeable batteries are surprisingly easy to recycle and, because batteries can be recharged and reused numerous times, they contribute less waste to landfills. After numerous charges, even rechargeable batteries eventually expire. Recycling can prevent toxins from entering the environment. In Statesboro, all of the cell phone stores, Walmart, Radioshack, Office Max, Keep Bulloch Beautiful, and Country General Store recycle batteries. To find a site to recycle your household batteries near you, visit the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/dropoff/index.php.
Recharge away and be well.

 

Cholesterol and Your Health

Cholesterol is used build and maintain cell membranes, metabolize and synthesize various vitamins and hormones, and serves many other bodily functions. Your liver and other cells in your body make about 75 percent of blood cholesterol. The other 25 percent comes from the foods you eat. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) along with triglycerides and Lp(a) cholesterol, make up your total cholesterol count.

LDL transports and helps synthesize cholesterol and triglycerides from the liver to different parts of the body. Genetics, eating saturated fat, trans fats and dietary cholesterol can impact your LDL levels.  The lower your LDL levels the less risk you are for heart attacks and stroke. The optimal level for LDL cholesterol is less than 100 mg/dL, with levels under 130 mg/dL deemed low risk.

HDL carries fatty tissue and cholesterol from the body to the liver. Research suggests that levels less than 40 mg/dL for men, less than 50 mg/dL for women puts you at a high risk for heart disease and memory loss/dementia. It is recommended that your HDL cholesterol levels should be 60 mg/dL or higher to decrease the chances of heart disease.

Triglyceride is a form of fat. Many people have high triglyceride levels due to being overweight/obese, physical inactivity, cigarette smoking, excess alcohol consumption and/or a diet very high in carbohydrates (60 percent of more of calories). You want your triglyceride level to be less than 150 mg/dL.

Your Total Blood (Serum) Cholesterol Levels:

• Desirable – Less than 200 mg/dL
• Borderline-High Risk - 200–239 mg/dL
• High Risk - 240 mg/dL

High cholesterol is one of the major controllable risk factors for coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends that everyone aged 20 and older should have a fasting "lipoprotein profile" every five years. This test is done after a nine- to 12-hour fast without food, liquids or pills.

Source: American Heart Association

Eat wisely, exercise and be well.

Maximize Your World Experience.

Get the most pleasure out of the little things in life by keeping your senses (and therefore your brain) sharp. Our senses are our way of interacting with and interpreting the world. Most of us tend to rely more heavily upon our sense of sight. Yet there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that our other senses would be well developed if we paid more attention to them. The more developed our senses the more we can maximize our world experience.

Sight: Ensure we wear sunglasses that provide 100% UV protection. Seek fresh stimuli, take time to notice the things around you, and periodically rearrange the layout of your work area and/or home. Exercise and stretch regularly and take time to meditate to relieve tension and stress.
Smell: Pay attention to the smells around you… there are always smells! Smells: add clarity to the taste of food; can enhance the atmosphere at a gathering; and can attract you to another person. Enjoy different smells each day (plants, flowers, incense, oils, etc.) to sharpen and develop this sense.
Taste: You can perceive only sour, bitter, sweet, salty, and umami. Add the sense of smell and a plethora of flavors come to life. To maximize your sense of taste, limit your intake of saturated fat, salt, processed sugars and sauces as these tend to desensitize your 10,000+ taste buds. Instead, eat fresh foods and use natural herbs and spices to add variety to your meals. Eat your meal slowly, paying attention to both the flavor and texture of the foods you are eating. Your meal should be an experience to be savored!
Sound: Avoid loud noises and wear ear plugs when necessary. Listen to a variety of sounds from the natural world to man-made. Enjoy an assortment of music genres, keeping the volume on your personal music devices turned down low.
Touch: Rubbing lotion on your body will help keep your nerve endings more sensitive. Massages, swimming, experiencing the different textures of objects, remaining active throughout your life, doing combinations of both fine and gross motor movements (especially to music) will all enhance your sense of touch. Pets, friends and loved ones will always appreciate a friendly touch from a pat to a hug, to even a good old foot rub!

Enjoy maximizing your world experience and be well.

Food Journal to Success!

So you want to improve your eating habits, the way you feel, function and look? What do you REALLY eat each day? We often ignore the specifics or selectively forget about the ‘extras’ that are included in our meals….. and then there are the snacks in between our main meals! All of these calories add up! When you eat your food, and in what combinations you eat these foods, will all impact how your body functions chemically and ultimately determine how you will feel and how you will function throughout the day.

The body of research continues to build, most recently in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine 35,2, of the greater success for those people who keep food logs or journals. In this latest study of over 1,600 overweight or obese adults, over a six month period, a multi-strategy weight loss program was utilized. Study participants were encouraged to utilize such strategies as calorie restriction, regular moderate-intensity exercise, weekly group sessions, and to keep a detailed food journal. Those that kept a detailed food journal and utilized it to identify eating habits which needed to be modified lost twice as much weight as those in the study that didn’t keep a food log.

Food for thought? Be Well!

Preserve or Even Enhance Your Memory As You Age ?

Memory loss and cognitive decline as you age were once thought to be inevitable. However a growing amount of evidence suggests that our lifestyle and environment play a major role in the speed and amount of decline. In fact, the brain can create new neurons and new connections between these neurons. It appears that the key to prevention is ACTIVITY. You need to be active across all aspects of life, throughout your life.

Examples of activities that could contribute to your cognitive functioning include: reading; playing a musical instrument; being involved in a regular hobby; creating arts and crafts; doing activities that challenge you cognitively such as board games and puzzles; physical work outs; dancing; walking; volunteering in the community; being involved with community organizations; gardening; living in an enriching and stimulating environment; and continuing to learn. Of course, a well balanced diet is very important to maintain maximal brain function.

Be active and be well!