Newsletters

Click here or read below for this month's issue of the Healthy U newsletter, a resource to help keep you healthy and well at Hood.

Hood College

February 2021

Give your heart some X’s and O’s this month

Content provided by UMR

Is your heart getting all the TLC it needs? February is American Heart Month and is the ideal time to commit to giving your heart more love and attention. Here are ve ways to spoil your body’s most important muscle — and keep it pumping strong.

1. Take your heart for a walk. Staying active by simply putting one foot in front of the other is one of the easiest ways to help protect your heart. Walking is free, simple to do and there’s a low risk of injury. Bundle up in layers to stay warm and wear your mask if walking in a busy, crowded area.

2. Feed your heart smart snacks. Try heart-friendly options like whole-grain crackers with canned tuna or salmon, a fruit or veggie smoothie, plain popcorn, or low-fat yogurt topped with berries. These snacks are low in cholesterol and high in ber to help keep your heart healthy.

3. Test your heart. High blood cholesterol can raise your risk of heart disease, a heart attack or a stroke. But it usually doesn’t cause symptoms. That’s why all adults 20 and older need their cholesterol tested on a regular basis. Healthy adults should have it checked every 4-6 years.

4. Stress your heart less. When tension mounts, talk out problems with a trusted friend, family member or counselor. And try to replace negative thoughts with positive ones — for example, replace “I’ve really messed up,” with “Everybody makes mistakes,” or “I can’t do this,” with “I’ll give it my best shot.”

5. Tend to your heart with thanks. Research shows that practicing gratitude is good medicine for your heart and health. It can lower blood pressure and boost your immune system, and it can help you engage in healthy behaviors. To feel more thankful, try keeping a gratitude journal. Look for your blessings — large and small — and write them down.

Managing Chronic Illness

If you are living with a chronic illness such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, we have resources available for education, prevention and and disease management.

One Million Hearts

Hood Million Hearts® begins the week of February 22, 2021. This on-campus program is lead by Dr. Jennifer Cooper and Hood Nursing students. Get a free home blood-pressure monitor, help to learn how to use it and coaching by our team based on your health goals throughout the semester. To learn more and to register: https://www.hood.edu/hood-million- hearts If you've already registered--thank you! We will be in touch with you next week to set up a time to meet.

Diabetes Prevention Programs (Frederick County Health Department)
Dr. Cooper and her Nursing students are working with partners in Frederick County to develop a program for the Hood College community on diabetes education and prevention. More information will be coming soon!

UMR Health Coaching
Is health coaching right for you? UMR offers expert resources and personal support to help people with certain ongoing health conditions. If you are a participant in the Hood College Health Plan through UMR, you may be eligible to meet with a UMR CARE nurse if you have one or more chronic conditions. Click here for more information.

Other Insurance Providers
If you have health coverage outside of Hood College, be sure to reach out your health insurance company or your health care provider to see what programs you may be available to you. Many of these programs are free to plan members who meet certain criteria.

Meditation

On-line Mindfulness Meditation: Stress-proof Your Brain, Thursdays , 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. All are welcome. Contact omalley@hood.edu for the Zoom link.

Hood College is ocially a Koru school. Please contact Beth (omalley@hood.edu) for more information about opportunities for on-campus meditation.

Safe Embrace is a healing ritual offered to those who have experienced abuse or assault. For more information about this special program for healing, please contact omalley@hood.edu

Thinking about whether meditation is right for you? There a many programs and apps, some free and some fee-based, to assist you. Many use apps like Calm or Headspace. If you are interested, there is a new program on Netix https://www.headspace.com/netix that offers an introduction to the practice.

Hood College Walking Group

Brought to you by Staff Council. Join us Fridays 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., at the front steps of Coblentz Dining Hall. Weather Permitting. All are welcome!! Contribute to your good health by getting regular exercise!! Masks are required.

Healthy U website updates

The HealthyU website has been updated and we will continue to add content over the next several months. Check it out and let Meg Timmons (timmons@hood.edu) know if you have any suggestions for additional content improvements.

Hood College Wellness

Facebook @hood_college

401 Rosemont Avenue, Frederi... cevaillost@hood.edu hood.edu

Healthy "U" February Newsletter

Hello Blazers,
February's Healthy "U" Newsletter contains information on the following topics: Addiction support, Million Hearts, 28 Miles in 28 Days competition, The Frederick Running Festival, and Healthy Maryland Businesses “Livable Frederick” master plan. Also included are reminders about ongoing healthy campus activities. If you would like to be a contributor to the Healthy U Newsletter or have ideas and comments regarding Hood College health initiatives, please contact Teresa Cevallos, Director of Wellness cevallost@hood.edu.

Addiction, loved ones, and support
Lisa Copenhaver, Director of Student Success

We hear about rising addiction rates almost daily, and we may even witness friends and family members who suffer from the illness. We can't escape alcoholism and drug addiction, but help is available for those who are suffering. Whether you suffer from addiction or love someone who does, these Frederick-area groups can help:

Alcoholic Anonymous Where and When information: West Center Intergroup of Maryland, 22 South Market Street, Suite 7, Frederick 21701 (301) 662-0544

Narcotics Anonymous Where and When information: (800) 407-7195

Al-Anon Where and When information:(240) 285-9831

Al-Anon and Alateen are support groups for those affected by their loved one's alcoholism. Alcoholism has been called a family disease because it truly affects the loved ones of the alcoholic. If you have a friend or a family member you worry about daily, take care of yourself today and join an Al-anon group. It's important for you to take care of YOU.

Hood College’s director of wellness, Teresa Cevallos, and I are offering a support group for students affected by alcoholism. The TLC group (Listening and Caring group) is a closed Al-Anon group only for Hood students who are affected by the disease by having a loved one suffering from alcoholism. The group will meet in Apple 6 every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. while classes are in session.

"Livable Frederick" Master Plan
Please see the attached letter of invitation from Angela Blair, MSW, MS, MCHES®, CWWS, Community Health Educator, Healthiest Maryland Businesses Regional Coordinator, Frederick County Health Department about the “Livable Frederick” master plan.

February is Heart Month and the Re-Start of Hood Million Hearts®!
Join us and be ONE in a MILLION! Get a FREE home blood pressure monitor and coaching to help you make positive changes in your health! To learn more about and register, click here.

28 Miles in 28 Days competition through the month of February
You can either walk or run. This is open to all faculty, staff, and students. The person who completes the most miles in 28 days, will receive a prize.
Competition Details
1. Click here to sign up
     * Signing up works best when imputing your miles from a desktop computer or laptop.
     * Enter your name on one of the blue columns.
     * Once you have entered your name on the spreadsheet, please email Bethany Allen or Jaron Thomas
        to confirm your participation.
2. Begin to log your miles in your designated column. This works best when imputing your miles from a desktop computer or laptop. You may do as many miles a day, as you’d like. The goal is to accumulate 28 miles in February.
3. All miles must be done on campus in the Hood College Fitness Center (Ronald J. Volpe Athletic Center). You may use the treadmill, bike, or elliptical. Miles done outside of the fitness center will not count.
4. Fitness Center Hours
     * 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday - Thursday
     * 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday
     *11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
5. Any questions regarding the competition or use of any of the equipment should be directed towards Bethany Allen or Jaron Thomas.

Spring Break Safety Event
Community and college representatives will be in Whitaker Commons, Wednesday Feb. 27,to talk with students about having a fun and safe spring break. The Substance Abuse Prevention committee is sponsoring the event and will provide food, games and giveaways!

Attention all runners (avid, casual or “wanna be”)
The Frederick Running Festival will take place May 4 and 5. Hood College has been invited to be a corporate partner, which means that our Faculty and Staff would be eligible to receive a 15 percent discount on the registration fees for the event (1/2 marathon, relay, or 5K) if we have at least five individuals register. If you are interested in registering (or already have registered) please contact Meg Timmons or x3542. Once we confirm five participants will register, we can get the discount code. For information about the Frederick Running Festival please click here.

Flu Shots
Get your flu shot at Hood College Health Services FMH Toll House, 501 West 7th Street. Walk-ins are welcome 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Most insurances are accepted or $23 self-pay. If you have questions, please call (301) 698-8374.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
"Stress-proof Your Brain," Mondaysand Thursdays, 12:45-1:15 p.m. Coffman Chapel basement. Drop-ins are welcome!

Weekly Chapel Services
Weekly Chapel Services 12:30-1 p.m., Tuesday afternoons, Coffman Chapel.

Hood College Walking Group - All Are Welcome!
Join members of your Staff Council and Hood community members at 11:45 a.m. Fridays at the front steps of Alumnae Hall. ALL are welcome regardless of fitness level. The group is prepared to accommodate fast walkers and not-so-fast walkers. The walk is approximately 30 minutes and will take place rain or shine. Regular participants will be entered in a drawing to win prizes. Make a commitment, be healthy!

Holiday Safety Tips
Teresa Cevallos, Director of Wellness

Brighten the holidays by making your health and safety a priority. Take steps to keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy—and ready to enjoy the holidays. The following are recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.

1. Wash hands often to help prevent the spread of germs. It’s flu season. Wash your hands with soap and clean running water for at least 20 seconds.
2. Bundle up to stay dry and warm. Wear appropriate outdoor clothing: light, warm layers, gloves, hats, scarves, and waterproof boots.
3. Manage stress. Give yourself a break if you feel stressed out, overwhelmed, and out of control. Some of the best ways to manage stress are to find support, connect socially, and get plenty of sleep.
4. Don’t drink and drive or let others drink and drive. Whenever anyone drives drunk, they put everyone on the road in danger. Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.
5. Be smoke-free. Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke. Smokers have greater health risks because of their tobacco use, but nonsmokers also are at risk when exposed to tobacco smoke.
6. Fasten seat belts while driving or riding in a motor vehicle. Always buckle your children in the car using a child safety seat, booster seat, or seat belt according to their height, weight, and age. Buckle up every time, no matter how short the trip and encourage passengers to do the same.
7. Get exams and screenings. Ask your health care provider what exams you need and when to get them. Update your personal and family history.
8. Get your vaccinations. Vaccinations help prevent diseases and save lives. Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine each year.
9. Monitor children. Keep potentially dangerous toys, food, drinks, household items, and other objects out of children’s reach. Protect them from drowning, burns, falls, and other potential accidents.
10. Practice fire safety. Most residential fires occur during the winter months, so don’t leave fireplaces, space heaters, food cooking on stoves, or candles unattended. Have an emergency plan and practice it regularly.
11. Prepare food safely. Remember these simple steps: Wash hands and surfaces often, avoid cross-contamination, cook foods to proper temperatures and refrigerate foods promptly.
12. Eat healthy, stay active. Eat fruits and vegetables which pack nutrients and help lower the risk for certain diseases. Limit your portion sizes and foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. Also, be active for at least 2½ hours a week and help kids and teens be active for at least 1 hour a day.

In the message above from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we are given advice regarding ways to enjoy a safe and healthy holiday. The first enumeration is hand washing. Why is washing your hands top priority? It’s the best and most effective way to prevent the spread of infection and illness. Hand washing with soap removes germs from hands. This helps prevent infections because:

• People frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick.
• Microorganisms from unwashed hands can get into foods and drinks while people prepare or consume them. Germs can multiply in some types of foods or drinks, under certain conditions, and make people sick
• Microbes from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects, like handrails, table tops, or toys, and then transferred to another person’s hands.
• Removing germs through hand washing; therefore, helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections.

Hand washing helps battle the rise in antibiotic resistance.

