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Mind & Body Health
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Article Content
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| Tips for a Healthy Brain |
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As we age, we need to think about keeping our brains in shape, too. Follow these tips to help keep your brain—and your body—vibrant and healthy throughout your life. What to do:
Exercise your body regularly, and get involved in fun, physically active leisure pursuits.
Stay socially engaged with friends, family and your community.
Eat a balanced diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids (see recipe below)
Keep your mind exercised! Engage in active learning and pursue new experiences.
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Maintain a positive attitude and a sense of control over your life.
Take steps to manage stress at work and at home.
Mind your numbers: lose extra pounds, lower high cholesterol, and keep your blood glucose and blood pressure under control.
Get adequate sleep.
Get medical attention for any potential health problems.
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Recognize that occasional memory slips (like forgetting a name or where you put the keys) are entirely normal
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What not to do: Drink to excess, smoke, or use illicit drugs. Ignore sudden changes in mental status. Avoid going to the doctor if you notice changes in your physical or mental health. Overlook the possibility of prescription drug interactions that can affect mental functioning. Think you’re too old to take up something new! Source: Staying Sharp (AARP and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives)
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| What's a Healthy Weight? |
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How do you know if you’re at a healthy weight? Is your gauge your comfort level with the waistband of your favorite jeans? Or do you get on the scales each morning? Do you let the mirror be your guide? Or do you leave it to your best friend to drop a hint? The most commonly used weight measure today – the body mass index or BMI – was developed by a Belgian statistician in the 1830s. In the 1980s, public health organizations generally adopted it to indicate ranges for underweight to obesity. BMI is a simple calculation based on your height and weight. Go to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Web site, punch in your numbers and there’s your BMI. While BMI is a well-accepted way to categorize weight range for most people, everyone isn’t you as an individual. Like most natural phenomena, statistics for human weight distribution generally form a bell curve, with fewer people on each edge of the bell and most in the middle. What influences your range for healthy weight?
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Genetics, including body structure
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Age
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Muscle mass (because it’s denser, it weighs more than fat)
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Fat distribution
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Overall fitness level.
While you can’t change your genes or age, you can increase your muscle mass throughout your life with weight-bearing exercise. Just walking and using the stairs can build up your largest muscles in your lower body. For your upper body, barbells are inexpensive, and push-ups cost nothing but time (and maybe a little discomfort). Getting back to the waistband on your favorite jeans. Some research indicates your waist-to-hip ratio may be a better predictor of heart attack risk than your BMI – the smaller your waist compared to your hips, the lower your risk. Once again, diet and exercise can influence the equation. In the end, your overall fitness level may be a better predictor of health than any other. After all, Sylvester Stallone says his BMI was higher than 30 when he filmed Rocky Balboa.
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| Healthy Places=Healthy Habits |
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The places where we work, live and enjoy leisure activities can help us achieve and maintain healthy habits, such as getting more physical activity and eating more fruits and vegetables. We can all do our part to help create healthy places. Here are some suggestions.
At Work
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Looking for more fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria? Mention your wishes to the cafeteria owner or manager.
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Start a new trend: Instead of bringing in leftover sweets from home to share with co-workers, bring in a fruit or vegetable treat.
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During your break or lunch, take a walk around your building, campus or mall. Set a goal for yourself on how often you walk.
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Participate in an organized walk and complete a “Walkability Checklist” to give your feedback on how to make the designated route more “pedestrian friendly.”
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Get involved with making food and beverage choices in your vending machines healthier.
At Home
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Keep the ‘fridge stocked with lots of fruits and vegetables, placed in the front. Serve them as a tasty side dish or add them to egg dishes, stews, pizza, and sandwiches.
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Always have proper raingear on hand. It will encourage you and your loved ones to take a walk in the rain. Kids will be motivated to walk or play outside if they have colorful boots, jackets and umbrellas.
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Set a time every day for a family run, walk or a bike ride. You may want to start with 15 minutes and work up to 30 minutes or more.
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Start a new rule that all housework, grass mowing (a riding lawnmower doesn’t count!) and gardening will be done by someone in your household. They all count as physical activity!
At “Play”
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Plan leisure activities and vacations that involve physical activity.
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Make regular dates with friends to enjoy your favorite physical activity together.
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Count your steps and note the time it takes you to walk to the store, post office or bank. Convert your steps into miles.
