If you’ve read a novel for pleasure, brought lunch to work, or parked further than normal walking distance, you have earned points towards the Spring 2019 Healthy Rewards Program. These and many other healthy choices earn you points for rewards. The Healthy Rewards Cards are due in PHSB 110 by Friday, May 10th at 3:30 PM. Those with 350 points or more are eligible for a FitBit drawing immediately after that. You can access your Spring 2019 Rewards Program point cards at:
Follow the link below for the easy instructions to make and get a kite flying. Have a kite festival among the neighborhood kids! Get your own out and compete for how long anyone can keep the kites soaring. Team-building and pure fun can result!
www.instructables.com/id/Very-Simple-Kite/
Does it seem like it’s always snack time? Many children graze throughout the day enjoying a never-ending snack time. Snacks are good for kids because they help them stay focused at school and on homework, give them needed nutrients and keep hunger at bay. To lots of kids and teens, a snack is a bag of chips, some cookies or some other low-nutrient food. Instead, think of snacks as mini-meals.
Most children and teens need to eat every three to four hours throughout the day to fuel their growing, active bodies and meet their daily food plan. This translates into the following:
Offer planned meals and snacks consistently throughout the day. A good rule of thumb is to offer snacks a few hours after one meal ends and about one to two hours before the next meal begins. Postponing snacks until a few hours after a meal helps prevent kids from refusing food at a meal and then begging for more food as a “snack” just after the meal ends. On the other hand, putting a stop to snacking immediately before meals encourages a healthy appetite at mealtimes.
When at home, designate a certain area as the “eating-only zone” and limit all snacking to that location. The kitchen table or counter-top works well. When kids snack all over the house, that makes it hard for you to monitor what and how much they’re eating. (Plus, all the crumbs and spills can get messy!) Also, never let kids eat snacks while watching TV. Studies show that this mindless munching leads to overeating.
The following strategies will make you and your family smart snackers:
The article below is very helpful in knowing how we can better react to emergency situations including safety and health emergencies.
What do you do?
Well, that depends. Every one of us is at risk for these kinds of unexpected intrusions into our day-to-day lives. What you do about it depends on whether or not you’re prepared – not just physically, but also mentally.
In any situation, some things are likely to be out of your control: the size of the fire; who’s flying the plane; what’s wrong with the woman. Some things, however, are up to you. Being aware of how you might react can go a long way toward making a bad situation better.
In a crisis, your brain is going to want to make decisions, and not always the best ones. The good news is there are steps you can take to be a better decision-maker in emergencies. There is science behind the way people react to stressful situations, and we can use it to our advantage.
Science tells us that people behave in high stress incidents in certain ways. What you do will be dependent in large part on what your stress level is. If your heart rate soars above about 175 beats per minute, you’re more likely to go into shutdown mode and not be able to think clearly or act. A technique called “combat breathing” (inhale through your nose, hold, exhale through your mouth, hold) has been shown to reduce your heart rate by 20-30 beats per minute. Controlling your emotion and stress level will help as you go through the decision-making process.
During the decision-making process, your mind will most likely move through three stages:
Knowing these stages – and preparing for them ahead of time – can help you recognize and deal with what’s going on around you more effectively.
Have you ever heard gunfire in your neighborhood and blamed it on a firecracker? That’s denial. And it’s perfectly normal. We don’t want to believe bad things are happening. We don’t want to panic or look silly.
In emergencies, we often look to people around us for cues about what we should do. (Is everyone else running and screaming, or are they sitting quietly in their chairs? Are others stopping to help?) This is known as social proof. Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that happens whenever people aren’t sure what to do. We assume others around us know more about the situation, and so we do what they do, whether it’s the right thing or not.
We also know that a person is less likely to take responsibility when others are present. We assume that other people are responsible for taking action, or that they’ve already done so. This is called diffusion of responsibility, and it means you’re actually more likely to get help when you’re with a single person than when you’re in a large group of people.
We are all susceptible to believing these things, which make it easy to deny that 1) an emergency is really happening, or 2) we need to do something about it.
Once you’ve recognized the emergency, you’ll begin to consider your options. If you’re smart, you’ve already started this process before the emergency happens. Maybe you participated in a fire drill at work, or you counted exactly how many rows there are between you and the emergency exit on the plane, or you took a first aid class in your community. The more you’ve prepared, the more options you’ll have to work with.
One thing you can do to prepare everywhere you go is called scripting. All it requires is a little bit of imagination. Pay attention to your surroundings and see what’s available to you. Check for exits (and consider windows as possible exits). Be nosy, especially when it concerns your safety. Then run different scenarios in your head. Where would you go if you had to get out? Who would you call if you needed help? What will you do if there’s a fire? A robbery? A bomb threat? Think about the possibilities ahead of time.
