McKinley Grapevine

“A new year is a time to get your options clear and to make a significant decision to do what it is that makes you really happy. The real issue here is that you must take each day as a new opportunity to keep moving towards what you want. Do not look at what will happen in a year but more what will you do each day you awake to change, to move forward, to put into action knowing that each day wasted can never be found again. Each day is a new beginning, the chance to do with it what should be done and not to be seen as simply another day to put in time”
~ Catherine Pulsifer

Happy New Year McKinley!!
We have something very exciting for you all to get involved in this year…The 2017 McKinley Wellness Challenge!!! For this challenge you will have the opportunity to complete whole being wellness activities that focus on financial, emotional, physical and social wellbeing to earn points. Once you reach 100 points, you will receive a $50 gift card of your choice and your name will be placed into the end of the year drawing for a MacBook Pro!!!
Below you will find the spreadsheet with the list of activities and their point values. You will keep track of your own points on the spreadsheet and submit your spreadsheet to me once you have earned your 100 points. Starting January, 1st 2017 you will have the entire year to earn your 100 points. However, I realize there are some of you go-getters out there that will reach your goal in the first quarter:-). To keep you motivated to continue doing whole being wellness activities, for every 100 points you earn your name will be entered again into the end of the year drawing!!

Spreadsheet:

http://portal.mckinley.com/HRD/Health%20and%20Wellness%20Programs/2017%20Wellness%20Challenge%20Documents/2017%20Wellness%20Challenge.pdf
Leaders, please pass this along to the rest of your team and make sure they are aware of this awesome opportunity. Feel free to reach out with any questions you have.
Before you ring in the New Year, I want to encourage you to read the quote at the top of the email a few times…maybe even print it out and put it on your bathroom mirror:-).

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith

734-717-1900

Hi Everyone!!

Are you ready to participate in the Individual Quarterly Cardio Challenge?!?!? If you are – the first 25 people who meet the mileage/minute requirements for the quarter will earn a $50 gift card of their choice!!!!!!! Enter the challenge by emailing me at the beginning of the quarter to say “I’m IN!!!!”

***We added a discipline – Exercise Classes!!!!***

There are several of you who take exercise classes that don’t necessarily include “getting your miles in”.  For this reason, we are adding Exercise Classes as one of the disciplines that will be based on minutes.  Here are some examples of classes you can take for the minutes to count:

• Spinning, Cardio Drumming, HIIT, Circuit Training, Jazzercise, Boot Camp, Orange Theory, Line Dancing, Salsa or Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Water Aerobics.

Mileage/Minute Requirements For the Cardio Challenge– The 4 Disciplines:
• The 4 Disciplines are running (you can choose to walk, jog or run), cycling, swimming and exercise classes. You can choose to do 1, 2, 3 or 4 of the disciplines. The mileage/minute requirements are below for each single discipline or combination. If you choose to do 1 discipline, your goal will be the mileage/minutes listed beside #1 for that discipline. If you choose to do 2 disciplines, your goal will be 2 of the 4 mileage/minutes listed beside #2 for each discipline. If you choose to do 3 disciplines, your goal will be 3 of the 4 mileage/minutes listed beside #3 for each discipline. You will keep track of your own miles/minutes and submit them to me through email as soon as you complete the requirements.  I will send out an email at the beginning and end of every quarter to remind you to submit your miles or your entry for the challenge.

If you have NEVER completed a Quarterly Cardio Challenge, these are your mileage/minute requirements:

• Walk/Jog/Run:
1. 200 Miles
2. 100 Miles
3. 67 Miles

• Cycling:
1. 500 Miles
2. 250 Miles
3. 167 Miles

• Swimming:
1. 60,000 Meters
2. 30,000 Meters
3. 20,000 Meters

• Exercise Class Minutes:
  1. 1800
  2. 900
  3. 600

If you DID complete the Cardio Challenge for the previous quarter, your mileage requirements are below:

• Walk/Jog/Run:
1. 240 Miles
2. 130 Miles
3. 90 Miles

• Cycling:
1. 565 Miles
2. 285 Miles
3. 195 Miles

• Swimming:
1. 90,000 Meters
2. 50,000 Meters
3. 30,000 Meters

• Exercise Class Minutes:
  1. 1800
  2. 900
  3. 600

Email me with any questions 🙂

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith Mitchell

meredith.mitchell@mckinley.com

734-717-1900

Good Morning Everyone!!

The “Do SOMETHING Challenge” begins today!!  This is an 8 week challenge and a perfect fit for anyone :).  Attached is the spreadsheet you will keep track of your daily “Something” with.  Below is a sneak peak of what you can expect this week:

 

Monday, May 2nd	Take the stairs instead of the elevator all day
Tuesday, May 3rd	3 minutes of planking (try to complete in 6 sets or less), click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvxNkmjdhMM
Wednesday, May 4th	30 burpees, click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuIeW580Wwc
Thursday, May 5th	Take an exercise class
Friday, May 6th	6-8 hours of sleep tonight, for more info on better sleep click: http://grapevine.mckinley.com/?p=2066
Saturday, May 7th	20+ minute bike ride

 

To participate, all you need to do is email me and say “I’m in”.   At the end of the challenge you will submit your spreadsheet with what you completed.  Prizes will be handed out at the end of the challenge – check out what you could win:

• The first 10 people who submit their spreadsheet and complete 36 of the 48 days will win one of the following:
• Foam roller
• Trigger Point Massager
• Stability Ball
• The first 10 people who submit their spreadsheet and complete 42 of the 48 days will win one of the following:
• Beginner’s Yoga Kit
• Beginner’s Pilates Kit
• Strong Core and Back Kit
• Fitbit Flex
• The first 2 people who submit their spreadsheet and have a PERFECT SCORE – ALL 48 DAYS COMPLETED will win a $50 gift card of their choice!!!