Preventing sickness reduces the amount of antibiotics people use and the likelihood that antibiotic resistancewill develop. Hand washing can prevent about 30% of diarrhea-related sicknesses and about 20% of respiratory infections (e.g., colds). Antibiotics often are prescribed unnecessarily for these health issues. Reducing the number of these infections by washing hands frequently helps prevent the overuse of antibiotics—the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world. Hand washing can also prevent people from getting sick with germs that are already resistant to antibiotics and that can be difficult to treat. Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/why-handwashing.html

Be inspired to stay in the spirit of good health! Listen to The 12 Ways to Health Holiday Song or a holiday health podcast .

Flu Shots
Get your flu shot at Hood College Health Services FMH Toll House, 501 West 7th Street. Walk-ins are welcome Monday-Friday 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 8 am-6 p.m. Most insurances are accepted or $23 self-pay. If you have questions, please call (301) 698-8374.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
"Stress-proof Your Brain", Monday afternoons 12:30-1 p.m., and Thursday afternoons, 12:45-1:15 p.m., Coffman Chapel basement. Drop-ins are welcome!

Koru Mindfulness Meditation
This special, five-week introductory meditation class will be offered Mondays beginning Oct. 22-Nov. 19, 5-6 p.m. in the Coffman Chapel. Email omalley@hood.edu for more information.

Weekly Chapel Services
Weekly services on Tuesday afternoons, 12:30-1 p.m., Coffman Chapel.

Hood College Walking Group - All Are Welcome!
Join members of your Staff Council and Hood community members on Fridays at 11:45 a.m. at the front steps of Alumnae Hall.. ALL are welcome regardless of fitness level. The group is prepared to accommodate fast walkers and not-so-fast walkers. The walk is approximately 30 minutes and will take place rain or shine. Regular participants will be entered in a drawing to win prizes. Make a commitment, be healthy!

Diversity and Inclusion: It Promotes Everyone's Health
Travis Eichelberger, Director of Diversity & Inclusion

As we conclude our official 125th Anniversary celebration of Hood College with a beautiful rededication of our iconic pillars, it is a reminder that our community is founded on strong, lasting concepts. Hope, Opportunity, Obligation, and Democracy are all encompassed in the virtues of a compassionate and empathetic community. Inclusivity is often defined by those same guiding principles. Inclusive behavior is the act of encouraging and fostering hope in others that they will be accepted, allowed to be authentic, and given the tools to be successful. Inclusive experiences are filled with the opportunity to follow your passion and to express your true self along the way. Inclusive institutional structures have an obligation to support all members in every venture and to respect the differences between us. Inclusive communities have a democratic duty to equitably distribute power and protect those who are underrepresented.

Have you ever entered a situation, space, or experience with the preconceived notion that these principles are not going to be present? Have you encountered structures and people who were not entrenched in these philosophies? Most of us have at one point or another. These experiences have conditioned many to enter situations with fear, doubt, prejudice, and overall negative stress. This stress is either relieved or reinforced during the first few moments of a new experience. Even if the worry was unfounded, the stress has had the opportunity to cause lasting damage to our mental and physical health.

According to the Mayo Clinic, common effects of stress on your body include headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, upset stomachs, and sleep problems. Mental effects of stress can include depression, increased aggression, restlessness, and a lack of focus. This negative impact on our health can lead to unhealthy eating, aggressive behavior, drug or alcohol use, and social isolation.

College is naturally stressful for students, faculty, staff, parents and loved ones. While we often hear of the ways to lessen stress caused by academic rigor, we do not often talk about those additional social stresses added through non-inclusive behaviors and attitudes. Mindful meditation, yoga, exercise, better diets, and getting enough sleep can all help to counter the effects of stress. Time management, proper study skills, and self-care activities can cut back on creating new stress. What I don’t hear often enough is that getting to know others, understanding and listening to different views, trying new foods and cultures, attempting to be a little less prejudiced, stereotyping less, and changing the world around you through friendships are all great ways to create less stress for yourself and for others.

Go out and make a new friend this week, try a new food, ask someone about what they care about or believe. Listen more, talk less, and love deeper.

The Office of Diversity & Inclusion is in the Whitaker Campus Center, Student Life Suite, room #222. I can also be reached via email at diversity@hood.edu or at 301-696-3563.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Relax and learn stress reduction techniques by mediating with Beth O'Malley in the McHenry Interfaith Prayer Room, Monday and Thursday afternoons, 12:30-1 p.m., Coffman Chapel basement. A new, five-week introductory meditation class (the Koru program based at Duke University) will be offered in October. Dates will be announced soon.

Weekly Chapel Services
Weekly services on Tuesday afternoons, 12:30-1 p.m., Coffman Chapel.

Healthy "U" September Newsletter

Stay Healthy While Sitting at a Computer All Day
Dr. Aijuan Dong, Associate Professor of Computer Science

With a career involving computers, I spend long hours each day sitting, staring and typing. Even when I am not working, I spend significant time on my computer for entertainment. Many years of wear and tear finally took a toll on my body, and I was forced to learn how to “behave” myself behind the desk. The bits and pieces below are what I have learned during this journey. Please keep in mind that my degree is in computer science, not occupational health.

Eye and Vision
Eye and vision problems are caused by locking your eyes in the same position for long periods. Your eye muscles are strained, gradually weakened, and eventually unable to contract or relax properly, which makes it more difficult to see objects close by or far away.

The following few simple tips helped me and may help you as well:
* Blink often. When staring at screens, humans blink about a half or a third of what they normally would, which leads to dry, irritated and tired eyes. Blinking bathes your eyes in tears, and tears are naturally therapeutic for the eyes.
* Follow the 20/20/20 rule. For every 20 minutes looking at a computer screen, look at an object 20 feet or more away for 20 seconds. It takes about 20 seconds for your eyes to completely relax. Alternately, you can take a 15-minute break for every two hours of screen time. I often combine these two approaches since it is hard for me to strictly follow the 20/20/20 approach.
* Position your monitor correctly. Two factors come into play: viewing angle and viewing distance (Figure 1). For laptops, a desktop stand or riser is a wise investment. A few thick books will do the trick as well.

Figure 1. Position the Monitor
Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

Back, Neck and Shoulder
Lower back pain is often the result of sitting for long periods of time in a chair without proper support to the lower back (lumbar) region. Tilting the head backward or forward causes a pain in the neck and shoulders, which commonly happens when the monitor is either too high or too low. Improper placement of work materials is another common cause of neck problems.

A few simple ways to prevent these problems:

* Stretch, stand up, or walk around in the office as much as possible. Do not worry about losing efficiency—doing this while thinking and taking breaks is conducive to efficiency.
* When at home or when you can close your office door for some quiet work, wear a lumbosacral belt to prevent you from slipping into that improper posture.
* Maintain neutral body postures while working at the computer workstation (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Ergonomics using a computer workstation
Source: OSHA Computer Workstations eTool

Arm and Wrist
Arm and wrist problems are commonly caused by constant and consistent repetition of arm and wrist movement and overuse, i.e., Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Untreated symptoms can progress from pain to unusual clumsiness, and may lead to irreparable nerve damage.

A few simple ways to prevent arm and wrist injuries:

*Hold the mouse lightly and learn to operate it with both hands.

*Relax your arms or stretch during breaks (Figure 3). Find one routine that works for you, or, even better, combine a few and create your own.

Figure 3. Ergonomics Exercises (partial)
Source: click here (adapted from Ergonomics from University of Western Ontario)

Mobile Device andTablet Usage
According to data released by Statcounter, mobile and tablet internet usage exceeded desktop usage for the first time worldwide in November 2016, with 51.3 percent of visits coming from mobile devices compared to 48.7 percent of visits from traditional computing platforms. Some issues are unique to mobile usage. More information on these issues can be found in the resources below.

Bibliography and Resources:
*"Position the Monitor." Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2016. Web. 21 July 2017
*"The 20/20/20 Rule." Oregon State University, 2011. Web. 21 July 2017.
*The Keys to Healthy Computing: A Health and Safety Handbook." AFSCME. N.p., 2008. Web. 21 July 2017.
*"What Are the Health Risks Associated with Mobile Phones and Their Base Stations?" WHO. World Health Organization, 2013. Web. 21 July 2017.
* Naeem, Zahid. “Health Risks Associated with Mobile Phones Use.” International Journal of Health Sciences 8.4 (2014): V–VI. Print.

Get the Shot Not the Flu
If you would like a flu vaccine, you may come into Hood College Health CenterMonday - Friday from 9 a.m .-6 p.m. The cost of the vaccine is $15.00 cash or check made out to Hood College. Please see the attachments with details about the 2017 flu vaccine.

Food Day - October 24
The Graduate School and Healthy "U" are jointly sponsoring this year's Food Day event in the WhitakerCampus Center Commons from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Food Day is a nationwide event that "brings Americans together to celebrate and enjoy real food and to push for improved food policies. Learn more about the movement here. Email gofurther@hood.edu for additional details.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Relax and learn stress reduction techniques by meditating with Beth O'Malley in the McHenry Interfaith Prayer Room, Monday and Thursday afternoons, 12:30-1 p.m., Coffman Chapel basement.

Weekly Chapel Services
Services have moved to Tuesday afternoons, 12:30-1 p.m..

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga sessions will continue in the fall.

Healthy "U" August Newsletter

Hood College Maintains a Drug-Free Campus
Teresa Cevallos, BSN, RN, Director of Health Services & Thurmond Maynard, Director of Campus Safety

Hood College continues to maintain a drug-free campus in compliance with county, state and federal regulations. Different strategies are used in order to meet the compliance standards. The college has recently completed a biennial review that discusses the strategies and policies in place to maintain a campus free of drugs and abuse of illegal substances. Click here to review the link.

A new state-mandated strategy to maintain a drug-free campus requires all public schools and institutions of higher education to begin stocking the drug Naloxone, more commonly known by its prescription name Narcan, and training staff on how to administer it. The Heroin and Opioid Education and Community Action Act of 2017, or the Start Talking Maryland Act, sets several requirements for schools in response to the continuing rise in opioid-related overdose deaths across the state. In addition to storing Naloxone, Hood College is responsible for developing specific policies for its use, expanding courses on opioid addiction, providing outreach and addiction education to the campus community, stocking Naloxone on campus, training designated personnel on administering the medication and providing in-person drug awareness training to students.

The new bill includes a clause that exempts school nurses and other personnel from personal liability while responding to an emergency and the state's Good Samaritan law protects anyone who seeks or provides medical attention during an overdose.

This is what the Campus Safety and Security Staff, and Health Center Staff have done so far:

• Campus Safety and Health Center staff have been trained by Frederick County Behavioral Health Services to administer Naloxone (Narcan).
• Naloxone (Narcan) is kept in stock by Campus Safety and the Health Center.
• A policy and procedure for the administration of Naloxone (Narcan) has been developed.
• Opioid overdose awareness information will be provided to incoming students during orientation.
• The Director of Campus Safety (Chair) and the Director of Health Services (Co-chair) serve on the Drug & Alcohol Prevention Committee. If you are interested in joining the committee, please email the Director of Campus Safety at maynard@hood.edu.

What you can do to help: Attend free Overdose Response training offered at 1 p.m. every Friday by FrederickCounty Behavioral Health Services - conveniently located at 300-B School’s Lane, Frederick MD 21701. Telephone: 301-600-1775.

Please see the attached documents on Hood Health Center’s procedure for Naloxone Administration and Overdose Response training. You will find local resources for addiction treatment and Overdose Response training on this link.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Watch for the schedule this fall.

