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July Tips from OSU

striped cat asleep

This month’s theme is healthy sleep.  Experts recommend 7-9 hours of sleep nightly, and many Americans aren’t hitting that mark.

Dr. Melnyk suggests several tips to improve sleep hygiene.  Consider picking two of these tips to focus on for the month of July and see if you notice a difference in your sleep patterns!

  • Keep a consistent bedtime and wake time
  • Stop consuming caffeine six hours before bed
  • Make your evening meal small
  • Avoid alcohol for two hours before bed
  • Get sufficient exercise, but avoid exercising three hours before bed
  • Keep your bedroom cool
  • Avoid blue light, like that from phone and computer screens, before bed
  • Consider white noise to help you fall asleep

Check out Dr. Melnyk’s full article, the NIH’s guide to healthy sleep, or the American Sleep Apnea Association report about the state of sleep in the United States for more information and strategies!

Learn Cognitive Behavioral Skills

man sitting on bench, thinking, by a tree

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is the best evidence-based treatment approach for mild depression and anxiety, and Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, OSU’s Chief Wellness Officer, has been working to develop programming to deliver CBT strategies to the public.  The University Health Plan covers counselors who provide CBT, but even if seeing a professional isn’t in the cards for you right now, Dr. Melnyk has shared some strategies to incorporate skills from CBT into our everyday life.  Be on the lookout for her online CBT curriculum, MINDSTRONG, which will be available to faculty and staff in the coming months, but here are some tips for now.

The principle behind CBT is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected, and that by addressing inaccurate or negative patterns of thoughts, one can address negative feelings and then behaviors.  A catchy mnemonic to help remember what happens to cause negative thought patterns and how to interrupt them is ABC:

  • A stressor (or Activator) occurs, which triggers a
  • Negative thought or Belief or cognitive distortion
  • Stop and replace the negative/inaccurate thought or belief with a positive/accurate one
  • Consequence- a more positive thinking pattern and/or behavior

I know what you’re thinking, “That mnemonic device is terrible! It confuses information with action steps, and the most important action step isn’t even represented in the mnemonic!”  Well, you’re right.  Yes.  BUT, this is a perfect opportunity to practice some CBT in a low-stakes way!  Are you feeling angry about the terrible mnemonic?  That’s the stressor!

Now stop and identify the negative thought, belief, or cognitive distortion you’re having.  I’d like to add, here, that there are lots of CBT worksheets available online that suggest common types of cognitive distortions to help you identify what your tendencies are, and make it easier to reframe them.  Common ones include all-or-nothing thinking, focusing only the negative, polarized thinking, negative self-labeling, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, jumping to conclusions, mind reading, should statements, disqualifying the present, dwelling on the past, blaming, and the fairness fallacy.   If you’d like more examples or explanations of these, let me know; I can gather that for you.

So! With my terrible mnemonic, perhaps your negative thought might be, “Nothing ever goes my way, everyone keeps trying to give me helpful resources that end up being junk!  Don’t get me started on ‘a pint is a pound, the world round!’”

Next, recognize that as the cognitive distortion that it is, and intentionally reframe it.  “Actually, plenty of times, resources I’ve gotten have been helpful, and even when they aren’t perfect, I can absolutely get some benefit from them.”

With practice recognizing the triggers, identifying the specific negative thought pattern, identifying why it’s distorted, and trying to correct the distortion, you’ll find that the automatic loop between the stressor and the negative feeling or even behavior is interrupted, and you can start to reroute the mental train onto a new track. (Mindfulness is helpful in giving you the skills necessary to be able to step back and identify and analyze your thought patterns, by the way.)

I know the example I used is silly, but the action steps are real.  I’d be happy to talk more about how to apply the steps to your specific thought patterns, and remember, the OSU Health Plan covers CBT providers in Columbus.  And be on the lookout for MINDSTRONG, Dr. Melnyk’s online CBT curriculum we can all do ourselves on our computers.

May is American Stroke Month

blood pressure cuff

The university is focused on stroke prevention for the month of May.  Stroke is a leading cause of death and long-term disability for Americans, and while some risk factors can’t be controlled for, up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable through adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors and, if necessary, medication to control hypertension.

High blood pressure is the number one controllable risk factor, and others include high cholesterol, smoking, an unbalanced diet, and physical inactivity.

This is a great reason to start thinking about small, incremental changes you can make on healthy habits!  Last month’s focus on stress reduction and the university resources on mindfulness can hopefully help you find strategies to reduce your blood pressure.