Everybody hates the idea that we practice for emergency events. Fire drills… ugh. But it’s practice, and practice helps you understand what to do or how to react when you don’t have a lot of time. Not only can practice save your life, but if you know how to save yourself, emergency responders on the scene can use their time and effort to save others. You’re one less person who needs saving, and that saves lives.
You’ve acknowledged there’s a problem. You’ve considered your options. The next step is to take decisive action. With all the information you have, what are you going to do next?
Before you take action:
Now is the time to put your plans into motion. Go to the exit, call for help, take cover, give CPR… whatever you’ve decided to do.
In most crisis situations, there is no definite right or wrong. There is no perfect way – only the best we can do. The most important thing is to do something. In almost every case, an imperfect plan is better than no plan, and action is better than inaction.
Remember, if you depend on everyone else to take care of you, you’re leaving the most important person out. Don’t wait to make a plan. Know yourself, know your situation, and be prepared to save your own life.
These proven tools can help you feel stronger and more hopeful. Check out each page for specific, easy-to-follow tips.
Making a change is not easy. In fact, 60 percent of people who achieve their New Year’s resolutions flop once-or more-before succeeding.
But you can pump up your healthy habits. And the more you stick with a new behavior, the easier it gets. That’s because repetition actually can build pathways in your brain.
If you’re having trouble, consider these tools for sticking with change.
Everyone has times when their motivation sags. Here are some tips to boost yours:
At times, you may find yourself on the verge of returning to unhealthy behaviors. Tips for those times include:
Failing is not such a big problem. How you deal with failure is often what really matters.
Before you go, be sure to check the guide linked below for required and suggested immunizations you may need for travel. With some weeks left before the summer break, you can be forward-thinking and take care of these needs in a timely way. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
Fish is a good source of protein and, unlike fatty meat products, it’s not high in saturated fat. Fish is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of — or who have — cardiovascular disease. Research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids decrease risk of arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats), which can lead to sudden death. Omega-3 fatty acids also decrease triglyceride levels, slow growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque, and lower blood pressure (slightly).
The American Heart Association recommends eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times (two servings) a week. Each serving is 3.5 ounce cooked, or about ¾ cup of flaked fish. Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna are high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Increasing omega-3 fatty acid consumption through foods is preferable. However, those with coronary artery disease, may not get enough omega-3 by diet alone. These people may want to talk to their doctor about supplements. And for those with high triglycerides, even larger doses could help.
Patients taking more than 3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids from capsules should do so only under a physician’s care. High intakes could cause excessive bleeding in some people.
Some types of fish may contain high levels of mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), dioxins and other environmental contaminants. Levels of these substances are generally highest in older, larger, predatory fish and marine mammals.
The benefits and risks of eating fish vary depending on a person’s stage of life.
Children and pregnant women are advised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to avoid eating those fish with the potential for the highest level of mercury contamination (e.g., shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish); to eat up to 12 ounces (two average meals) per week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury (e.g., canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, catfish); and check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in local lakes, rivers and coastal areas.
For middle-aged and older men and postmenopausal women, the benefits of fish consumption far outweigh the potential risks when the amount of fish are eaten is within the recommendations established by the FDA and Environmental Protection Agency.
Eating a variety of fish will help minimize any potentially adverse effects due to environmental pollutants.
Five of the most commonly eaten fish or shellfish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Avoid eating shark, swordfish, king Mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
Before heading to the grocery store, developing a “game plan” can help you get organized and save money. It also allows you to rethink your food choices and pick healthier options. Check the website for the live links:
Sticking with the same doctor over years can help your health. But finding the right doctor can be difficult.
If you want to stay healthy, picking a good primary care physician can be key.
In a report published last week, researchers found that American adults with primary care physicians are more likely to receive “high value” services such as regular cancer screenings, diagnostic testing, diabetes checkups, and counseling, compared to those without primary care.
These seemingly routine services can be lifesaving, especially in the case of cancer screening.
But for many people, finding a primary care physician to see on a regular basis can be difficult. The research authors hope by drawing attention to the long-term benefits of primary care, medical and government officials can take steps to improve access to care.
The report authors conducted what they call a first-of-its-kind comparison study by quantifying the experiences of 49,286 adults with primary care and 21,133 adults without. They wanted to see how Americans with similar health status, demographics, and other factors answered when asked about those primary care visits, including questions on the “four C’s” of primary care: first contact, comprehensive health care, and continuous and coordinated care.
Those with primary care reported better patient experience and overall healthcare access compared to those who didn’t see a primary care physician regularly, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine. Researchers said those experiences remained stable from 2002 to 2014.
“Our advance was to look at healthcare for Americans who were otherwise as similar as possible — but did or did not have primary care.”
Linder said the results validated what primary care physicians have known all along about the importance of consistent care when it comes to prevention. He and the co-authors of the study conclude the results should show why policymakers and health systems should consider increasing investments in primary care.