Weekly Chapel Services
Chapel services will resume in the fall.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga sessions will continue in the fall.

Healthy "U" July Newsletter

Whole Person Health - Health is not merely the absence of disease
by Dr. Paul Soong, Assistant Professor of Physical Education

What is health? In 1948, almost 70 years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

Good health should not be viewed simply as the absence of illness. The notion of good health has evolved considerably and continues to change as scientists learn more about lifestyle factors that bring on illness and affect wellness.

Inside our body, systems and organs work together as one team. For example, when you run, you only feel your muscles and skeleton working, but your heart, lungs, brain and all the other systems are working. All the systems support each other and affect each other.

Outside our body, a number of factors affect our health, such as the place we live, the people we contact, the job we do, the food we eat, the stress we have to deal with, the exercise we practice, and more. All the external factors affect our health, and they also affect each other.

Whole person health implies a constant and deliberate effort to stay healthy and achieve the highest potential for well-being, which requires implementing positive lifestyle habits to change behavior and thereby improve health and quality of life, prolong life, and achieve whole person heath. Living in whole person health is a personal choice, but you may need additional support to achieve your whole person health goal.

For example, you may be prepared to initiate an aerobic exercise program, but if you are not familiar with exercise prescription guidelines or places to exercise safely, or if you lack peer support or flexible scheduling to do so, you may have difficulty accomplishing your goal.

Similarly, if you want to quit smoking but do not know how to do it and everyone else around you smokes, the chances for success are limited. To some extent, the environment limits your choices.

Whole person health is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Whole person health is more than being free from illness; it is a dynamic process of change and growth.

Whole person health has eight dimensions: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, environmental, occupational, and financial. Each dimension of whole person health is interrelated with others. Each dimension is equally vital in the pursuit of optimum health. One can reach an optimal level of health by understanding how to maintain and optimize each of the dimensions of whole person health.

• Physical whole person health is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress.

• Social whole person health is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world and establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers.

• Emotional whole person health is the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges life can bring. It is also the ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness, stress, hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner.

• Intellectual whole person health is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community betterment. It includes the desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning.

• Spiritual whole person health is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives, develop congruency between values and actions, and realize a common purpose that binds creation together.

• Environmental whole person health is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. It includess the ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our environment, be it our homes, our communities or our planet.

• Occupational whole person health is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. It also includes the desire to contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society.

• Financial whole person health involves the process of learning how to successfully manage financial expenses. Financial stress is repeatedly found to be a common source of stress, anxiety and fear. Money plays a critical role in our lives, and not having enough of it impacts health.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Watch for the schedule this fall.

Weekly Chapel Services
Chapel services will resume in the fall.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga sessions will continue in the fall.

Healthy "U" June Newsletter

Make Time to Have the Conversation
by Sharon K. Smith M.A.'09, C'05, Benefits Manager

Life can be crazy--stresses, busyness, home/family needs, work responsibilities. It's hard-even impossible-to accomplish all we need to in a day, much less the things we want to do. When you're making your to-do list, or filling in your schedule, or setting your priorities, make sure to put You in your planning. What do you need to do for yourself both short-term and long-term? It's important to take care of yourself and not feel that focusing on your own health, attitude, and future is being selfish or taking time from other 'more important' things. This summer, take the time to think about what you need to be there for yourself and those important people in your life.

When we take the time to think about things to do for our well-being, lots of things come to mind--eat a more healthy diet (and maybe a bit less), get more exercise, stretch our minds, spend time with family, have some fun, connect with friends, etc.

Here's a different, and probably unexpected, idea. Make a deliberate plan to think about and complete your advance care planning decisions. This is a gift you give to yourself and to your family members. Share your decisions with those who will be in the position of making determinations for you if you're unable to do so for yourself. Explain what’s important to you and why. Initiate this decision-making conversation with your parents or other family members/friends for whom you may be the one making the determinations. It may be a difficult conversation to have, but it is so very worth it and is vitally important.

We're fortunate to have help and support here for this. Frederick Memorial Hospital has an Advance Care Planning Initiative. This initiative involves coordinating with many community-based organizations, assisted living facilities, faith-based communities, and primary care practices; holding workshops and discussions for the community, and providing opportunities for personal conversations and assistance with completing directives. More information about the FMH initiative is available at the FMH website.

Having the conversations, getting started, is the hardest part. Getting it on paper, continuing the talks, is much easier. The Conversation Project, a component of the FMH initiative, is a national campaign to encourage people to talk to each other about what's important to them, what they want during the last phase of their lives. Information about this is available by clicking here.

If you're interested in a free and interactive workshop about palliative care, hospice care, and advance directives, plan to attend Making Tough Choices on Wednesday, June 28. More detailed information, including how to pre-register, is available in the attached flyer. If you’re interested in a personal meeting and help with completing your directives, please contact:
Michelle Ross, LGSW
Advance Care Planning Social Worker
Frederick Memorial Hospital
400 West Seventh Street Frederick, MD 21701
240-651-4541 In-House Ext. 2579

As it says on the FMH Advance Care Planning Site,

It always seems too early, until it's too late. When it comes to end of life care, one conversation can make all the difference.

Do it for yourself and your family. It's a greater gift than you could ever imagine.

Monocacy Health Partners Presents: Making Tough Choices
This free educational workshop about Palliative Care, Hospice Care and Advance Directives will be held Wednesday, June 28, 4:30-6:30 p.m. For more information and to register please see the attached flyer.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Watch for the schedule this fall.

Weekly Chapel Services
Chapel services will resume in the fall.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga sessions will continue in the fall.

Healthy "U" May Newsletter

Games to Stimulate Your Mind
by Dr. Ann C. Stewart, Associate Professor of Mathematics

Every Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Mathematics hosts a Math Tea that is open to the campus community. Of course we have tea and snacks, but the real purpose of Math Tea is for students and faculty to spend time together learning about recreational mathematics topics and playing games. While they are always a nice break from the usual classwork, these games also clear the mind and get the creative juices flowing again! Here are three of our favorites, which are also suitable for playing at home with your friends and family:

SET
SET is a group speed game that can get quite competitive! This award-winning game calls on players to find three-card "sets" hiding within 12 cards arranged on the table in a rectangular grid. Each card has four characteristics: type of shape shown on the card, number of shapes, color of the shape, and shading of the shape. A set is produced when any three cards have either all matching or all different results for each of these four characteristics. When a set is spotted, the player yells"SET" and takes the cards. Once there are no more sets, the dealer replenishes the grid back up to twelve cards and play continues. The winner is the person with the most sets once the deck is depleted. For more information click here.

RUSH HOUR
This is one of our favorite games from the company ThinkFun, which is based in Alexandria, Virginia. RushHour is a sliding block puzzle game, where the player has to maneuver vehicles on a grid to get their car through the "traffic." Don't worry, this game will not cause the same stress that a typical rush-hour commute might provoke! There are also apps available for play on both Apple and Android devices. Learn more about Rush Hourhere.

SPOT IT
Spot It is another group speed card game. This game has 55 circular cards, each of which has eight symbols; in addition, each card has exactly one of these symbols in common with every other card in the deck. Five mini-games are based on matching the common symbol shared by a pair of cards. Check these games out at this website.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Watch for the schedule this fall.

Weekly Chapel Services
Chapel services will resume in the fall.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga sessions will continue in the fall.

Healthy "U" April Newsletter

Sexual Assault Awareness
by Zac Kauffman '17; Majoring in Law & Society and Business Administration with a Concentration in Human Resources; Zac is a Hood College Lacrosse Player

As you know, April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, and in this month, it is important for us to take a moment to reflect and have a conversation about sexual assault and domestic violence. Sexual assault and domestic violence are serious issues that affect many people we know and love. The damage victims experience is long-lasting. Too often we forget that the harm is not limited just to the individuals, but reverberates throughout our society. Despite the horrible impact of sexual assault and domestic violence, communities are seldom united in their attempt to address and combat these problems.

Many of the problems we have unifying an approach to sexual assault and domestic violence comes from how we communicate about it, and it starts with our perspectives and labeling of the issues. It is unfortunate that sexual assault and domestic violence are often labeled as "women's issues" when they are anything but. Dubbing sexual assault and domestic violence as "women's issues" shifts the responsibility for action away from men, making it seem as though these issues do not apply to men. It is imperative that we look at sexual assault and domestic violence as a societal matter. We can not be reliant on a few good men to help aid in the fight while the rest remain unresponsive and silent. We can not view sexual assault and domestic violence as a "women's issue." Men should and must help to focus efforts and attention on these issues in order to create an effective alliance against these heinous abuses within our society. As the great Martin Luther King Jr. said, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Without the participation of all members of our society, we aren't able to completely combat these issues. We must band together.

For this Sexual Assault Awareness month, members of the Hood College community, both men and women, are coming together to face the issues of sexual assault and domestic violence. The Women's Lacrosse team, the Men's Lacrosse team and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee are uniting to promote the One Love Foundation. The One Love Foundation, founded in honor of Yeardley Love, raises awareness about unhealthy relationships, and works to "help activate communities to change the statistics around relationship violence." The foundation advocates awareness and activism through an event called Yards for Yeardley, where the members of the community are invited to walk one million yards in a week. We are trying to reach this goal between April 17 to April 21 on the Thomas Athletic Field, and all are welcome. Information tables on the One Love Foundation and Yards for Yeardley will be set up in the Whitaker Campus CenterMonday, April 17, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm and in Coblentz DiningHall. Additionally, the Women's and Men's Lacrosse teams will play dedication games on April 13 and April 22. We hope to see you there!

One Love Committee pictured left to right: Christina Murphy '17, Zac Kauffman '17, Samantha Bauer '19, Larissa Pena '20, Danny Capps '18, Samy Brandt '20

Kickball
Join in a fun game of Kickball on Monday, April 17, 6:00 pmon the quad. Open to the entire Hood community!

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons12:30 pm-1:00 pm in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome! Wednesdays 12:30 pm-12:55 pm, Coffman Chapel.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga is sponsoring classes in the Dance Studio, Gambrill Gymnasium on Wednesdays, 5:15 pm-6:15 pm. Classes are underway and will continue through Wednesday, April 26. Uncover, discover, tap into your power and just be. Yoga is what you make it. It can be your hour of peace in a hectic week, a workout, therapy for an ailing joint, or it can transform your life if you let it. The excellent, trained teachers of Sol Yoga will support you on your journey, whatever it may be. Make the commitment. The continuation of yoga sessions is contingent upon your ongoing interest and participation.

Healthy "U" March Newsletter

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
by Ron Albaugh M.S.'96, Biology/Environmental Science Instructor

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing? Not every one picked by young girls but the majority reduced or displaced by invasive species, agriculture, development or other anthropogenic activities.

Flowering plants have been around since the Cretaceous period (about 130 million years ago), the majority of which depend on pollinators including some birds and mammals but mostly insects. These plants have coevolved with pollinators and in many cases are dependent on them to reproduce and complete their life cycle. It is estimated that 75 percent of all flowering plants are pollinated by animals. Pollination involves transferring pollen from the male part of a flower (the stamen) to the female part of the same or another flower (the stigma) resulting in fertilization and the production of many fruits and vegetables. It is estimated that one in every three bites of food we eat, or about 35 percent of the world's food crops, depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. Almonds, apples, avocados, bananas, blueberries, cashews, coconuts, coffee, cranberries, figs, grapes, mangoes, melons, nutmeg, peaches, peppermint, pumpkins, strawberries, sugarcane, tea plants, tomatoes and vanilla are but a few examples of pollinated foods.