Another way to reduce damage from strokes is to recognize them quickly, because fast treatment yields less permanent damage.  Use the acronym F.A.S.T. to remember the warning signs and to remind you that time is of the essence.

F: Face- ask the person to smile and look for signs of an asymmetric face droop.

A: Arms-  ask the person to raise both arms and note whether one drifts downward.

S: Speech- ask the person to repeat a simple phrase and see whether they’re slurring or speaking unusually.

T: Time- call 911 immediately if you observe any of these signs, because time is critical in stroke treatment!

Happy stroke prevention!

Healthy Pizza Dough Recipe

a sliced pepperoni pizza

Use equal parts self-rising flour and nonfat, plain Greek yogurt to make as much or as little of this as you like!  The recipe below is for one portion, but it’s often easier to mix more at once and then split it up when it’s time to roll it out.

 

Ingredients:

1/3c self-rising flour

1/3c nonfat plain Greek yogurt

Any desired toppings/fillings

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for pizzas, or 425 for calzones.  Mix flour and yogurt, and begin to knead on a well-floured surface when it’s doughy enough.  Roll with a floured rolling pin to desired thickness, and place on a well-sprayed baking sheet.  Add toppings.  For calzones, fold over and pinch edges.

Bake for 15-17 minutes for pizzas, 20 minutes for calzones, until the bottom begins to brown.

Enjoy!

 

Nutrition information: 173 calories, 0g fat, 561mg sodium, 11g protein, 2g sugar

 

Topping/filling ideas, in addition to regular pizza sauce and pizza toppings can include philly steak and cheese, breakfast omelet-type fillings, pie filling, taco-style fillings; feel free to share your favorites!  This dough also makes good garlic cheese bread, and it’s not difficult to turn into bagels as well.    I’d like to disclaim that the photo at the top is a stock photo of “pizza,” not this pizza.

Mindfulness Resources from OSU’s EAP

A representative from OSU’s Employee Assistance Program came today to give a mindfulness training, and she had some good resources at the end that we could all benefit from.

Here’s a list of mindfulness apps that can be helpful.

She recommended this website about self compassion.

She shared this website for free online yoga videos for all levels.

This youtube channel has talks and advice about mindfulness, as well as some practice exercises.

Additionally, she recommended the following apps:

Headspace

Breathe

Transform.

Hopefully these resources might be useful!  Please feel free to share any tips that help you with mindfulness!

 

April Tips from OSU’s Chief Wellness Officer– It’s Stress Month!

dock extending out into water with mountains in background

OSU’s wellness focus for the month of April is stress, which can have some far-reaching consequences.  Dr. Melnyk recommends some specific strategies for stress reduction:

  • Know the source of your stress for early prevention.
  • Practice relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, which research shows actually interrupts the body’s stress response.
    • Visit the S.M.A.R.T. lab at OSU for a biofeedback session to train your body to use physical stress reduction techniques effectively! Schedule a session at LinktoHealth.
  • Learn cognitive-behavioral skills, reframing negative or inaccurate thought patterns to more helpful ones.
  • Find an activity that refreshes you and deliberately engage in it for self-care.

For more thoughts on stress and stress reduction, read this article that Dr. Melnyk wrote.

 

Remember, there’s a lunch and learn on Friday, April 19 from 12-1pm about managing stress and anxiety. It will also be livestreamed!  Register here.

 

Happy relaxing!

Discounts!

a black and white photo of coins spilling out of a glass jar

Did you know that, as participants in the OSU Health Plan, we are eligible for half off Weight Watchers monthly fees? Or that we get lots of other discounts on all sorts of products and services as a benefit of being OSU employees?  I was asked recently about the Weight Watchers discount in particular, so here are some details about that, and links to the other discount opportunities too.

For Weight Watchers (or “WW,” as they’re calling it—it’s Weight Watchers reimagined.  If anyone participates; let me know what the reimagining is.  Dunkin Donuts is just Dunkin now, Burlington Coat Factory is just Burlington now.  Somewhere, surely, there’s a branding landfill with the castoffs.  Donuts, Coat Factories, eight atchers, all forlornly remembering the good old days.  Anyway, I digress.),  it’s half off in-person memberships (bringing the cost to $19.11/month) or half off the online-only plan, which is new this year.  That brings the online only plan to $8.48/month.

Here’s more on that: https://yp4h.osu.edu/resources/healthy-eating/weight-watchers/

If anyone is interested in signing up, and if you’re interested in having a supportive group here in the office, let me know and I’ll put participants in touch to share tips and encouragement.

