CommonHealth Weekly Wellnote

July 2, 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 July/August, connect sooner rather than later to ensure you get a date that works for you.

Check out this week’s updates from CommonHealth.

Commonhealth Weekly Wellnote masthead: Black background with rainbow swish and grey/blue/white logo CommonHealth Weekly Wellnote, common health dot virginia dot gov. Top centered panel: June is National Safety Month, National Safety Month logo: Blue horizontal stripe with yellow text "June." Green section with white text: National Safety Month an NSC initiative. Section text: Safety matters every day of the year, but during June, it gets the extra attention it deserves so we can all stay safe, from the workplace to any place! Proper ergonomics play a key role in office safety. If you spend most of your day seated, you may be able to avoid some of the associated health problems such as neck and back pain and sore wrists and shoulders, by properly setting up your desk space. Chair height, equipment spacing and desk posture all make a difference in preventing injuries. CommonHealth's new campaign, Back on Track, provides some great tips to help prevent back injuries. Left column: Get back on track. CommonHealth's Guide to a Healthier Back (watermark illustration of man standing and stretching out his back and neck). Don't let back pain derail your plans. Learn simple, proven ways to improve back health with our latest program. Contact your CommonHealth agencyh coordinator (or HR benefits administrator) to schedule Back on Track, an informative and interactive presentation that's an ideal fit during staff meetings, lunch and learns and other employee events. Center panel: Leading the Wellness Way. Illustration of woman on a scale balancing a fruits/vegetables (nutrition), moon (sleep), a heart (relationships) a clock (schedule) a desk (work). A culture of wellness empowers employees to be healthier, happier and more productive by creating healthy habits. Commonhealth is here to assist managers and supervisors in creating wellness opportunities for their team. To get started, sign up to receive the monthly Minute with a Manager! Delivered right to your inbox, these quick and easy educational tips will help get your office started on the way tio wellness. Eliptical button marked "Sign up," forms dot office dot com slash g slash 661fges4LM. Right column: A little bit healthier this week. Hydration is crucial to your health. With warmer weather here to stay for a while, it is very important to focus on hydration. Fill up your favorite insulated water bottle each morning and infuse it with flavor using fruits or herbs. Eating water-based foods like watermelon and cucumbers also helps. Remember, water is worth its weight in gold when it comes to your health! illustration of an insulated water bottle with fruits and herbs around it. Black band, contact commonhealth: wellness at dhrm dot virginia dot gov

NOTES:

Proper ergonomics plays a key role in office safety. If you spend most of your day seated, you may be able to avoid some of the associated health problems, such as neck and back pain and sore wrists and shoulders, by properly setting up your desk space. Chair height, equipment spacing, and desk posture all make a difference in preventing injuries.

CommonHealth’s new campaign, Back on Track, provides some great tips to help prevent back injuries. Check out this useful guide for tips to set your workspace up in a way that protects your back and body. Follow these tips for more information:

Stretch regularly– Keeping your chest and shoulders open can help you feel less muscle tension and realign your posture. Try this chair yoga session from the Engage Anywhere team to hit the reset button for your body and loosen up your tight spots.

Walk when you are on break– Getting up and moving your body breaks up bouts of sitting and relieves tightness from staying in the same position too long. Even if you can’t walk outside, try walking the perimeter of your work location or doing some movement in place if space is limited.

Set up your workplace – Revisit CommonHealth’s ergonomics program to check your workspace arrangement. The positioning of your chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse or other tools can have dramatic effects on how your body interacts with them. Check your spacing to minimize the impacts on your body.

Drinking water is essential to your overall health and wellbeing. Nearly all of your body’s major systems rely on it to function properly. There are many ways to boost the flavor of water, including infusing it with fruits, veggies and herbs. Check out this handy 2-pager to learn how to safely infuse your own drinking water. 

While drinking water is essential, you can consume a significant amount of water by including a variety of water-rich fruits and vegetables in your diet. You don’t need to rely only on water to meet your fluid needs. Many fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon, grapefruit, tomatoes, cucumbers and spinach, have a high water content.

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

Submitted by:
Faith Redd-Walker, Office of Employee Wellness and Wellbeing, employeewellbeing@nvcc.edu