Alarmingly, our pollinators are in jeopardy. Honeybees, which are not native, as well as wild bees, are suffering from a variety of environmentally related issues. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a pathological condition affecting a large number of honeybee colonies in which various stresses may lead to the abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the hive, leaving only the queen and newly hatched bees behind; thus causing the colony to stop functioning. There are several possible causes including bee parasites, diseases, pesticides and other chemical toxins, poor hive management and poor nutrition. Malnutrition resulting from a lack of plant biodiversity causes stress to bees, possibly weakening their immune systems.

This is where I come in. My wife and I own and operate a 100-acre farm in northern Frederick County, Maryland. Our primary crops are soybeans, small grains and mixed hay. Beginning in April 2012, in an attempt to increase the pollen diversity for honeybees and native insects, with the help of Hood graduate student Lisa Kuder, who was working on her master's thesis project, we planted a half acre wildflower plot adjacent to a soybean field. We purchased and planted five pounds of Pollinator Mix, composed of 13 species of native wildflowers and grasses, specifically selected for our region.

Another reason we were interested in establishing the pollinator habitat resulted from a review of scientific literature. This information suggested that insect-mediated pollination of soybeans could actually increase yield. At the conclusion of her project in 2013, Lisa's results indicated that the insect pollinated plants near the wildflower border outperformed the caged, pollination restricted plants nearly twofold, with 24 percent more pods. Even though honey bees were notably scarce while the crop bloomed, it appeared that pollination services were performed primarily by wild bees. Some additional advantages to the establishment of a pollinator habitat includes the attraction of a large number of predatory insects, which serve as natural pest control. Additional data obtained suggest that a well-established canopy of flowering species can alter the hydrology of the surrounding soil, specifically increasing moisture levels and thereby promoting crop growth.

Following Lisa's research, we have increased the pollinator habitat surrounding additional crop fields to an additional two acres. Not only does this increase crop yield but improves insect diversity and hopefully continues to be a site for additional Hood College undergraduate and graduate research projects. Finally, we trust we have restored at least some of the many native flowers that have been missing. I would highly encourage anyone to plant at least a small pollinator garden on their property. Increasing the plant and animal diversity benefits our entire ecosystem and trust me, it will be a source of beauty and amazement for a long time to come.

Lisa Kuder M.S.'14, C'13 in the wildflower plot during her thesis research.

A tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) resting on a purple cone flower (Echinacea purpurea).

Sources:University of Florida IFAS, The Pollinator Partnership, XERCES Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Ernst Seeds.

Interested in a Lunchtime Walking Group?
If you are interested in walking at lunchtime on Tuesdays, please email Nancy Kaufman by Tuesday, March 28. If there is enough interest and you can make the commitment, a walking group could begin in April!

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome! Wednesdays 12:30 pm-12:55 pm, Coffman Chapel.

Yoga Classes
Sol Yoga is sponsoring yoga classed which are being held in the Dance Studio, Gambrill Gymnasium on Wednesdays, 5:15 pm-6:15 pm. Classes are underway and will continue through Wednesday, April 26. Class will not be held on Wednesday, March 15. Uncover, discover, tap into your power and just be. Yoga is what you make it. It can be your hour of peace in a hectic week, a workout, therapy for an ailing joint, or it can transform your life if you let it. The excellent, trained teachers of Sol Yoga will support you on your journey, whatever it may be. Make the commitment. The continuation of yoga sessions is contingent upon your ongoing interest and participation.

Healthy "U" February Newsletter

It is Time to Assess Your Financial Health
by Chuck Mann, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer

It is tax season! So, are we having fun yet?

While most of us do not revel in gathering our financial records in order to complete the dreaded Federal and State tax forms, it is a great time to assess our financial health and develop a plan for the year ahead. Just as we know the importance of an annual physical, we should appreciate the value of a financial physical. But, where do you start and what should you evaluate?

The first step is to calculate your net worth. This simple formula subtracts your total liabilities (home mortgage, car loans, credit card debt, student loans, etc.) from your total assets (bank accounts, home and car values, personal property, retirement funds, investments, etc.). By constructing a personal balance sheet as of December 31st of each year, you can measure changes in your net worth. In so doing, it becomes evident if you are saving money, spending too much, realizing investment gains or losses or incurring additional debt. It provides an excellent gauge of your financial health, and provides the foundation for your financial plan in the new year.

The resulting financial plan must be based on your projected revenues and expenditures. There are many programs that can help track your income and spending, such as Quicken, Mint.com, and Personal Capital. Even TIAA-CREF, the College’s retirement plan provider, offers "360 Financial View" to assist customers in managing their personal finances. Some of these programs are free, while others must be purchased. Regardless, all of these programs will organize and track your spending into categories that will allow you to establish a monthly budget. You can then monitor your progress against the budget by downloading your bank information into the program on a regular basis. This will allow you to identify concerns early and make any required adjustments to ensure you remain on track.

Finally, a financial plan should include a strategy for growing your investments and reducing your debt during the year. Instead of chasing the latest investment trends, you should establish an asset allocation strategy that fits your tolerance for risk and volatility. Consider what portion of the investments you are comfortable placing in domestic stocks, international stocks, bonds and/or real estate. Then at least annually, rebalance your portfolio to these targets. Like many of us, your largest investments may be your retirement plan. Since these investments provide your future income, it is critically important that you take an active interest in managing the portfolio to your established asset allocation goals.

Managing your financial health requires the same discipline as taking care of your physical health. As you gather documents needed for filing taxes this year, use the time to assess your finances. A lot can happen over a year. So, a financial checkup is in order!

It's Not too Late - Get the Shot Not the Flu
Walk in Monday - Friday, 9:00 am-5:00 pm (Wednesdays until 7:00 pm) to the Hood CollegeHealth Center to get your flu shot. The cost is $15 and cash or check will be accepted. If you have any questions, please call (301) 696-3439.

Frederick Dental Clinic
Frederick Regional Health System, with the University of Maryland's School of Dentistry, has created the Monocacy Health Partners Dental Clinic at 516 Trail Avenue, across from the hospital. It exists to provide dental care for uninsured and underinsured Frederick residents over the age of 18. Currently, it provides emergency and medically-necessary dental care only and future plans are to expand the program to include preventative care. Fees are on a sliding scale. Please call (240) 566-7005 to learn more about the services. More information can also be found at the Monocacy Health Partners website.

Mindfulness Mediation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement. A six week KORU-based introduction to mindfulness is being offered now.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome! Wednesdays 12:30 p.m.-12:55 p.m., Coffman Chapel.

Healthy "U" January Newsletter

Overcoming Inertia - It's Rarely About Physics
by Dr. Allen P. Flora, Professor of Physics

As the calendar turns to January, we often receive advice from our friends or the news media to make New Year's resolutions. Often these resolutions involve exercising or losing weight. Invariably someone will indicate that you must overcome inertia to begin. Well, what is inertia? "Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line except insofar as forces on it compel it to change that state." Or so said Issac Newton in Principia. This statement, known colloquially as Newton's first law, is often referred to as the "law of inertia." It has nothing to do with the remainder of what I will write in this article! There -- now we have that out of the way.

I am writing as someone who has changed my eating habits a great deal in the last year. If you are already without eating sin, you can skip this article. The article can be summarized by the following: eat as little as you can, choosing mostly foods that your great-grandparents would have eaten and exercise as much as your schedule allows.

My advice, admittedly from a non-physician, is simple. It is the same advice I provide to students who want to learn anything that I teach. You cannot wait and work for 20 hours on a project the day before it is due. You cannot wait until the day before your physics test and attempt to read four chapters in the text and review dozens and dozens of homework problems. It takes a sustained effort over a long period of time to develop your skill. We all know this. We are working at an educational institution that helps students earn a degree after several years of study.

A prolonged effort is the only way to change years of bad habits. Expect the changes to require continued effort on your part. Expect the changes in you to occur very slowly. Most of us did not develop poor eating habits over a weekend. Most of us did not become overweight in a week. And unfortunately, most people find that their metabolism slows with age. So an exercise and eating pattern that might have worked well in your 30s might not be suitable in your 50s.

Just as when you were a student, make a plan. If you want to exercise more, how will you do that? Will you increase your exercise by five minutes a day? If you are starting from very little daily exercise, you may have to walk for two weeks at only five minutes per day. But after those first two weeks, you can add another five minutes and so on until you can comfortably walk for one-half hour every day. If you want to lose weight, you might find it helpful to commit to a specific program. Some people want to be part of a group. Perhaps the camaraderie is important for you. Perhaps you always studied by yourself. Once you set a goal, you are capable of keeping to the plan by yourself. Whatever works for you. That must become your plan.

What did I do? Starting this past summer, I began strictly limiting calories two days a week. Actually, I started with one day a week and then increased that to two days at the beginning of the school year. This plan, known as the 5:2 diet, allows you to eat normally five days a week and eat about 25% of the normal daily intake of calories for two days a week (500 calories for women, 600 calories for men). [More info can be found here.] Limiting food actually requires you to be more conscious of your water intake! In addition, I have tried to eliminate processed food as much as possible. Diet is important, but do not forget to exercise. Get those 10,000 steps per day. Once you do that, try to make it 11,000 steps a day! A plan might take several weeks before you notice any difference. But once you develop a healthier eating and exercise pattern, then let inertia set in. That inertia might help keep you on the path to a more healthy you.

New Dental Clinic
Frederick Regional Health System, with the University of Maryland's School of Dentistry, has created the Monocacy Health Partners Dental Clinic at 516 Trail Avenue, across from the hospital. It exists to provide dental care for uninsured and underinsured Frederick residents over the age of 18. Currently, it provides emergency and medically-necessary dental care only and future plans are to expand the program to include preventative care. Fees are on a sliding scale. Please call (240) 566-7005 to learn more about the services. More information can also be found at the Monocacy Health Partners website.

Mindfulness Mediation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons12:30 pm-1:00 pm in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement. A six week KORU-based introduction to mindfulness will be offered in January and February.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome! Wednesdays 12:30pm-2:55 pm, Coffman Chapel.

Yoga Classes Scheduled for 2017
Sol Yoga is back for Spring semester and will be held in the Dance Studio, Gambrill Gymnasium on Wednesdays, 5:15 pm-6:15 p.m. Classes begin Wednesday, January 18 and continue through Wednesday, April 26. Class will not be held on Wednesday, March 15. Uncover, discover, tap into your power and just be. Yoga is what you make it. It can be your hour of peace in a hectic week, a workout, therapy for an ailing joint, or it can transform your life if you let it. The excellent, trained teachers of Sol Yoga will support you on your journey, whatever it may be. Make the commitment. The continuation of yoga sessions is contingent upon your ongoing interest and participation.

Healthy "U" September Newsletter

Gender Identity, Gender Identification, and Respect for Transgender People
by Peter Brehm, IT Services and Support Specialist and Dr. Lisa Algazi Marcus, Professor of French

Reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King's quote, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," America is gradually acknowledging transgender/gender-nonbinary community members and putting legal, procedural, and social structures in to place to affirm these members of our American family. This brief article is intended only to introduce some basic gender identity information and to be the first "brick" in a foundation of knowledge that Hood College will create on this and related topics for allies.

Vocabulary
As with any type of change, vocabulary is important. Facebook lists 58 gender options, while New York City recognizes 31 gender identities. Understanding these myriad, sometimes nuanced definitions can be a challenge, and there appears to be no universally agreed upon set of terms for the transgender community. With this in mind, here is a start: Unless the person with whom you are speaking clarifies their (stick with me on this pronoun) gender identity using some other terms, good starting terms are "transgender" and "gender nonbinary."

