Stress: How To Reduce and Find Ways To Cope

Stress is a normal physical response to upsetting or worrisome events. Stress is not always bad if experienced in moderation. It can motivate you to do your best and take action. However, if you are constantly under stress and feel pressured, worried or overwhelmed, it can cause major damage to your health.

Stress manifests itself in many different ways, including restlessness, headaches, heartburn, sleeplessness, increased anger or frustration, change in appetite, irritability, feelings of anxiety, or difficulty concentrating. It can also have detrimental effects on your relationships at home and in the workplace. As you can imagine, alleviating stress, and the symptoms associated with it, can lead to a healthier, happier life.

Ways to Cope

• Express your feelings. Discuss your anxieties with others. Write down your feelings in a journal, or send someone a letter.

• Engage in activities you enjoy. See a movie or listen to music, spend time doing a favorite hobby, or get involved in volunteer work.

• Take time for yourself. You are important so make time for you. Do things that make you happy and spend time with positive happy people.

• Do things to relax your mind. Unwind by reading a book. Try massage therapy or muscle relaxation exercises.

• Get regular exercise. A walk or a trip to the gym can help immensely.

• Seek medical treatment if you are under prolonged stress or you feel you can no longer cope.

How to Reduce Stress in Your Life
Bringing down your stress level will alleviate the symptoms associated with stress. The long term effects of reducing stress will help you live a happier and healthier life.

Lifestyle Choices

Strive to make better decisions that minimize excessive stress.

Manage Your Time
Plan ahead so you don’t feel the last minute pressure to finish projects or deal with stressful situations.

Identify Your Souces of Stress
Determine the situations that cause you the greatest amount of stress and either avoid them or develop coping mechanisms.

Get Support
A strong support network of family and friends who help discuss things that cause you excessive stress can be helpful alleviation.

Talk to a Medical Professional
Consult your physician or a counselor. Don’t hesitate to seek their help.

Healthy Weight: Achieve and Maintain Yours with Nutrition and Exercise

A healthy weight is the weight your body naturally achieves when your physical activities and lifestyle are in balance with the nutritious foods you eat. When the calories you eat match the calories you burn, you will settle into the right weight for you.

Getting to and maintaining your healthy weight means eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables while limiting empty calories (calories from sugary soft drinks, cakes, pies, and other dessert foods) and eating less fat and highly processed foods.

Exercise is also an important component to managing a healthy weight. Exercise moderately at least 30 minutes per day, five or more days per week. Mix up your exercise plan with a brisk walk, cycling, shooting hoops, working out at the gym or engaging in an enjoyable activity that gets your heart beating faster and makes you feel invigorated.

Common Causes of Being Overweight

Many factors in our daily lives that contribute to being overweight. Poor diet and inactivity are commonly recognized, but some medications, medical problems, and excess stress can cause weight gain as well. Other factors also put people at increased risk of becoming overweight, including family history, age (as we age, our metabolism slows) and sex.

Control Your Calories

A calorie is a measurement of the energy your body needs to function. If your body takes in more calories than it needs on a daily basis, it stores the excess as fat. The formula to lose weight, requires you have to use up more calories than you take in. Follow these some tips to help manage your calorie intake:

• Reduce your fat intake. Fat has twice the calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates. Animal foods such as meat and dairy products are a big source of fats.

• Eat complex carbohydrates like those found in whole grains, vegetables, and beans. These are good lower calorie foods that give you nutrients and fiber.

• Drink water in lieu of soft drinks. Simple carbohydrates, such as in soft drinks and sweets are high in calories and provide few nutrients and no fiber.

• Eat frequent, small meals. It is an important diet component that helps you digest foods and keep blood sugar levels stable. It may also lower cholesterol.

Incorporate More Physical Activity into your Life

Prior to beginning any exercise program, always consult your physician first. Then, strive to be active for at least 30 minutes a day through walking, bicycling, or whatever physician approved exercise program works for you. Walking 30 minutes per day as little as 3-4 times per week can improve your health.

