See the link below for access to variable levels for differing body workouts. This link accesses a beginning biceps stretch.
Healthy Horizons Lunch ‘N Learn: Exploring the Pro in Probiotics
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Noon-1 PM
Atherton Union Room 326
Staff and faculty, please join us for a discussion on what constitutes probiotics, how probiotics work, and their proposed mechanism of benefit. Also discussed, will be the available evidence for use of probiotics in various disease states. Bring your lunch and learn with us! Door prizes awarded. Contact Healthy Horizons to Register at healthyhorizons@butler.edu or by phone at X8143.
Speaker: Kacey Carroll, PharmD
Prioritizing Stress Reduction and Self-Care
Thank you to the Health and Recreation Center Staff for today’s submission!
Meeting deadlines, taking the kids to school, going to the grocery, cleaning the house, exercising, laundry…the list seems to go on and on. Does this sound familiar? Prioritizing your health and time for self-care is crucial when it comes to keeping your stress levels down and energy levels up. When it seems like there is too much on your plate, your brain can sense your stress levels. Stress causes your heart rate and blood pressure rise, and your muscles to tighten. Feelings of stress that continue for long periods can have a detrimental effect on the body.
One proven way to reduce stress, calm your mind and relax is massage therapy. The Butler HRC has 5 licensed massage therapists onsite who offer 60 and 90-minute sessions. Massage techniques offered include deep tissue, thai yoga, sports, Swedish and trigger point. Schedule an appointment before work, during lunch or after work to help relax your mind, increase circulation, and decrease muscle tension. You will feel rejuvenated and ready to take on your to-do list! For more information regarding pricing, scheduling and our massage therapists, please visit https://www.butler.edu/massage.
How to Boost Your Willpower
Cheating on your diet or exercise plan? Struggling with self-control or impulse choices? Science shows that willpower can get depleted! Learn how you can strengthen it and increase your ability to resist temptation.
Willpower May Be a Finite Resource
Your willpower may be an exhaustible, finite resource. It may be used up over the course of a day in lots of tiny ways. This is called ego depletion.
Research by social psychologist Roy Baumeister and others suggests that if someone initially resists a temptation like warm chocolate chip cookies, the person is then less capable of resisting another willpower challenge or making a difficult decision.1,2
Translation: Doing something tough may use up some willpower, which makes resisting temptation super hard.
Ok, so what can you do about this depletion? Don’t fret, here are some simple strategies to level up your willpower.
Arrange things and make decisions when your willpower is sky high.
- Clean. Get rid of all the temptations. If all the junk food is gone you won’t have to resist later.
- Commit. If you have a plan with a friend for spin class, you won’t have to wonder what you’re doing later.
- Optimize. Change your timing for tasks, like grocery shopping right after a meal when your willpower is strong. If you don’t use your willpower to battle the cookie aisle in the store, you’ll have reserves for resisting dessert later tonight.
Boost your willpower in the moment it is being challenged.
- Postpone. “Not now, maybe later.” Saying a simple phrase like this can reduce your impulse to listen to that devil on your shoulder.
- Distract. Try distracting yourself to see if your impulse chills out. Giving yourself something else to focus on can calm the brewing willpower battle.
- Hide. Remove the temptation from your view or remove yourself from the situation. In the classic “marshmallow experiment,” even little kids trying to use willpower to wait for a delicious, squishy marshmallow had more luck if they simply hid it from their view. One kid sat on it to get it out of view! If a kid can do it, so can you.
Learn how to strengthen your willpower.
- Meditate. Yep, this one again. Even brief, 10-minute mindfulness meditations, done over time, can improve your self-control. The deal with mindfulness is you learn to bring your thoughts back to the present moment as they start to wander. And every time you do this, you’re flexing your willpower muscle.3
- Sleep. It always come back to getting enough sleep, we know! Studies indicate that getting enough sleep matters for your willpower, too.4 Healthy sleep can lower psychological strain, give you better self-control, and replenish self-regulatory energy. That’s all a fancy way of saying, “Get to bed!”
- Stop swearing. It’s not a joke. Baumeister suggests that challenging yourself to change a speech pattern, like using “hello” instead of “hey” or dropping that expletive and replacing it with something else, can help you learn to extend your willpower.
Excuse your setback and get on with it!
- Forgiving yourself for an oops moment frees up your willpower, so you can resist next time. It’s ok, you’re human, and you’re going to make mistakes.
In other words, using the first letter of each of these strategies, A-B-L-E, be able! Using your willpower doesn’t have to use up all your willpower.
Which willpower boost are you going to try next time you’re in a logic vs. emotion throw-down?
Bollywood – A New Kind of Workout
Self Defense Class Handout
Spring Thoughts…Best Kite Flying Sites in Indianapolis
Spring is good for kite-flying for three reasons: It’s pleasant outdoors, there’s usually a breeze, and the trees don’t have too many leaves. Leaves block the wind.
This, according to the Hoosier Kitefliers Society, whose members would know since they fly kites year-round, even in February on frozen lakes. (The next HKS event, a choreographed-to-music exhibition by internationally known fliers, is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 30 in Shipshewana, Ind.)