Transgender: Generally speaking, when one’s gender identity is different than the gender assigned at birth. Transgender community members encompass:
* MTF/M2F: Generally speaking, when someone was assigned male gender at birth but identifies as feminine or a woman (pronouns used for this person are often she, her).
* FTM/F2M: Generally speaking, when someone was assigned female gender at birth but identifies as masculine or a man (pronouns used for this person are often he, him).
The term "transgendered" is incorrect and irritating; no one is transgendered; they are transgender.

Gender Nonbinary:
Generally speaking, when someone who was assigned a gender at birth doesn't identify on the male/female binary. Our earlier assumptions that gender identity can be neatly divided into men and women has been expanded to understand that many gender identities exist (hence the range of identities referenced by FaceBook and New York City).

Pronouns
In addition to he/him and she/her, desired pronouns may also include they, ze, hir, or use of name only. Examples:
* Pat gave me money to buy a book I know they wanted (recall my asking you to stick with me on the use of this pronoun earlier).
* Pat gave me money to buy a book I knew ze wanted.
* Pat gave me money to buy a book I knew Pat wanted.
* When Pat came back home, I gave them the book.
* When Pat came back home, I gave hir the book.
* When Pat came back home, I gave Pat the book.

Respect
So, how does one signal respect to transgender friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others at home, school, work, and in the marketplace? It is both simple and challenging.
Simple: When you meet people, tell them your preferred name and pronouns. In turn, ask them for their preferred name and pronouns. And then use them consistently.

Challenging creeps in:
* Because if we share/ask for information like pronouns that traditionally have not been exchanged when meeting people, people who are not sensitive to why we are introducing ourselves in this manner may be critical or mocking;
* If someone has a legal name of John, and this person introduces herself as Joanne and uses the pronouns she/her, we must be focused and intentional and use Joanne and she/her when talking to and about Joanne;
* If someone appears to be or sounds male to us based on our definitions of gender norms, and the person is introducing herself with a female name and wants us to use she/her pronouns, we must be focused and intentional and respect the use of their preferred name and pronouns when talking to and about this person.

Is this important? Yes, for at least three reasons:
* Misgendering someone is a signal of disrespect;
* Misgendering someone is exhausting and demoralizing to the person being misgendered;
* Misgendering someone can cause them harm: misgendering a transgender person could potentially "out" them and make them a target of violence, discrimination, bullying, and more.

Importantly, there is a fourth reason. Recalling the adage "what you did was so loud I could not hear what you said" (translated: our actions speak louder than our words), we need to demonstrate to faculty, staff, students, alums, vendors, visitors, and others that we are a welcoming campus community by (among other actions) verifying and then honoring a person's preferred name and pronouns.

New Dental Clinic
Frederick Regional Health System, with the University of Maryland's School of Dentistry, has created the Monocacy Health Partners Dental Clinic on Trail Avenue, across from the hospital. It is to provide dental care for uninsured and underinsured Frederick residents over the age of 18. Currently, it provides emergency and medically-necessary dental care only and future plans are to expand the program to include preventative care. Fees are on a sliding scale.

Attention Faculty and Staff:
If you are interested in being a part of a group that will meet monthly to explore contemplative and meditation practices for personal and professional growth, please contact Beth O'Malley.

Mindfulness Mediation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons12:30-1:00 pm in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement. A special faculty/staff session will be held weekly with a day/time TBA.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome! Wednesdays 12:30-12:55 pm.

Yoga Classes
Free yoga classes, generously provided by Sol Yoga, resume this Wednesday, September 14 and continue through December 7 except for November 23. Class is held Wednesdays, 5:15-6:15 pm in the Dance Studio Gambrill Gymnasium. Uncover, discover, tap into your power and just be. Yoga is what you make it. It can be your hour of peace in a hectic week, a workout, therapy for an ailing joint, or it can transform your life if you let it. The excellent, trained teachers of Sol Yoga will support you on your journey, whatever it may be. Make the commitment. The continuation of yoga sessions is contingent upon your ongoing interest and participation.

Healthy "U" July Newsletter

Fun, Safe, and Healthy Summer Routine
by Kelly Watson, DNP, CRNP, CNE, Assistant Professor of Nursing

With the arrival of warmer weather, many of us will find more time to spend outdoors. While there are many options for fun, safe, and healthy summer activities, the following are but a few of the most important considerations:

UV protection - We have all heard the recommendations for the use of sunscreens while spending time outside during the summer months. There are many benefits to using sunscreen including minimizing the risk for melanoma and other skin cancers and slowing the aging process of skin, including the formation of wrinkles and "age spots". General guidelines for sunscreen use include using a broad spectrum protection of 30 or higher. However, current research cannot prove that any sunscreen over 50 offers additional benefits. In addition to sunscreen products, medical experts advise limiting sun exposure between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, as this is when the UV rays are the strongest and most likely to cause sunburn. Other protective measures include loose, light-colored clothing (long sleeves) and a hat to protect the face. Don’t forget protection for your lips in the form of SPF 15 or higher and the use of sunglasses to protect the eyes (UV exposure has been known to cause cataracts).

Adequate hydration - Consuming enough water during the hot summer months can seem like a no-brainer. However, many people fail to prepare for the sweat factor when planning activities. Outdoor walking, running, tennis, cycling and even swimming can significantly increase the need for water. As a general rule of thumb, 6-8 glasses (8 ounce servings) of water should be consumed daily for optimal hydration. Those requirements increase depending on exercise intensity and duration. The key factor is to drink before you feel thirsty. Once you have the thirst sensation, you are already dehydrated. It is also important to avoid caffeinated beverages, as these will increase water loss from the body.

Tick and Mosquito-borne illness - Lyme disease is endemic to Maryland. It is spread by the tiny deer tick. Many people believe if they do not have exposure to deer, they are not at risk. This could not be further from the truth. Deer ticks are carried by birds and squirrels as well, and can drop off the host animal during flight (for birds) and from trees (as is the case with squirrels). Recent increases in Zika virus exposure from mosquitoes is also a concern during summer activities. Using a bug spray that contains DEET can deter both ticks and mosquitoes from transmitting disease. Long sleeves and long pants should be worn if you are traveling in woods or high grass. In addition, physically checking your body for evidence of ticks is important. If you develop flu-like symptoms (body aches, fever, joint pain, fatigue) or a rash that resembles a bull's eye, seek medical attention.

Keeping these general guidelines in mind can increase your summer fun and contribute to a healthier you!

Mindfulness Mediation and Relaxation and Yoga Classes
Look for Mindfulnness Meditation and Relaxation and free yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga to return in the fall.

Healthy "U" May/June Newsletter

Ways Giving is Good For You
by Nancy Gillece '81, Vice President, Institutional Advancement

Did you know that volunteering, supporting a non-profit or engaging in a random act of kindness is good for your health? While "doing good" may bring a smile to your face, there are also long-term benefits to your physical health.

According to recent studies, volunteering can actually add years to your life. Elizabeth Lightfoot, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University Of Minnesota School Of Social Work, found that any type or amount of volunteer work had an impact on longevity. So your good deed can add years to your life. Even high school students saw a drop in their cholesterol levels after volunteering with young children once a week for two months.

When volunteering or helping others, the brain produces a mood-elevating neurotransmitter, dopamine, providing a "helper's high". The more you do, the better you feel. According to the research, as you do nice things, people will respond positively and you will feel better. Similarly, those suffering from chronic pain felt relief when they were helping others. When individuals suffering from multiple sclerosis offered emotional support to other MS sufferers by phone, the helpers were less likely to develop depression and anxiety.

Philanthropy or giving in any form is an intentional activity - researchers found that 40% of our happiness is related to intentional activities. Helping others is at the top of the list for intentional activities. This can be a simple neighborly act, making a donation to a worthy cause, running a race to support a fund-raising campaign or serving on a non-profit board. Any and all of these activities stimulates the dopamine, elevating our mood and reducing depression.

Giving back is one of the easiest ways to get in shape. The earlier we start, the better off we’ll be - for ourselves and others.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons 12:15-12:45 pm in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30-12:55 pm.

Yoga Classes
Free yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga will return in the fall.

Healthy "U" Spring Newsletter

How Are Your New Year's Goals Working for You?
by Mary Beth Curry, LCPC, ACC Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Hood College Counseling Center

According to History.com, for at least the last four millennia, New Year's Resolutions are a common attempt for "getting on track", "refocusing" or "finally getting around to...". We're reminded by the calendar that a fresh, new start is upon us, whahoooo! Another chance to "do what I should have been doing all along!"

The most common, well-meaning prompts at a better life we give ourselves are weight loss, quitting smoking, and exercise with a success rate of only 6%, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology. It seems, deep down, we really know our chances are slim to none to keep the hope alive after the first few months of our resolution, but the allure of another chance, a newer, brighter day is hard to resist, so why not brush up on motivation strategies!?

I'm sure there are millions of creative and awesome ways to stay motivated, all located on Google for your review. So, instead of trying to encapsulate those here, today, I want to focus on how to make a good goal in the first place: "S.M.A.R.T. ly" of course!

S.M.A.R.T. goals really work! Their origin is attributed to Peter Drucker's management principles (1981) and have been applied in, and retrofitted for, various disciplines, including behavioral psychology and executive leadership coaching, the areas in which I practice.

The simple template below is incredibly helpful to organize intention, create focus and have measureable outcome...gotta love data!

* Specific - target a specific area for improvement.
* Measurable - quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
* Appropriate - does it support your personal mission and vision?
* Realistic - can it be achieved with your available resources?
* Time-based - specify when the result(s) can be achieved.

Next steps: Take a coffee break and connect with the resolutions, ahem, goals you made for yourself this past January, with the intention of a non-judgmental review. Use the lens of S.M.A.R.T. goals as you reflect, taking stock of your progress to expose where the barriers to your success may be. Readjusting your goals "S.M.A.R.T.ly" as you go along is the key!

I wish you good luck on your journey. Remember, the ability to assess, let go, rework and make another attempt is a major hallmark of resiliency! Ahhh, staying resilient in stressful times...maybe that's the next article. Have a wonderful spring!