Source: Department of Human Services Healthy Worksites Program
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| Mind & Body Fitness |
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| How’s your mental fitness? Much as you can build your cardiovascular or muscle strength by exercising, you can also build mental fitness by embracing new ideas and behaviors. Here’s your training guide.
Steps to MentalFitness
1. Accept yourself. Learn to understand and accept your preferences, passions and needs. Remember: No one knows you like you do. Spend quiet time writing in a journal or mediating. Talk to a friend about what matters most to you. Don’t blame others for your problems. If your life is boring—or if you feel put upon or neglected—admit itand do something about it.
2. Make your needs known. Express yourself and present your feelings without attacking others. If you have trouble expressing your feelings to others, learn new communication skills. Don’t expect other people to read your mind.
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3. Demonstrate behavior that reflects high self-esteem. Relate to yourself and others in ways that reveal you care for yourself. Use positive body language and project a positive attitude. Look alert and interested and keep a cheerful smile. Practice good grooming habits and dress appropriately for the occasion.
4. Develop your potential. Make full use of your abilities and cultivate your personal interests. Learn through reading or taking classes. Try new and interesting things you have never done before. Commit yourself to improving your nutrition, getting adequate rest and starting a regular exercise program. Seek out optimistic people.
5. Let go of negative judgments. Instead of judging others, learn to appreciate their unique strengths.
6. Plan for success. Emphasize what you do well. Learn to value and build on your strengths. Take disappointments in stride. Everyone experiences failure at times. The most successful people learn from their disappointments rather than allowing themselves to be defeated by them.
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| You Have the Power to Stay Healthy |
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Make a good choice for a healthy future. The choices we make now affect how we will feel in years to come. The state’s Healthy Worksite Initiative (HWI) is working hard to make “the healthy choice the easy choice,” so can have more power to stay healthy at work.
A few tips from the HWI:
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If your site is hosting a PEBB-sponsored Health Screening, take advantage of this free chance to learn your important health numbers.
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Take the stairs instead of the elevator, whenever possible
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Encourage your worksite to develop guidelines around healthy food options for employees
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Contact your vending machine company and request healthy options. The phone number is listed on the machine.
You can create a healthy environment at home, too. Visit the Healthy Worksites Initiative Web site for easy suggestions. You have the power to improve your health. Yes, you can do it.
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| Put your health first this month |
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This month, put your health at the top of your "to do" list.
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Make an appointment for a health screening. Check the schedule of free PEBB health screenings on the PEBB Web site. Call the contact number for an appointment.
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Get a flu shot to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your customers and clients from this serious illness.
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Quit smoking! Your Benefit Board sponsors Free and Clear, a quit program that may work for you and those you care about. Learn more and sign up online at www.freeclear.com/pebb.
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Check your smoke alarms. Make this annual check part of your daylight savings switch. If you have battery-operated alarms, make sure they’re still in their 10-year life span.
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| Summer wellness tips |
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This summer, the good life is yours for the taking in your own backyard.
Physical Fitness
Whether you think of it as yard work, gardening or just puttering, tending to your outdoor environment can boost your fitness.
Depending on your pace, gardening can burn 200 to 500 calories an hour – as much as a brisk walk or fast run. Improve your surroundings and your fitness level through:
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“Power lifting” bags or barrow-loads of soil, compost and mulch
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Muscle repetitions while you dig and fill planting holes or rows
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Aerobics pushing a lawnmower
Be Careful
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Just like a gym workout, warm up first, pace yourself and stretch when you’re done.
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Watch your back: lift with your legs; move shovel loads with side steps, not twists; and if it hurts, stop.
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Be “mindful;” think about your physical actions as much as the outcome of your efforts.
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Wear sunscreen, and reapply when needed.
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Great Food
 | A small deck garden can’t fill the fridge, but it could convert the palate of a finicky five year old with pick-it-yourself treats like grape tomatoes and sugar snap peas. Adding fresh basil, chives, cilantro or dill from a patio pot could turn a “no-thanks” veggie side dish to an all-time family favorite.
Even if your thumbs are a color other than green, you can access Oregon’s bounty at nearby fruit and vegetable stands and farmer’s markets. Growers price their goods at competitive rates, and what you buy locally will be fresher and more nutritious than what you can find in the grocery store during most of the year. Many growers also use organic or sustainable growing practices.
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Peace in Mind
It’s a fact: sunshine and fresh air lift your spirits. Research shows that people recover faster from everyday stress when they interact with natural surroundings. You don’t have to hug a tree to feel better, but (hint, hint) it wouldn’t hurt to turn off the TV and go outside for a while.
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