CommonHealth Weekly Wellnote

March 14, 2024 / Get Well

How can your Virginia State Employee Wellness Program help? The CommonHealth programs and campaigns cover a variety of health topics and are available in a range of formats to meet the needs of different workplaces. Highly skilled wellness consultants provide the latest on stress, sleep, nutrition, exercise and more for faculty/staff meetings, special events, conferences, benefit fairs, safety meetings, lunch and learns, etc. They provide traditional, in-person presentations and displays as well as virtual presentations, on-demand videos and seasonal health-related challenges that are fun and engaging. Visit the website to see how CommonHealth can help you. If you’re looking to book an event in April or May, connect sooner rather than later to ensure you get a date that works for you.

Check out this week’s updates from CommonHealth.

  • For more tips on forming healthier habits from health insurance provider Aetna, click here.
  • Sign up here for CommonHealth’s Wellness Wednesdays messages. 
  • It’s National Nutrition Month! Read more about CommonHealth’s Sweet Surrender Campaign.
  • Establishing healthier habits can be challenging, so seek support along the way. You don’t have to do it alone!
    • Your Office of Employee Wellness and Wellbeing is here to support your efforts to build, maintain or strengthen your chosen wellness habits. 
    • Consider enlisting the help of your family, friends and colleagues; they can help keep you accountable and committed.
    • TimelyCare offers a new service for all employees: health coaching!
    • Health insurance providers like Anthem and Aetna also offer health coaching to eligible full-time state employees. Increase your familiarity with your NOVA employee benefits plan. Use the available tools, incentives and offerings to help stay on track.

Title panel spanning the top: "CommonHealth Weekly Wellnote" with rainbow swoop. URL: CommonHealth dot Virginia dot gov Main article spanning width of flyer: Create Healthier Habits (with stock photo of two stacked road signs. The yellow sign, on top and pointing left, reads: "Old Habits." The white sign, on bottom and pointing right, reads: "New Habits.") Healthy lifestyle behaviors go a long way to help prevent chronic disease. Creating healthier habits can be challenging, so Aetna offers the following tips to help: - Set SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic (or Relevant) and Timely. - Connect new habits to current habits, such as walking on the treadmill (new) while watching the news (current). - Replace a not-so-healthy habit with a healthier one, such as having a hot cup of herbal tea in the mornings instead of a sugary coffee. - Be patient. Habit change takes time, and slip-ups happen. Get back to the new habit as soon as possible, and allow an average of 66 days for it to stick. Blurb under photo: See the attachment for more info on habit change, and check with your health insurance plan for free resources, such as health coaching, that can help! Three shorter columns below: Fuel Brain Health with Sweet Surrender (with stock photo of a large pile of colorful candy; above candy is a large magnifying glass through which the word "SUGAR" is visible in all caps against a white background) It’s National Nutrition Month. Let’s celebrate all the ways food helps to fuel our health, including brain health. While the brain’s preferred energy source is sugar, too much can lead to memory and cognitive deficiencies. Contact your CommonHealth agency coordinator (or HR benefits administrator) to schedule a Sweet Surrender presentation and learn more! Wellness Wednesday Sign-Up (against transparent background of a colorfully striped hot air balloon floating in the sky) Need a lift? Sign up for Wellness Wednesdays to receive brief, uplifting messages each week. Blue oblong button with "Sign up for Wellness Wednesdays" in black text; below button is "Wellness Wednesdays" logo with concentric blue lines and the tagline "healthy, uplifting ideas each week," CommonHealth rainbow swoop at bottom A Little Bit Healthier This Week (with stock images of a jar of peanut butter, a banana, and a yogurt parfait topped with berries) There are many factors that contribute to mood, and research shows that the food we eat is one of them. Create a good mood/food cycle by stocking up on snacks shown to help boost mood, such as yogurt, berries, bananas, and nuts. The most effective snacks contain both protein and fiber, so try pairing yogurt with berries or bananas with almond butter for some feel-good yet filling snacks. At bottom: Contact CommonHealth: wellness at dhrm dot virginia dot gov

For questions regarding this week’s communication or the CommonHealth program, please reach out to your respective campus coordinator below:

Submitted by:
Dahlia Henry-Tett, Chief Wellness Officer (CWO), employeewellbeing@nvcc.edu