Tougher Than a Marshmallow
by Dr. Ingrid G. Farreras, Associate Professor of Psychology

Leonardo DiCaprio just won the Best Actor Oscar for his leading role in The Revenant. The inescapable essence of the film is the "toughness" of DiCaprio's character, as he battled and overcame near-lethal physical injuries, starvation, and exposure to harsh elements. What does this toughness consist of and are we born with it or can it be acquired? Although toughness of this magnitude is not required in our daily lives, it is something that allows us to bounce back from failures, to perform under stressful conditions, and to resist temptations. For over a century, psychologists have studied this toughness under various guises: ego strength, willpower, resilience, grit, self-control, self-regulation, and delay gratification.1

Walter Mischel's "Marshmallow Test" is among the best known of such research.2 He had preschoolers sit at a table facing either one or two marshmallows, and had them choose between eating one marshmallow immediately or waiting 20 minutes to eat two. Surprisingly, those preschoolers who had greater willpower or the ability to delay gratification during these studies, when followed over time, showed greater psychological, behavioral, social, physical, and financial wellbeing through adulthood than those who had low self-control. Specifically, the ability to resist temptations is related to less mental illness and physical and verbal aggression, lower body mass indeces, greater emotional and social coping, and higher SAT scores (over 200 points) in middle and high school students. It is also related to greater educational and long-term goal achievement, self-worth and ability to handle stress, better physical health, and less drug use in young adults, and mid-life adult brain scans also show greater activation of the prefrontal cortex (responsible for problem-solving and creativity) than of the limbic system (associated with addictions and obesity).3

Most people generally believe that traits such as this ability to delay gratification or willpower or self-control (or talent or personality) are innate or fixed, the unchangeable product of our genetic makeup that we are either born having or not, or having much of or little of. In this pessimistic view of human nature, there is not much we can do about these traits (nor can we be held responsible for them). A more optimistic - and research-supported - view is that such skills are malleable, largely shaped by what we do (or not) to change them. Children, after all, are taught to focus their attention, regulate their emotions, exercise self-restraint, and self-distract from distress, hunger, or pain. That these skills can be learned and enhanced is illustrated in psychologist Carol Dweck's recent Mindset book on fixed vs. growth mindsets.4 Her classic study of middle school students found that students with a fixed mindset who believed ability or intelligence was innate ("I’m good at sports," "I'm good at math"), performed more poorly the more they were challenged because they attributed poor performance to their lack of ability/talent (or blamed teachers/coaches), while students with a growth mindset earned higher grades because they attributed poor performance to a lack of sufficient effort and simply worked harder and persisted through the challenges instead of giving up. In the controversial yet humorous book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,5 author Amy Chua exemplifies a parenting approach that emphasizes this growth mindset, where hard work and discipline - not innate intelligence or talent - is responsible for superior academic (and musical) performance. Educational interventions that emphasize high expectations and praise hard work over ability or right answers have also been highly successful.

Our mindset of what or how much we can control or change thus greatly influences what we can achieve; it shapes how we evaluate ourselves and our behavior. Our expectations for success or failure affect how we approach future tasks, with every success increasing the chances for the next and thus our willingness to persist in the face of obstacles, failures, and temptations toward the pursuit of our long-term goals.

So how do we learn to resist the marshmallow? In the cute and seemingly simple Marshmallow test studies, psychologists were not only interested in the individual or group differences in ability to resist temptation (e.g., girls, on the whole, can hold out longer than boys), but they were also interested in the many strategies the preschoolers devised to resist. There seems to be two key components to being able to resist immediate temptations in favor of long-term goals: attention redirection and cognitive reappraisal. Attention redirection simply involves self-distraction, such as avoiding visual contact with the temptation ("out of sight, out of mind"), or talking to oneself or giving oneself instructions (such as if-then statements like "if I feel a sweet craving, then I will go brush my teeth"). Cognitive reappraisal refers to changing the way we perceive the temptation, as that determines how we respond to it cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. Focusing on the appealing characteristic of a temptation (e.g., yummy, mouth-watering, sweet) makes it much harder to resist than focusing on its more descriptive or abstract characteristics (e.g., white, cylindrical, soft). As a result, practicing cognitive strategies that create psychological distance between us and the temptation facilitates resisting or overcoming it. With continued practice, these strategies become automatic habits that require little effort.

The good news then, is that self-control and the ability to delay gratification is not only linked to positive mental and physical outcomes, but that this skill is under our control if we are motivated enough to persevere through setbacks and failures along the way. The bad news is that in our present world, temptations are ubiquitous and we are losing the battle against delayed gratification. When is the last time we turned off our phone during a meal with friends and family or when we went to bed at night? Turned down that decadent dessert? Resisted that cigarette? Studied for that exam instead of checked our Facebook account? Deposited money toward our retirement instead of purchasing the latest iPhone? Instant interactions, information, purchases, food…all encourage us to indulge in immediate gratification, not the DiCaprio-style grit that would more likely lead us to our desired goals.

1 Baumeister, R. F., & Tierney, J. (2011). Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest human strength. New York: Penguin Books. 2 Mischel, W. (2014). The Marshmallow test: Why self-control is the engine of success. New York: Little, Brown, & Co. 3c 3 3 Mischel, W. (1974). Processes in delay of gratification. In L. Berkowitz (Ed)), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 7 (pp. 249-292). New York: Academic Press; Mischel, W., Ayduk, O., Berman, M. G., Casey, B. J., Gotlib, I. H., Jonides, J., & …Shoda, Y. (2011). "Willpower" over the life span: Decomposing self-regulation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(2), 252-256. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq081; Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., Rodriguez, M.L. (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938.
4 Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books.
5 Chua, A. (2011). Battle hymn of the tiger mother. New York: Penguin Books. Chua’s latest book also speaks to self-control as one of the three traits explaining the (primarily educational and economic) success of the most successful cultural groups in the United States (Chua, A., & Rubenfeld, J. (2014). The triple package: How three unlikely traits explain the rise and fall of cultural groups in America. New York: Penguin Books.)

Attention Faculty and Staff:
Beginning in late summer, a group will meet to explore contemplative practices for personal and professional growth using Parker Palmer's book, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life. Interested faculty and staff members are invited to contact Beth O'Malley.

Healthy "U" Yoga Announcement
As we approach the end of the semester, schedules are extremely busy. Therefore, the Healthy "U" yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga will be suspended until the fall semester.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30-12:55 pm.

Healthy "U" February Newsletter

Finding Your Passion
by Jill Kramer Hermes '87, Director of Career Services and Service Learning

Much has been written on the subject of finding one's passion. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Finding the "thing" that ignites passion within our souls. Uncovering the one cause that speaks to us and spurs us into action. Once we embrace this passion we can expect to mold our careers into a venue that allows us to change the world for good, as we pursue this passion. So long mundane and tedious life -- hello purposeful and intentional living. OK, so you may sense a bit of sarcasm here, but stay with me while we delve into this important topic. What is the process that will help us uncover our true passion? We can start by asking ourselves some key questions.

* To what do I keep returning to?

* What are my strengths?

* What energizes me?

* What do a read about and just long to learn more about?

* What has the power to bring me to tears?

While we reflect on the questions above, we can test the waters. If the pursuit of social justice is calling you, try your hand at volunteering a few hours at an event or organization that is involved in advocacy. There are many worthy community organizations that welcome volunteers, from Hospice Care to political campaigns, to youth oriented groups such as the Girl Scouts. You can find more ideas about where to invest your civic engagement energies by clicking here. If you are reflecting on how you may incorporate your passion into your career, FOCUS-2 is a helpful exercise to provide some direction. You may access this toolby clicking here.

If you search for books written to address the topic of finding your true passion, I fear that you may never come up for air. You could spend all of your days reading and listening to TED talks on this subject. Marie Forleo, Life Coach, offers up some excellent advice. In the quest for finding our passion and hence getting on with our productive and significant lives, "Clarity comes from engagement, not thought". As academics, we discuss, debate, analyze and evaluate. I have seen people agonize over discovering their passion, until they become paralyzed by the fear of doing something that is uninteresting. I think that as we set out to find our passion, we may encounter experiences that border on the mundane; they may even be precariously close to tedious....but the risk is worth it. For every experience gets us closer to finding the golden nugget of passion. As we become face to face with the deep needs of individuals and communities, we may feel the stirring passion to find creative solutions in previously unexplored areas.

Opening our hearts and minds to new experiences may spark new passions within as we go through different seasons of our lives. As we embrace passion, it allows us to see things in a new light and perhaps connect with people in new ways. So, while it is tempting for me to turn to another Brene Brown book on how I should move forward, I will not do that today. Today, I will listen Coach Marie, and "Quit talking, and start doing." I hope you will join me.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30-12:55 pm.

Yoga Classes
Free yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga will be offered Wednesdays, 5:15-6:15 pm in the Dance Studio, Gambril Gymnasium. The last class for yoga will be Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

Happy Valentines Day!

Healthy "U" January Newsletter

"Get the Maximum Benefit out of the Minimum Effort"
by Dr. Paul X. Soong, Assistant Professor of Physical Education

People like to say "No pain, no gain" when doing exercise, which is the same meaning as the overload training principle. The overload principle is one of the Three Principles of Training in sport science. The other two are the specificity principle and the reversibility principle. The overload principle states that for a training effect to occur, a system or tissue must be challenged with an intensity, duration, or frequency of exercise to which it is unaccustomed. Over time, the tissue or system adapts to this load which results in improved function.

But, we do not have to do exercise with our maximal effort because everyone has his/her own
"exercise target zone" to achieve an improvement of cardio-vascular function. The EXERCISE TARGET ZONE is a range of exercise from the minimum necessary to improve fitness to the maximum amount, beyond which exercise may be counterproductive. If you exercise above the minimum and below the maximum you are exercising in the EXERCISE TARGET ZONE.

Now, the question is how to determine your minimum necessary exercise intensity to improve cardio fitness. If you are planning to become much more physically active than you are now, start by answering the seven questions below. If you are between the ages of 15 and 69, the QUESTIONS will tell you if you should check with your doctor before you start. If you are over 69 years of age, and you are not used to being very active, check with your doctor.

Common sense is your best guide when you answer these questions. Please read the questions carefully and answer each one honestly: YES or NO.

1. Has your doctor ever said that you have a heart condition and that you should only do physical activity recommended by a doctor?

2. Do you feel pain in your chest when you do physical activity?

3. In the past month, have you had chest pain when you were not doing physical activity?

4. Do you lose your balance because of dizziness or do you ever lose consciousness?

5. Do you have a bone or joint problem (for example, back, knee or hip) that could be made worse by a change in your physical activity?

6. Is your doctor currently prescribing drugs (for example, water pills) for your blood pressure or heart condition?

7. Do you know of any other reason why you should not do physical activity?

If you answered YES to one or more questions, talk to your doctor before you start becoming much more physically active.

If you answered NO to all questions, you can be reasonably sure that you can start becoming much more physically active - begin slowly and build up gradually. This is the safest and easiest way to go.

For most healthy people between the ages of 20 and 60, jogging, fast walking, riding a bicycle, and running on a treadmill are good exercises to improve cardio fitness. Here are some tips:

1. Keep your heart rate around 130 beats/minute when you are exercising.

2. Exercise 30-45 minutes/day.

3. Do enough warm-up before exercise and cool-down after exercise.

5. Drink enough water.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons 12:15-12:45 p.m. in the Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30-12:55 p.m.

Happy New Year!

Healthy "U" September Newsletter

Life Planning Fair
by Sharon K. Smith, M.A.'09, C'05, M.A.C.T., Benefits Manager

Americans are planners. We like to be organized and in control. We plan schedules, education, vacations, family, and careers. What most of us avoid planning are those times in our lives that we know can be challenging.

Life continues to change. Family, and the concept of family, continues to evolve. There can be added stresses. Work is different than in the past. It can be more consuming and, certainly, more stressful. Each generation has its unique needs but there are common needs among them. We want and need family time, work time, social time, recreational time, etc. We need to be living now and providing for now. At the same time, we need to be aware of likely future needs and planning and providing for them. How we do that prepares us to better cope with these future needs when they become present ones. It is an ongoing challenge to live the lives we need to in the present while looking at the distant, and not so distant, future and preparing to have the lives we hope to then.

Human Resources and Healthy "U" are sponsoring a Life Planning Fair on Monday and Tuesday, September 28th and 29th in the Whitaker Commons and Multicultural Suite. This event will provide education sessions and resources to address current and future needs relevant to the four generations in the Hood College workforce. The event will include presentations about:

Creating work-life balance
Why and how retirement savings begins now
Staying fit through the lifecycle
Social security
Managing income and debt
Medicare
Effective parenting
Investing in your retirement
Legal documents for estate planning
Bridging the college communication gap
And more...