Here are the other discount programs.  The health and wellness ones are, not surprisingly, under the health and wellness tab, but I’m including the link to all of them because it’s quite a list.  Doggie daycare, cell phone plans, retail stores.  Drop your dogs off, make some calls, pick up a smart new pair of slacks; discounts abound!  https://hr.osu.edu/benefits/discount-programs/

Wellness Roundup

April is for KINDness challenge

Your Plan for Health is running a Random Acts of Kindness in the Workplace Challenge for the month of April.  Consider using this as an extra nudge to do random acts of kindness in the workplace, and share your random acts of kindness stories with yp4h@osu.edu with the subject line “KIND,” and you could win a promotional set of KIND brand snack bars!

 

Active&Fit Direct program with waived enrollment fee

Active&Fit Direct is a program allowing employees and up to three eligible spouses/dependents access to 10,000+ fitness centers throughout the country for $25 a month.  For the month of April, we’re eligible to sign up with no enrollment fee!  If you sign up, you get a membership card, which you can show at any of the participating fitness centers nationwide for entry.  Here’s more information (but the list of participating fitness centers doesn’t appear to be available until you enroll).

 

Wellness Week

Wellness Week here at OSU will be May 13-17.  The Amazing Race to Wellness will take place on Wednesday, 5/15, they’ll have a group walk on the two-mile Buckeye Path to Wellness on Thursday, 5/16, and on Friday, 5/17, there’s a free 5k walk/run, which can earn you 500 points in Virgin Pulse!  That’s a great opportunity, since most other races that qualify for the race bonus cost money.

 

Wellness Events for SLDS

Save the date for pizza-making and biometric screenings!  We’ll be making pizza for lunch with a healthy pizza dough recipe (that I promise is not gross!  I know that because I also like food that is gross, and this is not that!) on Thursday, 5/2 and Friday, 5/3.  See your email for which group you’re in, and bring your enthusiasm and appetite!  That event will take place in our conference room.

 

On Thursday, 5/2, we’ll have biometric screenings right here in the office!  See your email for sign-up instructions.

 

University Wellness Events

Keep an eye on the university’s wellness event calendar; there are great one-off and recurring events for all types of wellness.

March Tips from OSU’s Chief Wellness Officer

Fruits and vegetables packed together in stripes of rainbow color

March is National Nutrition Month, so what better time to focus on how to work healthful eating into your lifestyle.

OSU’s Chief Wellness Officer, Bernadette Melnyk, recommends eating every two to three hours throughout the day, choosing small portions of healthy foods each time.  The US Department of Health and Human Services has compiled some tips and strategies for healthy eating here: https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/eat-healthy/how-to-eat-healthy/index.html

As we head into nicer weather (hopefully), one way to incorporate healthy habits into grilling season is to try grilling fruits for a healthy sweet treat.  Watermelon and peaches are good places to start.

 

Upcoming wellness events to note

Lunch and Learn- Snacking for Sustainability

Friday, March 22, 12:00-1:00pm in Ross Heart Auditorium

Register here: https://yp4h.osu.edu/event/lunch-learn-snacking-for-sustainability/

 

Cooking Demo with a Dietitian

Tuesday, March 26, 6:00-7:00pm at Kingsdale Giant Eagle

Register at Link to Health:  https://linktohealth.osu.edu/LinktoHealth/home.seam?dswid=7646&dsrid=663

 

Webinar about Roth IRAs

Wednesday, April 3, 11:30am-12:00pm

Register at Link to Health:  https://linktohealth.osu.edu/LinktoHealth/home.seam?dswid=7646&dsrid=663

 

ROTC Wellness Boot Camp in the Shoe

Wednesday, April 24, 3:30-6:30pm in Ohio Stadium

Learn more here:  https://wellness.osu.edu/buckeye-wellness-offerings/rotc-wellness-boot-camp

 

Amazing Race to Wellness

Wednesday, May 15, 11:00-2:00 at Lincoln Tower Fields

Learn more here: https://wellness.osu.edu/buckeye-wellness-offerings/amazing-race-wellness

Establishing a Mindfulness Practice

A dock jutting out onto a calm lake at sunset with a copse of trees visible in the distance

Mindfulness is a great practice to encourage stress relief, increased focus, better follow-through on goals, and better sleep.  With all those benefits in mind, let’s take a minute to outline some ways to get started with a mindfulness practice.

