May 31

Let’s Get Moving
Competition Winners & Survey

As you all may be aware the Agency launched the Healthy HSA Campaign several months ago in an effort to improve employee health. As part of this campaign, you have received useful tips on how to take care of your health and the health of your family members. In addition, all employees were given the opportunity to participate in our employee wellness fair during the month of March and Let’s Get Moving our walking competition during the month of April. Below you will find a list of our competition winners as well as a brief survey (takes less than 5 minutes to complete). Please take a moment to provide us with your feedback. The Health Promotion Department will contact all winning participants to award prizes.

Thanks and Congratulations to the following Let’s Get Moving winners !!

• The staff of the Medical Arts Building, which as a team averaged 7,382 steps daily throughout the time period of four weeks.
• Our Public Health Officer, Dr. John A. Walker, who won the individual competition by averaging 7043 steps daily.

May 2-6

Let’s Get Moving!!
As our healthy walking competition comes to an end we hope we have provided you with some useful tips and resources on how to increase your physical activity levels as part of a healthy lifestyle. Because your health is important we encourage you to remain active. Remember, regular physical activity performed for just 30 minutes on most days significantly reduces the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and obesity. Best off all it helps you feel and look your best!!

** SEND US YOUR WALKING LOG TOTALS**

What to Do: Tally up department totals and fax to the Health Promotion Department @ (209) 558-7538 or send them via inter office mail. Please note how many employees participated as well as your department name before sending in. Record sheets without this information will be disqualified. Individual and department prizes will be awarded to those employees with the highest individual or department average. Department and individual winners will be announced via meditech and outlook.

For additional walking resources or healthy recipes log on to the Healthy HSA site @ www.hsahealth.org/healthpromotion or Nutrition Network @ www.hsahealth.org/nutritionnetwork.

April 25 -29

Walking Wisdom
Walking is the simplest, easiest and more versatile form of exercise. Did you know that you use more of your body’s 650 muscles and 206 bones when you walk than when you run? In addition, it also provides you with some great healthful benefits.

• Walking brightens up your mood
• Walking strengthens up your body
• Walking energizes your body
• Walking burns calories

As with all aerobic activities, vigorous walking should have a warm up and cool down period. Starting with slower walking will provide sufficient warm up. Warm muscles are less prone to injury. Changing stride lengths, increasing the pace and swinging your arms can increase the intensity. At the end of your walk, stroll slowly and give your body a few minutes to cool down.

April 18- 21

Moving Yet?
Being moderately active lets you enjoy a wider range of foods as part of a healthful diet. Thirty minutes of daily moderate activity = burning extra calories. Can't fit in 30-minute chunks into your day? Aim for a total time of thirty minutes, by accumulating three 10-minute sessions. Below are some real good reasons to get moving.

Reminder: Pedometers/ record sheet available through Health Promotion: Contact the Health Promotion Department @ (209) 558-5657 to reserve your pedometers (HP will ship out to off-site locations ).

Average Calories burned in 30 minutes of activity:

• Volleyball 100 calories
• Leisure swimming 125 calories
• Brisk walking 160 calories
• Leisure cycling 160 calories
• Gardening 185 calories
• Tennis 220 calories

April 11-18

Let’s Get Moving!!

During the month of April we would like to encourage all HSA employees to get moving! The Health Promotion staff invites you and your departments to join us in a healthy walking competition. Everyone is welcome to participate individually or with your entire department.

In addition to this healthy competition we will roll out weekly tips on how to increase physical activity at work and at home. Be sure to log on to www.hsahealth.org/healthpromotion to monitor your weekly caloric expenditures, visit walking sites, and download healthy recipes.

What to Do: click on the following link http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/walk.pdf and print the “walk your way to health record sheet” for you and your department. (post department record sheet somewhere easily accessible to everyone such as a break room). Log in your daily steps on your record sheet and at the end of April tally up department totals.

Pedometers available through Health Promotion: Contact the Health Promotion Department
@ (209) 558-5657 to reserve your pedometers (HP will ship out to off-site locations ).

Next: Fax your department totals to the health promotion department @ (209) 558-7135 or email them to tpaul@schsa.org. Please note how many employees participated as well as your department name before sending in. Record sheets without this information will be disqualified. Individual and department prizes will be awarded to those with highest totals during the month of May.

Getting Started: Start by setting aside time during lunch. Walk with your department or a group of co-works around your campus sites.

If your area is not walkable we encourage you to walk at home with your families (don’t forget to log in your step on your record sheet). Having a hard time increasing your steps on a daily basis? It’s simple save Friday as your walking day and rack up your steps then.