It also will include the introduction of a new voluntary whole life with long-term care rider benefit through Unum and the start of the initial enrollment period for this. In our lives, we encounter many highly trained people. We seek them out because of their specialized knowledge, education, or experience in areas that we lack. We go to them to receive help and guidance we need. No matter how expert or intelligent someone is, there is one thing that each of us knows better than anyone else in the world. We each know ourselves. We can't forget this when we're involved in the important work of making life plans and life decisions about our quality of life--the how, where, and how well we want to live and die, how we want to honor our lives, what's important to us, and the legacy we want to leave.

Investigating, planning, and making these decisions isn't just about what happens to our money or our things. It's about determining what an appropriate and acceptable quality of life is for each of us and the steps necessary to ensure that we have it to the best of our means and abilities.

Watch for emails with more detailed information and scheduling this week. We hope you will plan to attend.

Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation
Meditation is held Monday and Thursday afternoons 12:15-12:45 pm in the Chapel Meditation and Prayer Room, Chapel basement.

Weekly Chapel Services
All are welcome, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30-12:55 pm.

Hood College Celebrates - 5th Annual Food Day - "a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food"
Join us for a night of FREE FOOD on Monday, October 5th at 6:30 pm in Whitaker Commons. *Doors open to the larger community at 7:15 pm for the featured lecture on* "Food Deserts in America". Seats to the FREE dinner go to the first 75 people to register, so hurry! Hood faculty/staff/students and community members invited! To RSVP for the dinner, contact April Boulton at boulton@hood.edu. This event is co-sponsored by the Healthy U Committee, the Center for Global Studies, and Office of the Dean of the Chapel.

Yoga Classes
Free yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga will be offered Wednesdays, 5:15-6:15 pm in the Dance Studio, Gambril Gymnasium. First class begins October 7 and goes through December 9.

Hood Walking Group - Still Walking on Tuesdays
Hood's walking group leaves at noon from the fountain at Gearey Alumni Plaza (between Alumnae Hall and Hodson). The group walks for approximately 30 minutes rain or shine.

Healthy "U" June Newsletter

Fun, Safe, and Healthy Summer Routine
by Dr. Kelly Watson, Assistant Professor of Nursing

UV Protection
We have all heard the recommendations for the use of sunscreens while spending time outside during the summer months. There are many benefits to using sunscreen such as minimizing the risk for melanoma and other skin cancers and slowing the aging process of skin, including the formation of wrinkles and "age spots". General guidelines for sunscreen use include using a broad spectrum protection of 30 or higher. However, current research cannot prove that any sunscreen over 50 offers additional benefits. In addition to sunscreen products, medical experts advise limited sun exposure between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, as this is when the UV rays are the strongest and most likely to cause sunburn. Other protective measures include loose, light-colored clothing (long sleeves) and a hat to protect the face. Don't forget protection for your lips in the form of SPF 15 or higher and the use of sunglasses to protect the eyes (UV exposure has been known to cause cataracts).

Adequate Hydration
Consuming enough water during the hot summer months can seem like a no-brainer. However, many people fail to prepare for the sweat factor when planning activities. Outdoor walking, running, tennis, cycling and even swimming can significantly increase the need for water. As a general rule of thumb, 6-8 glasses (8 ounce servings) of water should be consumed daily for optimal hydration. Those requirements increase depending on exercise intensity and duration. The key factor is to drink before you feel thirsty. Once you have the thirst mechanism, you are already dehydrated. It is also important to avoid caffeinated beverages, as these will increase water loss from the body.

Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is endemic to Maryland. It is spread by the tiny deer tick. Many people believe if they do not have exposure to deer, they are not at risk. This could not be further from the truth. Deer ticks are carried by birds and squirrels as well, and can drop off the host animal during flight (for birds) and from trees (as is the case with squirrels). Using a bug spray that contains DEET can deter the tick from attaching to you and transmitting the disease. Long sleeves and long pants should be worn if you are traveling in woods or high grass. In addition, physically checking your body for evidence of ticks is important. If you develop flu-like symptoms (body aches, fever, joint pain, fatigue) or a rash that resembles a bullseye, seek medical attention.

Keeping these general guidelines in mind can increase your summer fun and contribute to a healthier you!

Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation will be back in the fall.

Yoga Classes
Free yoga classes sponsored by Sol Yoga will resume in the fall.

Healthy "U" April Newsletter

Care for the Caregiver
by Dr. Elizabeth MacDougall Assistant Professor of Psychology

When problems with illness and disability arise in our lives, most of us turn to our families and friends for help. According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, 65.7 million of us served as family caregivers during the past year for ill or disabled relatives. That's 29 percent of U.S. adults. Although men do serve as caregivers, the majority of caregivers in this country are women (53 to 68 percent; Family Caregiver Alliance, 2012). Female caregivers also assist with more personal (and arguably difficult) caregiving tasks - such as toileting and bathing - and they spend more time per week providing care than men (21.9 hours versus 17.4 hours; Family Caregiver Alliance, 2012). In addition, over 60 percent of family caregivers continue to work full or part-time.

When taking on the role of caregiver for a loved one, we tend not to formally identify ourselves as caregivers. Rather, we simply view the practical and financial assistance we provide as part of being in a family. It is not uncommon for caregivers to be so focused on taking care of their loved ones that they fail to recognize the emotional and physical toll that caregiving may be taking on them. They might also feel guilty about feeling burdened or distressed, perhaps thinking that this in some way means they are being disloyal to their loved one. They may fear criticism from others for seeking care for themselves - or they may simply believe that they cannot fit any 'care for the caregiver' into their busy schedules.

As population aging occurs, and especially as the proportion of adults over 85 continues to grow, many more of us will find ourselves in the role of caregiver in the near future. Not only is advanced age a significant risk factor for physical disability and serious cognitive impairment, but most older Americans prefer to remain in their homes with assistance from family or professional caregivers rather than transitioning to an institutional setting. This means that many of us will spend at least some portion of our lives caring for aging loved ones who wish to remain at home for as long as possible.

Mental Health and Physical Health Effects of Caregiving
Psychological research on caregiving began in the 1980s (Zarit, Reever, & Bach-Perterson, 1980). A review of the literature reveals that most of this research investigates the burdens and stress associated with caregiving. Comparing caregivers with non-caregivers, meta-analyses have reported higher levels of depression and more physical health problems in caregivers (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2003; Vitaliano, Zhang & Scanlon, 2003). However, most of these studies use convenience samples comprised of individuals at clinics, in support groups, and other volunteers. Studies that use more representative community samples report similar findings, but the magnitude of the findings is not as large/meaningful. So, while our research studies find that caregivers do report more distress than non-caregivers, the magnitude of the distress depends on the groups studied. In addition, while biomarker studies have reported negative changes in endocrine and immune system function for caregivers compared with non-caregivers (Lovell & Wetherell, 2011), most of these studies have also used small convenience samples of dementia caregivers.

In a population based study of spouses serving as caregivers, Schulz and Beach (1999) found a significant association between those who reported 'strain,' and risk for premature mortality. This finding has widely - and incorrectly - been interpreted and reported to suggest that all caregivers are at risk for premature mortality. Indeed, several subsequent population based studies found the opposite effect: caregivers outliving non-caregivers (Brown & Brown, 2014; Roth et al, 2013; Roth et al., 2015). Roth et al (2013) found caregivers to have an 18 percent reduced rate of death compared with non-caregivers over a six-year follow-up period. Further analysis by race, sex, caregiving relationship, and caregiving strain did not alter the findings. Roth et al. (2015, p. 4) conclude, "Caregivers, as a general group, have significantly reduced mortality rates compared to their respective non-caregiving reference groups."

Positive Effects of Caregiving
There are multiple studies now reporting that many caregivers describe little-to-no distress associated with their caregiving role. Roth et al. (2009) reported that 33 percent of the caregivers they surveyed (both spouses and other relatives) actually reported "no strain," associated with their caregiving role, while 50 percent reported "some strain" and 17 percent reported "a lot of strain." In fact, a 2014 survey by the National Opinion Research Center found 83 percent of caregivers to describe their experience as "positive." What specific positive experiences do these caregivers report? (1) Comfort in knowing that they are giving back to someone who previously cared for them; (2) Confidence and satisfaction in knowing that their loved one is receiving the best care they can provide; (3) A sense of increased meaning and purpose in life. Considering all of the complexities of the caregiving role, it is not surprising then that researchers have proposed a two-factor model of the caregiver experience - one that includes both emotional distress and psychological benefit (Beach et al., 2000; Harmell et al., 2012; Lawton et al., 1991). In fact, the positive benefits of caregiving may serve to protect individuals from some of the negative health-related consequences of caregiving.

Vulnerable Caregivers
Of course, there is no doubt that it can be quite stressful to watch a loved one suffer with a serious illness or disability. But this can be stressful for family members regardless of whether or not they are serving in a caregiving role. Lazarus and Folkman's (1984, p. 19) classic definition of stress describes it as a "particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering well-being." The vast literature outlining the impact of stress on health leads to the conclusion that when caregiving demands exceed our psychological or social coping resources, it is then that we may be at increased risk for mental and physical health problems.

The research does suggest that those who provide care for loved ones with dementia may experience more problems than other caregivers (Ory et al., 1999). In addition, caregivers who have pre-existing health conditions that negatively affect their physiological response to stress may also be at increased risk. As a result, older adult caregivers may be especially vulnerable to the negative effects of stress associated with caregiving, as they are more likely to have existing chronic health problems (Navaie-Waliser et al., 2002) and may also be at increased risk for falls and other unintentional injuries related to caregiving (Hartke et al., 2006).

Our healthcare system attends to the "identified patient," and tends not to address, educate, or support family caregivers. In addition, the time that caregiving takes may result in caregivers not interacting as often with other support sources, including spouses, children, friends, or other groups/clubs. Caregivers also may feel that they should hide or minimize the effects their caregiving role has on their attendance or productivity at work, as there may be little support for caregivers at their workplace.

If you are aware that you are experiencing distress related to caregiving, seeking help may not only benefit you, it may benefit your ill/disabled loved one as well. A primary risk factor for institutionalization of an ill/disabled individual is the decline in health of that individual's family caregiver. In addition, care recipients are at greater risk for falls, pressure sores, and decreased functioning if their caregivers have ineffective coping skills or problems with depression (Elliott & Pezent, 2008). Finally, when caregivers are depressed, distressed, or in poor physical health, their loved ones may be at increased risk for abuse (Beach et al., 2005; Williamson et al., 2001).

Conclusion
Population based studies show that many caregivers do not report the high levels of distress that we once thought they experienced. In fact, many caregivers cope quite well with their caregiving tasks/role and even report positive psychological benefits from the caregiving experience, such as pride in their caregiving role and a sense of meaning/purpose related to this role. However, there are a few subgroups of caregivers that have more difficulty coping and report a high degree of 'strain,' depression, and negative health effects. Specifically, caring for an individual with dementia, older caregivers, and caregivers without adequate resources (e.g., education, skills, social support, and community services) may be more vulnerable.

Local and national resources for supporting family caregivers' efforts
If you find yourself - now or in the future - feeling overwhelmed by your caregiving role, please reach out for help! In particular, there are many resources available on the internet. The list that follows is not exhaustive but will, hopefully, get you started on the path to finding the resources you need to 'care' for the caregiver.

