Healthy Habits for the Busy Lifestyle

It’s that time of year again, when all you can hear is coughing in your large lecture class or the sneezing coming from half the cubes in your office. Everyone is getting sick and you know it’s only a matter of time until you've caught it too. While getting a cold is sometimes unavoidable, there are some preventative measures you can take. Here are some simply and realistic ways to stay healthy while juggling that buys schedule.

• Increase your iron. Not getting enough iron in your diet can lead to tiredness and even depression. Fight fatigue by increasing iron-rich food into your diet like oatmeal, spinach and lean meats.
• Smoothies on-the-go. Maximum fruits and vitamins to boost your immune system with minimum effort. Simply divide foods like berries, bananas, and other fruits into several Ziploc bags and pop them in the freezer.  When you’re ready, just put the frozen ingredients in a blender with yogurt or milk and you've got a quick and health meal.
• Hydrate. Staying hydrated might be the easiest and most effective way to stay healthy. Drinking plenty of water keeps you feeling energized and focused, and can be a great alternative to coffee believe it or not! It even helps keep colds at bay. Bring a reusable water bottle with you throughout the day to help remind you to stay hydrated.
• Vitamin C. Even with all these vitamins, if you still feel yourself starting to sick, up your intake of vitamin C. It’s as simple as a glass of orange juice with breakfast or Emergen-C, a powered vitamin supplement, mixed some hot water in lieu of your morning tea.

Although it may seem like the most difficult, the best way to ward off sickness is sleep! Those all-nighters and early morning classes are cutting into your sleeping time, lowering your immune system and making you more susceptible to illness. Making time for a little extra sleep now will keep you from having to take a whole day off to recover later.  

Staying Healthy for the Overly Active Lifestyle

The back to school commercials are on and new Temple flags are going up on the streetlights of campus.  As much as we hate to admit it, fall semester is quickly approaching.  Once the semester picks up, it’s often hard to remember your health on top of everything else.  But here are some helpful tips to keep you healthy and fit all semester long.

Public relations is one of the most stressful industries out there. In fact, Forbes lists Public Relations executive as the 5^th most stressful job of 2013, not far behind military general! Scheduling activities that help you relax after being in a hectic work environment is important. Fitness is one great way to relieve stress after a busy day.  Practicing yoga allows your body to get the exercise it needs and your mind the rest it deserves.

During those late nights at the Tech Center or all day classes, it’s easy to work through dinner or lunch.  I’ll admit to a Red Bull-fueled morning or two.  But skipping meals, especially breakfast, can have some detrimental effects on your body. This bad habit alters your metabolism and lowers blood sugar, making you feel sluggish and tired. An easy fix is to snack throughout the day, providing your body with the nutrition it needs to make it through the day. Try carrots with hummus or trail mix with dried berries and nuts to give you energy on the go.

On the busiest days, it’s even difficult to find time to snack and the go-to energizer is, of course, coffee.  Those sugary lattes and Frappuccinos are great for a burst of caffeine but make you crash later.  Thankfully there are healthy alternatives to give you much needed energy.  Green tea is a nice replacement that helps boost your immune system in addition to a little caffeine buzz.  Hot water with lemon, although it is caffeine free, is a great coffee replacement for coffee in the morning with benefits like clearing your skin, enhancing your mood, and reducing anxiety.

What other health tips do you have for leading a healthy and active lifestyle? Let us know!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Jaime Martorana. 