April 5 - 8

Did you know that the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents has doubled in the last twenty years and tripled over the past forty years? Research shows that overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults and, therefore, are at greater risk for associated health problems. In fact, 60 percent of overweight five - to - ten year old children already have at least one risk factor for heart disease.

Implement the same healthy diet (rich in fruits, vegetables and grains) for your entire family, not just for selected individuals. Eat meals together at the dinner table at regular times. Avoid rushing to finish meals and remember to turn off the TV during mealtimes.

Unhealthy eating & physical inactivity, together, can result in overweight or obese children. Research indicates that excess weight and physical inactivity put children at risk for chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, some cancers and asthma. In addition, 50% of overweight adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. Help your children have better eating habits by providing breakfast everyday, even when you are in a rush!! Make simple choices such as; yogurt, toast, cereal with non-fat milk or fruit. Encourage children to play hard for at least 30 to 60 minutes a day or check the local YMCAs and schools for exercise programs.

* Take a leading role in your child’s health set goals and help them succeed! Poor diets and physical inactivity were responsible for 400,000 deaths in the United States in 2000 and cost California an estimated $7.7 billion (medical expenditures).

There are some recent studies that have linked sleep, appetite and obesity. Overweight subjects who slept less, had lower levels of leptin, a hormone that acts on the central nervous system to suppress food intake and stimulate energy expenditure, and higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, fat production and body growth. Those who were sleep deprived also had more cravings for high carb foods.

(As Americans, our hectic lives have led us to sleep less, and we have grown fatter!)

For the whole family:
* Maintain regular bed and wake time, including weekends. (Kids from 5 to 12 years need 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night)
* Establish regular, relaxing bedtime routines.
* Finish eating at least two to three hours before your regular bedtime.
* Exercise regularly.
* Avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.
* Avoid nicotine.

March 21 - 25

According to reseachers from the University of Massachusetts and the University of South Carolina, if you're among those who skip breakfast, you're enjoying a 4.5 times greater risk of becoming obese than people who regularly partake of that vital morning meal. Breakfast skippers end up consuming higher total daily calories than those who spend a few quality moments with their favorite sugar-free cereal.

Studies also revealed that frequently eating out in the morning generates more than twice the risk of obesity than dining at home. Researchers recommend that you break your fast each day at your own kitchen table.

March 7 - 11

Another reason to avoid Type 2 Diabetes: it may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65%, according to a recent study of 824 nuns and priests (average age of 75) in the Archives of Neurology. Two earlier studies found that diabetes doubles the risk of Alzheimer's and other research has shown that it can impair cognitive function and memory.

February 25- 28

If you have high blood triglycerides, consider adding flaxseeds, walnuts, and canola oil to your diet. They are rich in an omega - 3 fat called alpha-linolenic acid, which appears to lower triglyceride levels, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study. Research has shown that alpha-linolenic acid helps protect the heart, though it has never been explained how. So this study provides one likely reason: by reducing triglycerides, alpha-linolenic acid could lower the risk of heart disease. But watch out for the extra calories - weight gain could cancel out the beneficial effect.

February 21- 25

To lower your blood cholesterol, consider drinking sterol-fortified orange juice (one brand is Minute Maid's Heart Wise OJ). This contains the same kind of plant compounds found in special cholesterol-lowering margarines, such as Benecol. In a recent study from the University of California, Davis, people who drank a cup of the juice with breakfast and dinner for eight weeks lowered their LDL ("bad") cholesterol by 13%, on average. Watch out for the calories, however: two cups supply 220 calories a day. Don't pay a premium for the "healthy heart" claims of the other types of OJ that are merely fortified with vitamin E, extra C, and B vitamins. There's no evidence that such juice will protect your heart.

February 14 - 18

Another reason to avoid trans fat, found in many packaged foods and fast foods: not only does it raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol, it also increases inflammation in the body, according to a recent study of 823 nurses. Chronic low-grade inflammation is an important player in cardiovascular disease. Weight also affects inflammation levels, as was seen in another study in the same issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In a group of overweight or obese people over 60, those who lost weight via calorie reduction significantly reduced inflammation levels.

February 7 - 11

If you are taking a cholesterol-lowering drug, it's still important to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. It's not an "either/or" decision. Studies show that diet can enhance the effects of the medication. In addition, heart disease is a complex problem, and cholesterol is only one important factor affecting it. A diet rich in fruits, whole grains, and vegetables, together with exercise, can help you avoid obesity, diabetes and hypertension, all of which can contribute to heart disease, even if your cholesterol levels are good