Local Resources
Frederick County Department of Aging/Caregiver Support Program
Maryland Caregivers Support Coordinating Council
Frederick County Caregiver Support Groups
Alzheimer's Association - Greater Maryland Chapter Support Groups

National Resources
Arch National Respite Network and Resource Center
Caregiver Action Network (for cancer caregivers)
Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA)
Family Care Resource Clearinghouse (AXA Foundation & National Alliance for Caregiving)
National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC)
National Caregivers Library (Family/Care America)
Strength for Caring (Johnson & Johnson)

Mindfulness Meditation
Relax and learn stress reduction techniques by meditating with Beth O'Malley in the McHenryInterfaith Prayer Room, Coffman Chapel basement, Mondays and Thursdays, 1:40-2:10 pm. All are welcome!!

Yoga Classes
The Dance Studio in Gambrill Gymnasium is reserved for yoga sessions Wednesday nights, 5:15-6:15 pm for the spring semester. The last class ends April 29. Free yoga classes are sponsored by Sol Yoga.

Healthy "U" March Newsletter

One Love
by Staci Brennan, Associate Director of Athletics

It has been almost five years since police knocked on the front door of Sharon Love's Cockeysville, Maryland home and asked if she was Yeardley Love's mother. Moments later she learned that her youngest daughter, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Virginia, had been found beaten to death in her apartment.

The details of Yeardley's death are numbing, but equally numbing was the revelation that the primary suspect was her on-again, off-again boyfriend, a fellow UVA student. For the next two years the case drew national attention and led to state and university reforms for reporting domestic violence. On February 22, 2012, Yeardley's ex-boyfriend was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 23 years behind bars.

Looking back it is clear to Love that her daughter was in an abusive relationship but, at the time, many of the warning signs were missed. Wishing she would have done more a couple of years ago to intervene, Love is doing what she can now to help others in abusive relationships. She and her oldest daughter, Lexie, co-founded the One Love Foundation just one month after Yeardley's fatal attack. The focus of the Foundation is to honor Yeardley's memory and to educate young people, particularly between the ages of 16-24, about relationship violence.

In their first big initiative, this past fall the Foundation partnered with the Baltimore Ravens and launched a film based curriculum for high school and college students called Escalation. During this 90-minute workshop, students watch a feature film which vividly illustrates the escalating signs of relationship violence. Then, after the film, students participate in a discussion group that is led by a trained One Love facilitator. The goal during this part of the workshop is to have an open, honest and meaningful conversation about relationship violence, talk about the warning signs, and discuss ways to create change on college campuses.

The Escalation curriculum is just one component of the One Love Foundation's effort to educate and motivate young people. The belief is -- the more people who know about relationship violence and how dangerous it truly can be, the more likely they will be to intervene and potentially save lives.

Currently, our Title IX Committee is working with the One Love Foundation to bring the Escalation workshop to our campus. If you are interested in becoming a facilitator, please contact Carol Wuenschel, Title IX Coordinator.

Click here for more information about the One Love Foundation.

Relationships
by Staci Brennan, Associate Director of Athletics

BUILDING A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP
At the beginning of a relationship everything is new and exciting. Feelings are running high and love is in the air. This is usually known as the honeymoon stage. You get butterflies in your belly before a date or goose bumps when your new partner calls or sends you a text, but how long does this stage really last? There is no exact science, however it's important to build healthy patterns during this time so there is a solid foundation for the future. Creating this foundation should revolve around the following characteristics:
* Respecting each other and respecting each other's privacy
* Trusting each other
* Supporting each other
* Listening to each other
* Feeling safe and comfortable with each other

CHANGES
Changes that occur outside of your relationship (e.g. a new job, project, family matters, etc.) will at some point affect what you want and/or need from your partner. With this in mind, as the months go by it's a good idea to occasionally set aside time to check in with each other and talk about expectations for the relationship. By facing this head on, you can hopefully avoid future misunderstandings.

CONFLICTS
It's inevitable that there will be disagreements and conflicts in a relationship, but how you go about resolving them is extremely important. This requires honesty, healthy communication, and being able to see your partner's perspective. Here are some guidelines for resolving conflicts:
*Family History: Couples often discover that they, as individuals, tend to resolve conflicts the same way they were resolved in their families. If your family wasn't great at settling arguments and you find yourself following that same pattern, take this opportunity to try a new approach.
* Take a Time-Out: It's not uncommon for one partner to need time to cool off during a heated discussion. By stepping away, you can regroup and gather your thoughts.
* Agree to Disagree: There will be times when you and your partner may never completely agree on certain issues. Instead of having the same argument over and over again, agree to disagree, respect each other's feelings and opinions, and compromise.
Listen: Be a good listener. This means not interrupting and focusing on what your partner has to say before responding.

MAINTAINING A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP
For any relationship to stay strong both you and your partner need to put in the work. Below are some tips to help maintain a happy, healthy and satisfying relationship:
* See things from the other's point of view
* Accept differences between each other
* Celebrate each other's accomplishments
* Spend time apart with friends and family
* Be willing to negotiate
* Appreciate each other
* Treat your partner in ways that say "I love you and trust you."

Information found in this article was obtained from the following sources: www.loveisrespect.org, www.breakthecycle.org, www.thehotline.org, www.helpguide.org, www.scienceofrelationships.com

Healthy "U" February Newsletter

Escape to Western Maryland State Parks
by Oney P. Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Biology

With the demands of our everyday lives (and the mobile devices that often control them), getting away for a day trip or short vacation can be strong nourishment for body and soul.

For me, traveling to western Maryland to visit New Germany State Park or Herrington Manor State Park is an ideal getaway. Just three hours from Frederick, these parks are great escapes for day trips or extended stays of camping or cabin rentals.

For more than twenty years, I have had the good fortune to fish rivers and streams in western Maryland with my colleagues from Hood (and Fort Detrick), including Dr. Kevin Bennett and Dr. Drew Ferrier. On cold winter days (like the February day as I write these sentences), my spirits are lifted and warmed as I ponder our May trip to New Germany State Park located in Grantsville, Maryland. The week after Hood's graduation, our small group will travel to the park and rent one of the eleven cabins (reserved six months ago) for our annual fishing hiatus. Complete with bathroom, fully furnished kitchen, dining area, bedrooms (BUT no linens or towels), outdoor porch, and charcoal grill - our rented cabin will serve as "home" for four days of fly fishing. Day trips to the Savage River, Youghiogheny River, and Bear Creek for trout fishing will fuel our desire for meals, the "tying of flies," and of course, the "telling of lies" (best told by Dr. Bennett!) when we meet back at our cabin home.

Visiting our state parks in western Maryland offers much more than fishing - outdoor enthusiasts can find hiking and biking trails, cross-country skiing, canoeing, swimming, and a variety of park-sponsored events for folks of all ages. These parks offer great vacations spots for couples and families any season of the year - where cabin rentals average $100 per night.

If you are interested in renting a state park cabin and want access to those "modern conveniences," a trip to Herrington Manor State Park is a good start. Located in Oakland, Maryland, this park is 20 minutes from Deep Creek Lake with access to restaurants, shopping, and a movie theatre.

This past New Year's Eve, my wife and I celebrated the holiday in a cabin in Herrington Manor State Park. We stayed for two nights and dined out in Deep Creek Lake with friends from Frederick who also rented a cabin. One of our favorite excursions during this trip was a 15-minute drive to Swallow Falls State Park to walk the 1 1/4 mile trail which included photographing the 50-foot waterfalls where Muddy Creek flows into the Youghiogheny River:

If you would enjoy vacationing in western Maryland, including the attractions offered by our state park system, these links have additional information:

New Germany State Park (cabin rentals, camping, and day use)
Herrington Manor State Park (cabin rentals, camping, and day use)
Swallow Falls State Park (camping and day use)

More importantly, should you try these vacation escapes - I hope you experience, as I have, the rich nourishment these scenic parks offer for body and soul.

February is American Heart Month
BHS Wellness Bites February 2015 edition outlines a plan for a healthy heart. Check out 12 Weeks to a Heart Healthy Lifestyle.

Fitbit Challenge - Ending February 27
Walk/Run to the North Pole and back. The challenge began November 3 and ends February 27. Please submit your Fitbit report to Human Resources by the end of the day, March 2 to be entered into a prize drawing. All participants' steps will be combined to reach the goal of 6,998 miles (the distance from Frederick, MD to the North Pole). Stay active and be part of the challenge!

Healthy "U" January Newsletter

Mind Fitness
by Jack Mehl, M.A.'88, Associate Director of Athletics, Head Women's Basketball Coach

As the calendar changes to another year, most people are caught up in the excitement of coming up with a New Year's resolution. The day we decide upon a resolution is a great day. We have developed extensive plans on how to implement and keep the resolution, or at least keep the resolution longer than last year! One of the most common New Year's resolutions is to "get myself in better shape." Plans are made to start a gym membership, use the treadmill, visit the fitness center (on a more regular basis), or even embark on a running program with the ultimate goal of running in a race. Most, if not all, of our resolutions dealing with getting in better shape focus simply on our physical shape and neglect our "mental fitness." While not neglecting our physical fitness, what type of activities can we do to improve our mental fitness?

For almost everyone in our society, the use of technology and its many applications has become commonplace. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat are mainstream and many people spend multiple hours each day online using such applications. While these social programs can, and do, have a place in our daily lives, there are other applications available that can help with our quest for mental fitness. Studies have shown that exercising our mind through the use of games, yes even those online, can help with our overall fitness. Lumosity seems to be the most high profile when it comes to programs addressing our mental fitness. The site is dedicated to what they refer to as mind games to help keep the brain sharp. When first entering their site, you are given a mental fitness test, similar to the old physical fitness test, to determine your starting point. After the test, you are given an individual program that allows you to increase your mental fitness. This is done through a series of "games" and your progress is tracked and you can easily see how well you are doing. Imagine that, playing games and staying mentally sharp! There are other websites that advocate mental exercises to increase and maintain your fitness and many are free. One such site that I found interesting is AARP.

While online activities are easy to find and fun, there are many other opportunities available to exercise your mind without having to be on a computer. The Sunday crossword puzzle is always a challenge and an activity that certainly can be time consuming. Back in my college days, the crossword puzzle was done daily. The puzzle itself was certainly not a one person chore. Someone would start the puzzle and eventually reach a dead end and pass the puzzle on to others, with the ultimate goal of everyone being able to have a part in completing the puzzle. The word jumble was another great game that still is available today in some newspapers. I would classify Sudoku as one of the new classic puzzles that really stretches your reasoning and completing a puzzle labeled as difficult is certainly rewarding. There are multiple opportunities available to increase your mental awareness through the use of games and activities. As we move forward in 2015, how about trying to add a resolution to keep your mind and body in shape and look to stay sharp using your brain as much as you look to stay looking good working out in the gym!

Fitbit Challenge
Walk/Run to the North Pole and back. The challenge began November 3 and ends February 27. Please submit your Fitbit report to Human Resources by the end of the day, March 2 to be entered into a prize drawing. All participants' steps will be combined to reach the goal of 6,998 miles (the distance from Frederick, MD to the North Pole). Stay active and be part of the challenge!

Mindfulness Meditation - Returning this month
Relax and learn stress reduction techniques by meditating with Beth O'Malley in the McHenryInterfaith Prayer Room, Coffman Chapel basement, Mondays and Thursdays, 1:35-2:05 pm. First session will be Thursday, January 22. All are welcome!!

Yoga Classes - New Night and Time
The Dance Studio in Gambrill Gymnasium is reserved for yoga sessions Wednesday nights, 5:15-6:15 pm for the spring semester. First class begins January 21 and the last class ends April 29. Class will not be held March 11 due to spring break. Free yoga classes are sponsored by Sol Yoga.

Happy 2015!

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