 

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being present, mentally, in the current moment, without drifting off to think and worry about the future or the past.  It’s a pretty simple concept, but can be difficult to do.  We’re so used to distracted attention and distracted thinking; it’s a real shift to be deliberate and mindful and present.

Mindfulness can be applied to many areas of life, from mindful meditation to mindful eating to mindful communication in relationships.  Consider areas of your life that could benefit from being mentally present in the moment and releasing expectations, thoughts, or worries about, well, anything!

 

How to set up the habit

First, know that it takes about 21 days to establish a new habit, and nothing sinks a new habit faster than shaming yourself for not having made more progress!  So, step one is to be gentle with yourself.  Make a plan, and celebrate your successes regularly.  See the post below this one for more suggestions to establish a new habit.

Now, for mindfulness specifically, the road map looks like this:

  • Commit to starting a mindfulness practice.
    • Decide why this is important to you and make it a priority.
  • Make a plan for when you’ll do your mindfulness practice each day.
    • First thing in the morning? At bedtime?  Mid-afternoon break?
    • Find a specific time, and decide whether you’re shooting for 5 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.
  • Find a specific place.
    • It doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy, but just “I’ll manage to find a time and do it somewhere” won’t get this done for you. It won’t happen accidentally (or else it would have already), so give some thought to your when and where.
  • Decide what resources you’ll use.
    • Will it work better for you to read the steps of a mindfulness practice and follow them? Do you need a visual graphic?  Do you need an audio-guided practice, like from a video or an app? See below for all of those options.

 

Techniques and resources

As employees, we have access to a mindfulness app called Whil.  It has daily videos that are around 5 minutes each to help you establish and move through a mindfulness practice.  If you can dedicate 5ish minutes every day, find a place, and play one of these videos, you’ll be in great shape.  I’m happy to walk you through this in person if it would be helpful; just contact me and let me know!  Here are instructions for how to access it:

  • Open your Virgin Pulse app
  • From the home screen, click the three bars up at the top to get to the menu.
  • Click “Programs,” and at the top, switch “Recommended for Me” to “All Programs.”
  • Scroll down about 2/3 of the way to WHIL- MINDFULNESS 101.
  • Click “Start Now.”
  • This will take you to the Whil program in your browser, and at some point you’ll be offered the opportunity to download the app. Do this through the Virgin Pulse app or the website that you arrived at through the Virgin Pulse portal, because Whil is a service that costs money, and OSU has already paid for it for us.
  • Enjoy your daily mindfulness videos!

 

If a daily app isn’t for you, remember the OSU resource called JustBreathe.  It’s a graphic that expands and contracts for four seconds each, and syncing your breathing with the graphic (or the 4 seconds in, 4 seconds out time pattern) can encourage your body’s natural relaxation response.  Teaching your body to relax through deep breathing is a good way to get started with mindfulness and stress relief.

 

Are you looking for a guided meditation that you can do quickly, at your desk, and doesn’t commit you to a progressive practice?  Bookmark this video!

 

If it’s helpful to have a step-by-step set of directions for mindfulness, here you go!  I found this list here .

  1. Sit comfortably. Find a spot that gives you a stable, solid, comfortable seat.
  2. Notice what your legs are doing. If on a cushion, cross your legs comfortably in front of you. If on a chair, rest the bottoms of your feet on the floor.
  3. Straighten your upper body—but don’t stiffen. Your spine has natural curvature. Let it be there.
  4. Notice what your arms are doing. Situate your upper arms parallel to your upper body. Rest the palms of your hands on your legs wherever it feels most natural.
  5. Soften your gaze. Drop your chin a little and let your gaze fall gently downward. It’s not necessary to close your eyes. You can simply let what appears before your eyes be there without focusing on it.
  6. Feel your breath. Bring your attention to the physical sensation of breathing: the air moving through your nose or mouth, the rising and falling of your belly, or your chest.
  7. Notice when your mind wanders from your breath. Inevitably, your attention will leave the breath and wander to other places. Don’t worry. There’s no need to block or eliminate thinking. When you notice your mind wandering gently return your attention to the breath.
  8. Be kind about your wandering mind. You may find your mind wandering constantlythat’s normal, too. Instead of wrestling with your thoughts, practice observing them without reacting. Just sit and pay attention. As hard as it is to maintain, that’s all there is. Come back to your breath over and over again, without judgment or expectation.
  9. When you’re ready, gently lift your gaze (if your eyes are closed, open them). Take a moment and notice any sounds in the environment. Notice how your body feels right now. Notice your thoughts and emotions.

Here’s to lower stress and better concentration!  Happy practicing.