What the fliers look for, optimally, are flat, grassy, open spaces.
Here are seven such spots, some of which are on private property, so you’ll need to ask permission:
Fort Harrison State Park
This is a former U.S. military base located on Indy’s northeast side.
Sahm Park
Plenty of room to let out the line here.
Garfield Park
Indy’s oldest city park, on the south side, in a part of town that’s getting increasingly hip.
Zionsville United Methodist Church
9644 Whitestown Road, Zionsville
Kite enthusiasts on Indy’s northwest side will want to try this spot.
Northwestway Park
This northwest-side open space also is a haven for disc golfers. It and kiting can co-exist.
Soccer field next to Colts Complex
If you fly here, you may get a glimpse of Andrew Luck or some other athlete coming and going.
Washington Township Park (near the amphitheater)
Fly your kite among people fishing in stocked ponds and playing sand volleyball.
https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2016/04/23/7-great-places-indy-area-fly-kite/81644726/
For good office ergonomics, avoid these 5 risks
Musculoskeletal disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, muscle strains and lower back injuries affect the muscles, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons, according to OSHA. But practicing good ergonomics can help prevent workers from acquiring MSDs.
Ergonomics is the practice of fitting the job to the worker. This includes avoiding tasks that may lead to injuries. “Ergonomists have examined a number of jobs where there have been a high incidence of [musculoskeletal disorders], and have found some common elements present in each of these jobs, which are associated with these injuries,” the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries states. “These elements are called risk factors, because exposure to them increases the chance that a worker will become injured.”
Here are five ergonomic risk factors to be mindful of in the office, according to Washington L&I:
- Repetition. Do you perform the same motions repeatedly throughout the day, such as typing on a keyboard, flipping through paperwork, clicking a mouse or using a calculator? Doing so can result in trauma to your joints and surrounding tissue.
- Static loading or sustained exertions. These terms may not be familiar to you, but Washington L&I states that these risk factors have “increased in the computerized office.” Static loading is when the muscles hold the body in a single position for a long stretch of time, which can result in circulation problems and cause muscle tension. Sustained exertions are a form of static loading that occurs when force is continuously applied for long periods of time. Examples include keeping your head still while looking at your monitor, sitting without making any movements for long periods of time and holding down the shift key on your keyboard.
- Awkward positions and postures. “Postures that bend the joints into positions where they are more likely to become injured are termed awkward,” Washington L&I notes. An office worker can experience awkward postures by slouching or leaning forward in his or her chair, cradling a phone between the ear and shoulder, reaching up and over to access the keyboard or mouse, and bending at the waist to load a copy machine.
- Mechanical contact stress. This risk factor occurs when a hard or sharp surface or object presses into a person’s soft tissues, such as the tendons, nerves and blood vessels, which can lead to serious injuries over time. Examples of mechanical contact stress are when a wrist rests on the edge of a desk while typing, when elbows lean against a hard armrest or when sitting in a chair that places pressure on the back of a worker’s thighs.
- Force. Washington L&I notes that a number of office tasks require a moderate amount of force to be applied to small muscles, which may result in muscle and ligament strains, swelling and fatigue. Tasks that may exert too much force on a worker include grasping heavy folders, gripping a mouse too tightly and “pounding” on a keyboard to type.
http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/15292-for-good-office-ergonomics-avoid-these-5-risks
Weight Off? Now What?
Keeping the Weight Off
OK, you’ve lost some weight. Now you can relax, right? Not so fast! Maintaining weight loss can take just as much effort as losing it. Here are some tips:
- Know your triggers, roadblocks and favorite excuses. We all have them!
- Don’t kid yourself. This is a long-term effort. The first year or two after significant weight loss may be the hardest, but if you can stick it out you’re more likely to make it in the long run.
- Learn from others who’ve succeeded and follow their example.
- Make sure you have a social support network of friends, family and health professionals who will support your new healthy habits.
- Find healthy ways to motivate yourself to stick with it.
- At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make.
- And remember, you can’t do it by diet alone. For people trying to keep weight off, exercise is even more essential. The American Heart Association recommends 200 to 300 minutes of physical activity a week to keep those extra pounds from creeping back.
Lapsing and Relapsing
A lapse is a small mistake or slip into old habits. This can happen when you have a bad day and overeat or skip your workout. A relapse is when you go back to old habits for several days or weeks.
Remember that having a lapse or relapse is not failing. You can get back on track. Try to find new, healthier ways to handle life’s stresses besides overeating or becoming one with your couch. Take a walk, talk with a friend, or do something to help someone else. Just don’t give up!
https://healthyforgood.heart.org/be-well/articles/keeping-a-healthy-body-weight
Mammogram Screening Dates for May 2018
Hello! Healthy Horizons is excited to announce that we have secured more dates for the St. Vincent Mobile Mammography visits. We will be having the Spring visit this coming May on the 17th and 18th (Thursday and Friday). The additional dates will allow faculty, staff and spouses to use the services. We have had great demand in the past for these services and are so pleased to be able to offer you extended dates. Further information including registration will follow shortly.