Finding a Place for Fitness

When you're working long hours and trying to clear as many items off of your to-do list as possible, working out can often be put on the back burner. Public relations has been named, numerous times, as one of the most stressful professions. Having a regular workout routine can help to alleviate some of that stress, and get endorphines running through your body. If you're having trouble fitting a workout around your busy work schedule, try following this cubicle workout from Fitness Blender:

• Run/jog in place, or walk a few laps around your workplace for 2-3 minutes as a warm-up
• 15 Glute Squeezes – Sitting straight in your chair with your feet flat on the floor, contract your glutes and hold for 2-3 seconds so that you raise up a bit in your chair before relaxing muscles.
• 15 Arm Circles in each direction – Extend arms and make small clockwise circles with your fingertips. Switch directions to repeat circles counterclockwise.
• 15 Abdominal Contractions – Sit in your chair with a straight back and pull your belly button in towards your spine. Hold for 5 seconds for each repetition. 
• 15 Seated Tricep Dips – Scoot to the edge of your chair and support your bodyweight with your fingers hanging over the edge of the seat. Lower your body weight, keeping elbows tucked into sides. Make sure to choose a chair without wheels for this office exercise!
• 15 Squats – This is an easy way to bump up your calorie burn and tone glutes and thighs in an office workout when you are limited on space.
• 15 Wall Push Ups – To tone your chest with an office exercise routine, do push ups against the wall (you can do regular push ups if you’re not in a dress and/or have enough space).
• 15 Toe Raises – A great move for cubicle routines, these allow you to tone the calves without breaking a sweat and with minimal room.
• 15 Dumbbell or Resistance Band Curls – Keep dumbbells or exercise bands handy at your desk and you will open up a wealth of different office exercises and toning moves that require very little space. See Fitness Blender’s exercise library for more upper body toning ideas.

Doing this cubicle workout a few days a week, along with avoiding take-out lunches, could yield serious results before you know it! If this workout isn't quite your style, see if this 32 minute chair workout works best for you.

Have you found a way to get your workout in while you're at work? If so, please share!

Shhh... It's Quiet Hours

Ask any PR professional what the first thing they do in the morning is, and I'll bet anything that 99% report they check their smart phones. Smart phones and PR pros seem to go hand in hand, no pun intended. They allow us to have news, emails, contacts, deadlines, and alerts all at the tips of our fingers. Though your job hours may be 9-5, smart phone alerts can often extend way past those hours.

While having the world at your beside is convenient  it can also be detrimental to your personal health. 67% professionals report feeling "phantom vibrations," or thinking their phones are ringing and vibrating when they are actually silent. Other professionals say they have woken out of their sleep in the middle of the night to return or send an email from their smart phone. 44% of professionals sleep with their smart phones.

With the new year in full swing, many companies have made it their personal resolution to create less smart phone dependent employees. It's great that you can get a client's story placement in a major publication by 8am, but not so great that you pass out from exhaustion in your cubicle later. That being said, many companies are taking the following steps to insure happy, healthy, smart phone free employees:

• "Blackout policies" that include turning off all work related devices from 6pm-6am, and keeping it off on the weekends.
• Auto deleting emails during vacation times so that employees don't return to a flooded inbox.
• Limiting the use of smart phones during business trips.
• Providing employees with phones just for work so that they can leave them in the office at the end of the day.

While these initiatives are a great way to make happier and healthier employees, I wonder if it is even feasible in the PR world. Public Relations often requires going beyond office hours to get the job done. A PR pro returning from vacation with a wiped out inbox may actually do more harm than good. 

What do you think? Will the smart phone and PR pro relationship ever become more laid back? Let us know!

Surgery and Social Media

The Swedish Medical Center has begun a new campaign to raise awareness around treatment options for those with hearing loss. The campaign consists of a video series developed by Dr. Douglas Backous, medical director of the Center for Hearing and Skull Base Surgery at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle, Washington and the use of Twitter and Instagram.

The series began in September and will end October with a live chat. Each week, a short video was released discussing topics such as what a cochlear implant is, how to prepare for the surgery and answers to frequently asked questions. What differentiates the series is the culimination of the campaign, set to take place on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 7:40 am, which will include live-tweets and Instagram photos taken during a surgery. The use of social media during surgery is the first of its kind  and may set a new standard in the medical industry.

The live-tweeted and Instagrammed surgery will comprise of a live feed of still images during the surgery taken from inside the operating room. In order to view the stream, viewers simply need to follow @swedish and #swedishhear. To date, the hospital has already acquired almost 10,000 followers.

