Category Archives: Health Maintenance

Healthy Horizons Healthy Rewards Deadline

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Healthy Horizons has a Fall 2017 Rewards Program that offers you the chance to earn free prizes (Swag) through tracking your healthy behaviors.  The deadline for submission is this Friday, December 8th, 2017.  Find the Healthy Rewards Point Card at https://www.butler.edu/healthyhorizons.  Some of our newest products are displayed above.  These include a gray sweatshirt-fabric blanket, light-up walking/running armband, copper lined thermos, and coloring book/pencil set.  Submissions of the tracking sheets with points totaling 250 or more will be considered for the Grand Prize drawing of a fit-bit.   Come by Pharmacy Building Room 110 to make you selection and reward yourself for the great healthy things you are doing!

To Improve Your Health, Practice Gratitude

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A daily gratitude practice has been shown to significantly increase your happiness — and your physical health. Practicing gratitude improves sleep, boosts immunity and decreases the risk of disease.

By Amit Sood, M.D.

Ever wish there were a magic pill you could take to boost your energy levels, improve your mood, help you sleep better, increase your kindness and even help you make more money? Unfortunately, no such pill exists, but there is a way you can reap these benefits — without a visit to the doctor’s office.

 The secret? A daily gratitude practice. Indeed, counting your blessings each day has been shown to significantly increase your happiness — and your physical health. In addition to helping you get more sleep, practicing gratitude can boost your immunity and decrease your risk of disease.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • Keep a gratitude journal. Write in a gratitude journal every day. Jot down quick notes. They can be as simple as something funny one of your children did or a kind gesture from a stranger at the grocery store. Any positive thoughts or actions count, no matter how small.
  • Use gratitude cues. Any new habit needs reminders, and cues are a great way to stay on course. Keep photos visible of things or people that make you happy. Post positive notes or inspirational quotes on the fridge or by your computer to reinforce feelings of gratitude.
  • Make a gratitude jar. Keep an empty jar, scratch paper and a pen in an accessible place at home. Ask family members to write on a piece of paper one thing that they’re grateful for every day and drop it in the jar. Encourage them to be funny. During dinner or leisure time, take a few of the notes out of the jar and enjoy reading one another’s thoughts.

The goal is to move your mind from thinking about gratitude occasionally to making it second nature. Eventually, you’ll lower your gratitude threshold so that you’re grateful for little things — and you’ll learn how to sprinkle a little gratitude throughout your day.

Experiments

  1. Think of one thing or person you’re grateful for when you wake up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night.
  2. Use meditation as an opportunity to practice gratitude. Take a few minutes each day to close your eyes, breathe in and out slowly, and focus your mind on positive thoughts.
  3. Feeling uninspired at work? Find one thing you’re grateful for about your job each day. It can be as simple as appreciating lunch with a friendly colleague.

 

Core Strengthening Through Pregnancy

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While research indicates that prenatal exercise is not only ok; but it is also recommended, myths and misconceptions about physical activity and pregnancy persist in the minds of pregnant women, personal trainers and the general public. One of the biggest points of fear in the world of prenatal fitness is core strengthening exercises. From anxiety about hurting the baby to fear of damaging a pregnant woman’s core musculature to ignoring the core altogether because of the misconception that it is ineffective during pregnancy, many women don’t train the abdominals well or with function is mind. This is a big MISS in a prenatal fitness routine.

Let’s define “core” before we continue. Our abdominal musculature goes far beyond your “six-pack.” Think of your core as a 3-dimensional cylindrical unit, with muscles that run in several directions. These muscles include: the transverse abdominus, obliques, rectus abdominus and erector spinae, with the diaphragm at the top and the pelvic floor at the bottom of the cylinder. This 3-dimensional unit acts as the support for the spine.

With the forward shifting of weight as a baby grows, the strength of a pregnant woman’s core musculature is critical to maintaining a neutral spine, and ultimately, helping to decrease muscle fatigue and pain. Without good trunk strength, the weight of the growing baby can pull the pelvis forward, causing a sway back (lordosis). This prolonged position can lead to a very uncomfortable malalignment in the spine. Increasing core strength during pregnancy will aid in getting the pelvis back into a neutral position. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “…more than 60% of all pregnant women experience low back pain. Strengthening of abdominal and back muscles could minimize this risk”.

For specific workout details see:  https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6603/top-3-core-exercises-while-pregnant

Lighten It Up – Fall Jokes

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  • How do you mend a broken pumpkin? — With a pumpkin patch!
  • What do you get when you drop a pumpkin? — Squash.
  • If money really did grow on trees, what would be everyone’s favorite season? — Fall.
  • Why do birds fly south in the Fall? — Because it’s too far to walk.
  • Why did Humpty Dumpty have a great fall? — To make up for his miserable summer.
  • What has ears but can’t hear a thing? — A cornfield.
  • What did one leaf say to another? — I’m falling for you.
  • What is a tree’s least favorite month? — Sep-Timber!
  • What did the little tree say to the big tree? — Leaf me alone.
  • What runs around a farm but doesn’t move? — A fence.
  • Why do trees hate tests? — Because they get stumped by the questions.
  • Why did the scarecrow win a medal? — He was outstanding in his field.
  • Why shouldn’t you tell a secret in a cornfield? — Because the corn has ears.
  • How do trees get onto the internet? — Easy, they just LOG on.

Child’s Art Competition for A Healthy Cause

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The United States Antibiotic Awareness Week (formerly known as “Get Smart” Week) is an annual one-week observance to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic use. In honor of U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week, the Indiana State Department of Health is holding a kids art competition.

Children ages 13 years-old and younger are encouraged to submit a drawing, poster, story, or poem based on one of the following themes for a chance to win an Indianapolis Colts baseball cap.

  • Importance of proper hand washing
  • Importance of vaccines
  • Knowing when NOT to use antibiotics (such as for colds and the flu- for more helpful hints, visit the U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week website)

There will be one prize for each of the following age groups: <4, 5-7, 8-10, and 11-13. Further information, including the competition guidelines, can be found on the ISDH website at: http://www.in.gov/isdh/27623.htm. Contest entries are due Tuesday October 31st, 2017.