Category: Uncategorized

Can changing your work environment and habits help set you on a path to better health? Research says yes.
By Mayo Clinic Staff

Does it feel like your workplace is conspiring against your aims to eat healthier? You’re right. It probably is. And you’re not alone.

Somewhere between the early morning doughnuts and the late-afternoon stop at the candy bowl, American workers lost their way on the road to healthier eating.

Consider the big picture: Adults spend, on average, 8.8 hours a day at work and work-related activities. And one survey found that 65% of adult workers are overweight or obese.

The good news? Research has shown that making simple changes to your work environment and your daily routine can improve the quality of your diet and help you maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Ready to get started? Here are five steps you can take right now:

1. Banish the candy bowl; bring on the fruit bowl. Out of sight, out of mind is very true here. Simply moving a candy bowl away from your desk, or stashing it in a drawer, has been shown to significantly reduce consumption of sugary treats. Conversely, a prominently placed fruit bowl encourages healthy snacking.
2. Beware of the vending machine. Research has confirmed something that most of us know intuitively: Vending machines largely dispense snacks high in sugar, salt and calories, and low in nutritional value. When afternoon hunger pangs hit, bypass the break room machines.
3. Plan ahead; bring healthy snacks from home. Take control of your snacking by bringing healthy food from home. For a desk-drawer stash, consider preportioned mixed nuts, dried fruit and granola bars. Refrigerated snacks can include yogurt, raw veggies, fresh fruit and string cheese — all healthier alternatives to your co-workers’ cookies.
4. Stop eating alone at your desk. Desktop dining has become the American worker’s default. But research has shown that eating with co-workers can increase both cooperative behavior and overall work performance — a win-win. Another alternative? Get outside for a walk. It’ll leave you less time to consume a big meal, improve your enthusiasm and make you more relaxed.
5. Don’t forget to hydrate. Even mild dehydration can adversely affect your memory and increase anxiety and fatigue, setting the stage for both decreased work performance and nervous snacking. Keep a water bottle handy so that you can drink throughout the workday. Drinking water instead of one 20-ounce sugar-sweetened soda saves you about 250 calories.

It’s all too easy to go with the unhealthy flow in a workplace setting. But increased mindfulness about what you’re eating and where you’re eating it can really help turn the tide.

Aging can affect the quality of your sleep. You may wake up more often and have a less consistent sleep pattern than you did when you were younger. You can take steps to overcome these issues.
By Philip T. Hagen, M.D., Mayo Clinic Newsletter

As you age, you may find yourself waking up throughout the night. And you may wonder, “Is this a natural part of aging, or is something wrong?”

Rest assured that tossing and turning is nothing to be alarmed about. One of the most common and pronounced sleep changes that come with aging is waking up more frequently. The most likely cause is some type of physical discomfort, such as the need to use the bathroom or reposition an achy joint.

Luckily, older folks are generally able to fall back asleep just as quickly as younger people do. Plus, most age-dependent changes in sleep occur before age 60, including the time it takes to fall asleep, which doesn’t increase much later in life.

Other changes that are part of normal aging include getting less sleep overall and spending less time in the rapid eye movement (REM) cycle — the dream phase of sleep. These changes can vary quite a bit between individuals, and in general they affect men more than women.

Getting older isn’t necessarily a sentence to restless sleep for the rest of your life. While you may not be able to change the way your natural sleep rhythms and tendencies have shifted, you can try many simple techniques to limit disruptors and improve your quality of sleep.

Try these tips:

• Review your medications and supplements with your doctor or pharmacist and consider changes to their use that could be affecting sleep quality.
• Stop drinking fluids within two hours of bedtime to minimize trips to the bathroom.
• If pain keeps you awake at night, talk to your doctor to see if taking an over-the-counter pain medication before bed may help. While this may not stop you from waking up, you may have an easier time falling back to sleep.
• Keep your sleep environment as dark as possible. This includes limiting lights from the television, computer screen and mobile devices. Light disrupts your body’s natural sleep rhythm.
• Limit caffeine intake, particularly in the eight hours before bedtime.
• Avoid alcohol near bedtime — alcohol may help you fall asleep, but once it wears off, it makes you more likely to wake up in the night.
• To maintain a quality sleep cycle, limit daytime napping to just 10 to 20 minutes. If you find that daytime naps make you less sleepy at bedtime, avoid napping altogether.
• If you have trouble falling asleep, try taking 1 to 2 milligrams of melatonin (look for the sustained-release tablets) about two hours before bed.

It’s important to aim for seven to eight hours of sleep each night. If you experience poor quality sleep despite taking these steps, or you are tired or sleepy on most days, talk to your doctor.

Experiments

1. Avoid beverages (including alcohol) at least two hours before bedtime to minimize trips to the bathroom.
2. Take a short midafternoon nap (10 to 20 minutes) when your schedule allows and see if you feel more rested overall.
3. Ease aches and pains that could disrupt your sleep by stretching for a few minutes each morning and at night.

By Ruth Werner

Fast fat facts… try saying that three times quickly! The tongue twister is not nearly as challenging as the mental confusion that comes from the clash between what we often think are facts about fat and the misinformation that circulates about fat. This 10-minute video is a great primer to get you started on separating fact from not-so-much fact. Hopefully, the result will be greater understanding about fat so that you can decide what to do about fat in your own life.

Watch the video here.

by Heath and Nicole Reed

To prevent the spread of Covid-19, we know to wear a mask in public, keep a 6-foot distance, and continuously sanitize our hands and space. Additionally, we have been asking ourselves, “What else can I do to feel safe and protected?” and “What else am I capable of changing or controlling when things feel out of control?”

We find that acknowledging the stress and tension while leaning on a daily self-care practice helps us mitigate the chronic, widespread pandemic of increased uncertainty and anxiety. Here are three healing approaches you can practice to strengthen your immune system and generate a sense of safety. Experience and feel the difference as you move your body, circulate your breath, and change your focus.

Watch the short video here.

Savvy tips and short videos are posted to the blog every week to help you with your self-care.