The Benefits of Achieving a Healthy Weight

• Reduces risk of heart disease and stroke

• Lessens chance of developing certain kinds of cancer

• Relieves stress on back and joints

• Increases energy level

• Enhances self esteem

Exercise: A Routine for a Feel-Good, Healthy Life

Physical activity is a key to improving your health and preventing serious illness. Exercise helps us feel better, have more energy, and perhaps even live longer. Regard less of age, sex, or physical ability, the benefits of an active lifestyle and exercising regularly are difficult to ignore.

Importance and Benefits of Exercise

• Combats chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and can help you prevent diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

• Contributes to managing a healthy weight which improves your overall health and reduces risk of weight related health problems.

• Strengthens your heart and lungs which improves your cardiovascular health.

• Improves mental well being and can help eliminate stress

• Promotes better sleep so you are well

How to Start Your Exercise Routine
The benefits of establishing an exercise routine are plentiful. Often, the toughest part is getting started. Here are some suggestions to get you off on the right foot:

• Always consult your doctor before starting a program to assure it is safe for you and meets your goals.

• Seek the advice of experts at the YMCA or a local center on the best equipment and how to use safely.

• Make exercise a habit and do it with a family or friend.

• Always start slowly. “Too much too soon,” can lead to soreness, fatigue, and even injuries.

• Set realistic goals. Gradually increase the intensity and duration of your workout.

• Make it simple with walking, swimming, or any enjoyable activity.

• Don’t procrastinate and begin today!

How to Get Results from Your Exercise Routine
Planning your exercise program is a helpful first step. Keep track of how hard you are exercising, what you are doing, and measure the results over time. Here are a few more tips:

• Heart rate. Check your pulse with a stopwatch or an electronic heart monitor. This can tell you if you are working too hard. You should consult with your physician and let him determine your target heart rate and level of exertion.

• Breathing rate. Measuring the number of times you breathe in and out in one minute can tell you how much you are taxing your body. If you can talk while exercising, you are doing fine. If you can sing during exercise you can go a little faster or exercise a little harder. If you can’t talk while exercising you are probably exercising too hard. Slow down a little and build up your stamina over time.

• Weight and fat loss. As your fitness improves, you will be able to become more active and your body will burn more calories. Over time, you will notice a gradual weight loss.

 

Mollen Launches New Website to Reflect its Healthcare Strategy

Posted by Chris Behling, President at Mollen

Mollen’s new website represents its focus on leveraging its network of healthcare professionals to deliver more care, more conveniently and more cost-effectively.
 

Today, Mollen announced the launch of its new website http://www.MollenHealth.com to better reflect the company’s vision and mission to leverage its network of over 200,000 healthcare professionals to deliver more care, more conveniently and more cost-effectively. 

“Over the past several years, Mollen grew to be the largest mass immunizer in the country.  As a result of that growth, Mollen developed a robust set of assets that can now be leveraged beyond immunizations to extend the reach of providers, expand access to care, help fill gaps in care delivery and provide more care, more locally, by remote healthcare professionals working to the top of their certifications,” said Terrie Robinson, Mollen’s CFO and COO.  “Our new website, URL, branding and logo now represent this vision and mission.” 

Mollen now offers their customers a variety of services including healthcare professionals on a variable cost basis, handling of all workforce management including payroll and contracting, all scheduling and staffing of remote healthcare interventions, training of healthcare professionals on customer specific processes and services, electronic capture of data at the point of care via a fleet of Google Chromebooks, supply chain and logistics capabilities and claims billing and processing.

“Our new streamlined website now focuses on Mollen’s key asset . . . our network of healthcare professionals,” said Marc Crouch, Mollen’s VP of Sales Operations.  “Users can now pick a state and immediately see how many healthcare professionals we have in our network in that state.  Our hope is healthcare service companies and healthcare provider organizations will view Mollen as the best place to access local, experienced and trained healthcare professionals on a variable cost basis to help them deliver services in the most convenient and cost effective ways possible.”

More information is available at http://www.MollenHealth.com.

Take a look at the new website at http://www.MollenHealth.com.