February 2019
Welcome to the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce Health & Wellness Newsletter
 


Winter is wrapping up and Spring is just around the corner!  Welcome to our February 2019 edition of the Chamber Sun Health & Wellness Newsletter.

This issue is filled with easy access to today's top apps, the latest wellness information, healthy recipes and top exercise trends with a focus on giving you and your employees the tools and resources to stay happy and healthy.

We are excited to introduce our newest initiative, The Chamber Sun Well-being tool-kits. The kits are designed specifically to help individuals make healthy choices with easy access to effective well-being initiatives.

Do you seek to achieve a better balance between your work, life, and health?  Well-being is about how your job, your duties, expectations, stress level and environment affect your overall health and happiness.  Let's face it, we spend a majority of our lives at work and balancing life and work can be a daunting task at times.   Implementing your well-being goals will allow you to reduce your stress levels while achieving your goals of reaching a better sense of control in your life while maintaining the best health possible.

We hope you enjoy the latest issue, and let us know if there are any topics you would like to learn more about.

 Sincerely,

The MCCC Healthcare Council Steering Committee
The Flu:  What To Do If You Get Sick

Flu season is well underway, and this one is bad!  Each winter the flu wreaks havoc on employers and employees alike.  Studies show that an employee who contracts the flu is out of work on average for 7 days.  That's seven days of lost productivity!  For a small employer this can have a major impact on operations.

Here is some great information from the CDC to help keep you informed.

2018-2019 Flu Season:  Click here
Prevention:  Click here
Flu Symptoms:  Click here
Treatment:  Click here
Information for Business & Employers:  Click here
February is American Heart Health Month:  10 Tips for a Healthy Heart

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, many view February as the month of love, but it is also American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading killer of Americans, taking the lives of 2,200 people each day. In addition, 103 million adults have high blood pressure and 6.5 million are living with heart failure. While genetic factors do play a part in cardiovascular disease, the good news is 80 percent of cardiovascular diseases may be preventable with education and action. Simple lifestyle changes can make a big impact when it comes to heart health. Show your heart some love with these 10 tips.  

Learn more at  bioIQ.
20 Exercises to Do at Your Desk - Get Fit at the Workplace?!

If you are sitting down and reading this article right now, you should stop! Okay, well don't stop reading, but you might want to stand up to finish it. I will make sure to give you some exercises to do at your desk later, and you're going to want to.

Why? Well, if you are like most people today, chances are you are spending too much time tied to your desk buried in emails. Or maybe you're whiling away the time mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram because you have a fear of missing out.

Our modern lives have been engineered so that we can spend most of it sitting down. Unfortunately, sitting is literally killing us.


 
 - Find out more about these exercises at Dr Axe Food is Medicine
9 Wellness Trends to Watch in 2019


Is cauliflower the new kale and are at-home workouts the new studio classes?

Those are just some of the burning questions we're asking as we look ahead to the biggest trends in wellness for 2019.

 "Good Morning America" tapped some of the industry's leading experts and influencers to give us a sneak peak of what we'll see popping up on Instagram, in the grocery store and in our workouts in the New Year.


 
 - Find out more about these trends at Good Morning America
2019 Health Awareness Calendar

One of the biggest tools we have to fight health conditions is the power of human connection. That's why awareness months, weeks, and days are so important: They rally us together to spread awareness and show support.

Educational and fundraising events are often held at these times to create a ripple effect of positivity and empowerment for not only those living with health conditions, but their loved ones, too.


 
 - Find out more about these exercises at Healthline.
What is Mindfulness?


Mindfulness. It's a pretty straightforward word. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to what's happening, to what you're doing, to the space you're moving through. That might seem trivial, except for the annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand. Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we're engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.


 
 - Find out more about these exercises at Mindful.org.
In This Issue

Chamber Sun
Well being Took Kits



Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

 

Featured Recipe





 Primavera Stuffed Chicken
 
Featured App



Stop, Breathe & Think
 
Featured Event

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!!




Chamber Challenge

A fun filled team competition that will challenge your body and your brain...Are you ready for a challenge?


Sunday
May 19, 2019

YMCA Camp Ingersoll
94 Camp Ingersoll Rd.
Portland, CT 06480


More information will be available on March 4th
 

Middlesex Mindful Minute...



"When we talk about work-life balance, we set ourselves up to juggle, to perpetually shift our attention from one aspect to another.  However, if we focus on life integration, we open a space to allow our central priorities and values to direct our attention, our energy and our choices, in the moment and in our lives.  This releases the stress of the juggle and we live from a place of alignment across domains of our lives.", Dr. Wendy Shumway
 
EAP Corner...

Time Management. An interesting concept, and a topic that Solutions EAP is asked to present fairly often in a workshop format. It occurs to me that what employers are really interested in, is productivity. To actually manage time is an oxymoron, as time really can't be managed in the way we would like to think it could. We're just not that omnipotent. Helping people manage themselves so that they become more efficient at completing their work in a timely fashion seems to be a much more doable concept..   - See more at:   Solutions EAP
Apps to Make Life Easier...

7 Minute Workout





The Workout App That Helps You Make Every Minute Count!

With more than 3 million downloads, The
Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout® App is the fast, simple, science-based way to work out anywhere, anytime. Designed by Chris Jordan, Director of Exercise Physiology at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, the workout has helped people around the world get the most out of every minute. And now our world class, personalized workout experience is on Apple Watch - so your workout is always with you!
Yummly


 





Yummly is your smart cooking sidekick, offering personalized guidance every step of the way. From recipe recommendations just for you, to handy tools and helpful videos, Yummly has everything you need to improve life in the kitchen. Experience what millions are enjoying on the web, free on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Smiling Mind





SMILING MIND is a collection of hundreds of meditations for a wide variety of ages and situations. There are grounding body scans, breathing meditations, and sensory exercises such as listening to music or tasting foods. There are complete programs for kids in different age groups, a workplace program, and a sport program. Users can enjoy short meditations or longer versions with less guidance.

If you have a successful wellness story you would like to share, please let us know! 

Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce
www.middlesexchamber.com                  info@middlsexchamber.com            (860) 347-9504