CommonHealth Wellnote

February 11, 2025 / Get Well

How can your Virginia State Employee Wellness Program help? CommonHealth offers diverse wellness programs for Virginia state employees through expert consultants. They provide in-person and virtual presentations, videos and seasonal challenges covering topics like stress, sleep, nutrition and exercise. These can be integrated into various workplace events including meetings, conferences and lunch-and-learn sessions. If you’re looking to book an event in March, connect sooner rather than later to ensure you get a date that works for you. Click here to view this week’s CommonHealth Wellnote. Check out this week’s highlights below.

Join Eating for a Healthy Heart Webinar, Wednesday, February 19, 12 – 1 p.m.
Learn all about the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) meal plan and other heart healthy eating tips. This webinar is presented by Kaiser Permanente and is available to ALL employees.

Spotlight on Heart Health: A Path to Better Blood Pressure
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet helps manage high blood pressure by emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and low-fat dairy while limiting sodium. Research shows it can lower systolic blood pressure by up to 11 points! Simple swaps like using herbs instead of salt and choosing whole grains can make a difference. Many health plans offer free health coaching for support. Small changes can lead to big heart health benefits—one meal at a time!

Try It This Week: Tips to Start the DASH Diet
- Check out this attachment from the NIH for more DASH tips.
- Visit this NIH site for more DASH friendly recipes.
Benefits Buzz: Health Coaching
- Your Health Insurance providers like Anthem and Aetna offer health coaching to eligible full-time state employees. A health coach can support you in reaching your health goals such as managing stress, losing weight, quitting smoking and more. Check out the VA Employee Health and Wellness Benefits Guide for more details.
- TimelyCare also offers health coaching for ALL employees regardless of benefits status.

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

Three plates with healthy food and the wording common health wellnote.

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