Wellness Mag March

Your Benefits & Wellness Monthly Magazine

March 2024

Mental Health LET’S TALK Stress

STOPANDTAKEABREATH

Your three-year-old refuses to sleep, even though it’s 8 p.m. and you have a work meeting in the morning. Dinner was supposed to be ready half an hour ago. Meanwhile, you’ve skipped doing laundry - again You have a major project you’re working on and due date is approaching. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. According to the American Psychological Foundation, 75% of adults report experiencing moderate to high levelsofstressinthepastmonth.

Whilesomestressisnormal,constantpressure-whether from your job or personal life - van have long-term consequences on your physical, mental and emotional health. Although you can’t eliminate all stress in your life, even simple adjustments can help you better managestressfulsituations.

Physical Health

Spring back into shape

Your lower back is the anchor of the core support system for your entire body. Keeping it strong and stable provides support for everyday tasks and movements like standing, lifting and bending. There are many exercises to strengthen the lower back that help alleviate and prevent pain while strengthening the core, leg and arm muscles.

Try these exercises that also increase blood flow to the lower back area, which may also reduce stiffness.

Supermans can strengthen back extensors to maintain good posture

Lie face down on the ground and stretch both arms out in front of the body keeping legs stretched out and flat on the ground

Raise both the hands and feet, aiming to create a gap of about 6 inches between them and the floor. (If both arms and legs are too difficult, just lift arms off the ground with feet down)

Keep arms and legs outstretched and hold position for 2 seconds

Return to starting position and repeat 10 times

Floor bridges can help strengthen the core, glutes, and hamstrings, while having minimal pressure on the low back.

Lie on back with knees bent, feet flat on floor, hip width apart

Place your arms at your sides

Draw in your core and abdominals

Lift the hips off the floor until about inline with knees

Hold position for 5-10 seconds and return slowly to the floor

Repeat 10-12 times.

Knee-to-cheststretchescanhelptoelongatethelowerback,relievingtensionandpain

Lieonthebackonthefloor

Bendtheknees,keepingbothfeetonthefloor

Usebothhandstopullonekneeintowardthechest

Holdfor5seconds,keepingtheabdominalstightandpressingthespineintothefloor Returntostartingpositionandrepeatwithoppositeleg Repeatwitheachleg2-3times.

Recipe of the month

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup nonfat buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1

2

3

4

5

Preheat oven to 400°F

Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners

Use a vegetable peeler to remove zest from lemon in long strips

Combine the zest and sugar in a food processor

Add buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla and pulse until blended

6. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold until almost blended.

In a separate large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

7.

Gently fold in raspberries.

8. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

9.

10.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until the edges and tops are golden.

Dental & Vision

Schedule your annual checkups!

Why is an annual eye exam important?

Taking care of your eyes doesn’t just mean having clear vision

Your eye care provider identifies both vision correction needs and emerging health issues during your annual eye exam.

Eye exams can detect conditions like diabetes early, thus preventing future unnecessary medical costs. Vision problems can also cause headaches and dizziness and can possibly hinder learning

Davis Vision Network

The Davis Vision network has over 150,000 in network optometrists and ophthalmologists that you are able to see. Recently, Target Optical and Pearle Vision have been added to the network.

Did you know if you purchase your glasses/contacts at a VIsionworks location, you can receive even more of a discount than other retailers?!

Why is an annual dental exam important?

Everyone knows they should see their dentist for regular checkups and cleanings to keep their teeth healthy and strong. However, nearly half of U.S. adults have put off their scheduled visits during the recent pandemic

Regular dental maintenance goes beyond oral health to make positive impacts on an individual’s overall health, as well as health care costs. During a routine exam, a dentist can often detect the first signs of an underlying health condition such as diabetes, leukemia, or heart disease, at a time when they would be less complex and less expensive to treat A recent Cigna Healthcare study showed, on average, those who receive consistent preventive dental care have 22% fewer emergency room and urgent care visits than those who don’t, which contributes to a 4.4% savings in total medical costs per person per year.

Tips

Being good to YOURSELF

Eating whatever you want, buying anything that catches your eye, or avoiding any activity that isn’t fun and exciting isn’t being good to yourself The trouble with these behaviors is that there are negative consequences that are very uncomfortable. Being good to yourself by eating a healthy diet, budgeting, and fitting in eight hours of sleep is more challenging, but the benefits are wonderful!

It’s okay to enjoy spontaneous moments by making choices that let you feel good about yourself and that create results rather than consequences.

Mind the added sugars

Sugar hides in a lot more places than you might think! Thanks to new nutrition label regulations, the amount of added sugars or sugars that do not naturally occur in the foods have to be listed separately on the nutrition facts label

Number1showsthetotalamountofsugarinone servingofthefood

Number2showshowmanygramsofsugarcomes fromaddedsugarsoutofthetotalamount. Didyouknowthat1teaspoonofsugarhas3grams ofsugarinit?Thisfoodtotherighthasover7 teaspoonsofsugarinoneserving,almosthalfofthe dailyrecommendation(basedona2,000calorie diet)

Event

Support the Friends of League City Senior Foundation and improve your health by Walking for Wellness!

When? Saturday, March 23 @ 7:30am

Where?

Walter Hall Park 807 Hwy 3 N, League City

LC Wellness will pay for employees who would like to participate!

To participate, register online at https://runsignup.com/race/TX/LeagueCity/ WalkforWellness1K5K or scan the QR code.

There will be trophies to overall 1K & 5K female and male winners. Each overall winner will also be awarded $100.

Medals awarded to 1st & 2nd place, male and female in each age division.

Use Code: LCHR2024

50 to 59

All participants will receive a finisher medal.

All participants must be registered to participate Race is closed to bikes, skateboards & roller blades.

Event

Relax

Schedule a 15 minute massage by clicking on the booking link below.

When?

Where?

Wednesday, March 6 from 9a-3p

Civic Center Meeting Room 4

400 W Walker St.

(please wait until a massage therapist comes out of the room to get you)

HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT (HRA)

HRA’s will need to be completed for the 2024-2025 benefit plan year EARLIER than in previous years The HRA consists of a comprehensive metabolic panel and lipids panel completed by your doctor or an onsite vendor here at the city. We are planning to have our onsite vendor come in late April/early May 2024. HRA must be completed for covered employee and/or spouse to receive the discounted premium.

HRA’s will need to be completed between October 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024. This will allow for time to process through the insurance and prevent employees not receiving the wellness discount.

Don’t wait till the last minute and stress!

See your doctor and get your annual check up now!