Category: Health and Wellness

Do you find yourself feeling tense by lunchtime? Recreational Sports and Fitness Services offers Yogalates classes every Wednesday from 12:10 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. at IM Circle to help relax some of your morning tension and break up the work day.  Yogalates is a low-intensity workout that blends ideas and forms of Yoga and Pilates to stretch your muscles, increase blood flow, improve your posture and work out your abdominal muscles. Each class session is $3 and you may drop-in at any time!Continue Reading… Yogalates at Lunchtime!

Do you get nervous when visiting your doctor’s office? Knowing you may only have a few minutes with your doctor, you want to prepared so you get the most out of your appointment. Here are some ideas that can help, courtesy of Best Doctors:

• Bring a list of your questions and concerns
• Bring a list of all of your medications (including over-the-counter and supplements) and how much you take of each one
• Repeat what your doctor tells you in your own words to make sure you understand
• Take notes
• Ask how you can reach your doctor between visits
• Bring someone with you for supportContinue Reading… Making the Most of Your Doctor Visits

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the first MSU Moves Me 2012 Challenge!

While only the winner and 10 runner-up teams are recognized, everyone who participated is a winner for their activity and engagement. The majority of challenge participants maintained or increased their amount of physical activity, and we hope that continues past the challenge!Continue Reading… MSU Moves Me 2012 Challenge Wrap-Up

Sitting at a computer for hours every day is known to cause stiffness in your neck, shoulders and lower back. Since we all can’t make it to one of Health4U’s chair massages, try stretching at your desk! This Computer and Desk Stretches sheet can be used as a simple, easy and effective way to stretch out your soreness right at work. You can do one of them, a few of them or all of them in the order they appear on the PDF document for the best possible stretch! They only take about four minutes to complete and should make you feel better and therefore more productive! Try them out and see how you feel! If you’re still feeling stiff, it is also a good idea to try walking around the office to get your blood flowing again.

Once you’re at home if you are still sore from your day, look up the article, “Stress Management: Practicing Yoga to Relax” on the Healthwise Knowledgebase to relieve stress even further through deeper stretching. You might also like to try Health4U’s Kripalu Yoga classes, held every Friday during the lunch hour!Continue Reading… Stretching at Your Desk

This is a guest post by Peggy Crum, RD. Peggy is the nutritionist for the Health4U program at Michigan State University.

Most of us are naturally skeptical about new foods. We may not want to try them because they look strange or smell weird. It’s easier just to stay with the familiar and comfortable things we’re used to eating.

But what if our children won’t eat the foods we like to eat? Taking the path of least resistance, a parent could serve just what their children like. Doing this becomes as ho-hum as choosing from your local restaurant’s kids’ menu. Alternatively, making two (or more) different meals is time consuming.Continue Reading… What if they won’t even try it?

Happy Valentine’s Day! Whether you celebrate today’s holiday or not, you have a good reason to wear red: it’s American Heart Month!

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States; one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day (Center for Disease Control). And more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined (American Heart Association).Continue Reading… February is American Heart Month!