As an advocator of the deaf community I will definitely be tuning in, will you?

For more information about the series and to tune in visit www.swedish.org/SwedishHear and follow them on twitter @swedish and #swedishhear.

Don't Over Feed!

As aspiring public relations professionals and young adults, many of us are constantly "plugged in". Throughout the day we are on social media sites commenting, re-tweeting and posting not only on our personal accounts but also for our internships and places of employment. We know it's sometimes unhealthy but some of us have trouble "shutting off". While feeding my addiction on Pinterest, I found this funny and cautionary warning.

The new motto, "Don't over feed". Sorry, Drake.

Mickey Mouse Marketing

Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Robert Iger announced this past Tuesday that starting in 2015, Disney will ban all junk-food advertising on its children’s television and radio programs that do not meet certain nutritional guidelines.

Disney will be the first major media company to set a food and beverage advertising standard on kid-focused programming. Food and beverage products will need to meet pre-determined nutrition criteria for limiting calories and reducing saturated fat, sodium and sugar when the new regulations are put into effect.

Another aspect of the campaign that hasn’t gotten much media attention is how the Walt Disney Company is working to brand health.

Disney introduced the “Mickey Check” on Tuesday as well. It is described as a an icon in the shape of Mickey Mouse that will “call out nutritious food and menu items sold in stores, online and at restaurant food venues at its U.S. Parks and Resorts.” This so-called “tool” will eventually be featured on Disney licensed food products in your local grocery store.

Although this is an extremely smart business move, I can't help but think the program may be going a little too far. Kids are already bombarded with advertising messages in so many aspects of their everyday life. Now healthy eating, which is a serious public health issue looking at childhood obesity rates, is going to be directly connected to Disney consumer products. It makes me question whether the root of the campaign stems from a true concern over children’s health or is it just another way for Disney to make a profit?

How do you feel about this Mickey Mouse marketing? Is this a case of smart marketing going too far? Let us know!

All Work and No Play Means Trouble

For many of us, twenty-four hours is not enough in a single day! With classes, internships, jobs, and the hope of a social life, each of us is cramming as much as we can every day. While we are trying to keep up during this highly competitive age, working too much has some negative, lingering effects.

CNN, Fortune, and the Today Show have been investigating what happens when people overwork themselves. Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard University, finds that a vacation is essential for mindfulness, which is mediating in a non-judgmental way. This allows individuals to be present while clearing their minds and has plenty of health benefits, like lowering both heart rate and blood pressure.

In the article, “How Many Hours Should You Be Working?” author Laura Vanderkam helps workaholics decide how much work is too much. She quotes the authors of Rework, saying that workaholics aren’t the heroes but that the real hero is at home because she figured out a faster way to get everything done. While a study of Italian CEO’s found that working more hours does increase overall productivity, it is contingent upon how these hours are spent. For example, when executives spend more hours meeting with employees, productivity increases, but not when they meet with clients or outside vendors.

A recent segment on the Today Show highlighted the problems with overworking yourself. When juggling so many balls in the air, the one that usually drops is your own. This segment explained how women are at a greater risk for depression, arthritis, cancer, and other chronic illnesses than men. In their quest to have it all, a career, a family, women often neglect their own health. The Healthy Woman’s Forum, held for the first time this year in Princeton, NJ, offered solutions and suggestions for workaholic women. One idea was for women to join an exercise group or find some kind of hobby just for themselves. In the end, it is all about balancing your priorities.
It is extremely hard to shut down the computer, turn off the phone, and just unwind. Most of us have this ridiculous fear that we will miss some amazing opportunity or not respond fast enough to the "oh-so" important email. But, at the end of the day, our health, sanity, and well-being must be put first. There is nothing wrong with working hard, but we all must strike a balance between work and play.

Are you a workaholic? Do you think there are ways you can change to better yourself?

To read more on the benefits of taking a vacation, click here.

To read more on the value of your time, click here.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Alex Crispino.