Mental health, physical health, and healthy communication. Here are a few health reminders to support you and your household.

Employee Assistance Program. Six Free Visits for you and your household, Stacey Grayson, your Care Coordinator, is happy to assist with benefits, eligibility, and provider availability for concerns such as stress management, personal relationships, grief, depression and anxiety, substance abuse, life transition, and financial/legal questions.

Benefits Concierge. Leave the complex issues to our experts while you focus on being your healthiest self. Benefits Concierge can assist with questions involving claims assistance, eligibility questions, referral guidance, pharmacy information, and Plan explanations.
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Exploring the Mental and Physical Benefits of Outdoor Activities

Need an excuse to get out of the house? Research continues to demonstrate that being outside and experiencing nature can improve our mental health and increase our ability to focus.

Many of us are in front of a screen for much of our day — whether that be a computer, TV or smartphone. As a result, we spend less time outside experiencing the natural world. Here are some reasons why we all can benefit from taking a nature break.

Nature can help us improve our thinking, reasoning and other mental abilities. When we’re in urban environments or the office all day, we can experience sensory overload, resulting in tension and mental fatigue. Studies have shown that our minds and bodies relax in a natural setting. Nature can provide a mental break by allowing us to temporarily escape the demands of everyday life. It can also boost your creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Nature can improve physical wellness. Getting out into nature can lead us to want to walk, bike, hike or kayak more often. People typically engage in regular physical activity when they’re in nature. So, stepping outside can help you keep a healthy weight or even lose weight by increasing activity levels. Studies have also shown that being in nature has a positive effect on our bodies by reducing cortisol levels, muscle tension and demands on our cardiovascular systems.

Being outside can improve your mental health. Nature can help decrease your anxiety levels and can help lessen stress and feelings of anger. Regular access to green spaces has been linked to lower risks of depression and improved concentration and attention. Being outside allows us to be social and come together with family, friends or even people you don’t know who are also looking for a great hiking trail, for example.

Other related benefits to being in nature. There are some positive health impacts related to getting outdoors. You can learn more about these in the research summary from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They include the following:

• People who live near parks and green space have less mental distress, are more physically active and have longer life spans.
• When people exercise outdoors in nature, they do so for longer periods of time and at greater intensities.
• Positive health effects are enhanced when green space includes water.
  Source: https://health.ucdavis.edu

The Art of Active Listening: Keys to Healthy Communication

As a speaker, you sometimes focus exclusively on the information that you want to relay. However, your listener or reader may understand your message, understand only a portion of your message or miss your point entirely—even though you transmitted the information accurately by your standard. It is not enough to deliver a message. The message must be received for communication to be successful.

In the send-receive model of communication, receiving or listening is as critical as sending the message because, without listening, it is impossible to personalize and respond to the message.

Active listening. When you listen empathically, you don’t just hear words. You hear thoughts, beliefs and feelings. Empathic listening is highly active and requires hard work. Following these steps will help you to improve your listening skills:

• The first step is to decide to listen and concentrate on the speaker.
• Then, use your imagination and enter the speaker’s situation. Concentrate and try to imagine his or her frame of reference and point of view.
• Observe the speaker’s vocal inflection, enthusiasm or lack of it, and style of delivery.
• These are essential components of the message. If you are speaking face-to-face, pay attention to the speaker’s facial expressions and other nonverbal cues for more insight into the message.
• Listen without interruption. Note key phrases or use word associations to remember the speaker’s content.
• Use paraphrasing or clarifying questions to confirm that you received the intended message. Check your perceptions of how the speaker is feeling to put the text of the message in emotional context.
• Finally, provide feedback to the speaker.

Like other skills, listening skills improve with practice. Practice empathic listening by attending, paraphrasing and asking questions. The next time someone comes to you with a problem, work on the listening skills that need improvement.

Essential Guide to Sun Protection and Skin Health

Enjoying activities outside or working a job that takes you outdoors can mean hours under the sun. Over months and years, those hours add up, and the time in the sun may damage your skin.

You can protect your skin and minimize sun damage by taking the steps below when you’re outdoors. Follow these tips even on cool, cloudy or hazy days. Be extra careful around water, snow, concrete and sand because they reflect the sun’s rays. And keep in mind that sunlight is more intense at higher altitudes.

Cover up. For the most protection from the sun, cover your skin when you’re outdoors. Dark clothing with a tight weave offers more protection than light-colored clothing or clothing with a loose weave. Try outdoor gear designed for sun protection. Check the label for its ultraviolet protection factor (UPF). The higher the UPF number, the more protection you get. Wear a wide-brimmed hat or use an umbrella to shade skin that can’t be covered, along with wearing sunscreen.

Use sunscreen often and generously. On uncovered skin, use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. Apply sunscreen generously. Reapply every two hours, or more often if you’re swimming or sweating.

Avoid being in the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The sun’s rays are strongest during these hours, so try to schedule outdoor activities for other times, if possible. If you have to be outside during the middle of the day, try to limit the time you’re in the sun. Stay in the shade as much as you can.
See your health care professional if you notice:

• A new skin growth.
• Changes to a mole you already have, such as a change in size, shape or color.
• A mole that bleeds or becomes itchy or painful.
• Any skin changes that are out of the ordinary for you.