It’s going to be a GREAT week!!!  Enjoy it 🙂 

Good Morning Everyone!!

Are you ready for the next challenge?!?!?!?  This challenge is a great fit for everyone but especially those of you who have never participated in a challenge:).  Our Q2 challenge is called the “Do Something Challenge” and will include a combination of healthy habits we have been working on over the last few years.  Attached you’ll find the spreadsheet with the “Something” you will be challenged to do for that day.  At the end of every day, you will simply check the “Complete” box if you completed the challenge for that day OR “Not Complete” is you did not.

This is an 8 week challenge with “Something” to do every Monday through Saturday (you get to take Sunday’s off).  You must complete the “Something” on the date it is designated for in order for it to count as “Complete”.  To give you an idea of what you can expect to see on the spreadsheet, one of your challenges is to enjoy dinner with some friends – HOW FUN IS THAT!?! 

At the end of the challenge you will submit your spreadsheet with what you completed.  Prizes will be handed out at the end of the challenge – check out what you could win:

• The first 10 people who submit their spreadsheet and complete 36 of the 48 days will win one of the following:
  • Foam roller
  • Trigger Point Massager
  • Stability Ball
• The first 10 people who submit their spreadsheet and complete 42 of the 48 days will win one of the following:
  • Beginner’s Yoga Kit
  • Beginner’s Pilates Kit
  • Strong Core and Back Kit
  • Fitbit Flex
• The first 2 people who submit their spreadsheet and have a PERFECT SCORE – ALL 48 DAYS COMPLETED will win a $50 gift card of their choice!!!

The Challenge will begin next Monday May, 2^nd 2016 and will end on Saturday June, 25^th 2016.  To enter the challenge you will need to email me by the end of this week to let me know you will be participating.  Let me know if you have any questions J.

Have a fantastic Monday – it’s going to be a great week!!!

Good Afternoon McKinley!

We’ve already had a fantastic start to the new year with people setting wellness goals and actively following through with them!  You’re all awesome!  We’re going to ramp it up now with the sugar *5* challenge to keep you all motivated through the rest of Q1 so you’re ready to kick it into high gear for SPRING!!!!

 

What is the sugar *5* challenge?

• The focus of this challenge is to help you reduce your daily sugar consumption and find time to strengthen your body 5 days weekly.  The reason you hear me talk about reducing sugars so often is because it is so incredibly harmful to our bodies.  It’s in foods we don’t expect so there are many days when our daily sugar grams are WAY more than you’re even aware of.  I’m going to be completely honest with you, the first 2 weeks of cutting back on refined sugars (or out completely) are downright HARD!!  They’re hard because your body is addicted to it and never EVER satiated once you consume it so you continue to eat more- so goes the evil sugar cycle.  The good news is you can retrain your body to not crave those refined sugars and actually get to the point where your body rejects them – seriously!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

We are on day 2 of week 2 of the “Perfect Combo” Challenge!  One of the goals for this challenge is to achieve 6-8 hours of sleep every night so I wanted to send out an email that would help us all create some healthy sleep patterns :).

Why is sleep so important?  According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, scientists have discovered that sleep plays a critical role in immune function, metabolism, memory, learning, and other vital functions. 

Well, from our own personal experiences, I think we all could make the comparison between how we feel with some quality zzz’s and how we feel when we’re sleep deprived.  When we’re well rested, we can TAKE ON THE WORLD (possibly even caffeine free)!!!  When we don’t get the amount of sleep our bodies need, our immune systems weaken, our hunger hormones go haywire which can lead to us craving junk foods and our brain doesn’t function the way we want it to.  Let’s get some quality zzz’s tonight by following of few (or all) of these 8 tips :).

How to get your best zzz’s:

1. Figure out how much sleep YOU need.  We all need somewhere between 6-9 hours of sleep daily.  If you get too little or too much, you’ll be tired, foggy and unproductive.  If you don’t already know what your magic number is, there are a few things you can do to figure it out:
   • Use an app to help you track the hours you slept and your sleep patterns.  Make note every morning after you wake up about how you feel – refreshed and ready for the day or sleepy and ready to go back to bed.  Here’s an article about someone who achieved their best night’s sleep through using apps and trackers: http://lifehacker.com/5828581/how-i-achieved-better-sleep-with-the-help-of-technology

                                i.      Fitbit – wear on your wrist ($90 – $200) – accurate

                              ii.      Wakemate – wear on your wrist ($60) – accurate

                            iii.      Sleep cycle – iOS – keep you phone under your pillow – not as accurate

                            iv.      Sleep Bot Tracker – Android – keep under your pillow – not as accurate

                              v.      Or just keep track of the time you lay down to sleep and when you wake up

 

2. Turn off your tablet, phone, TV and any other blue-light sources 30-60min before you plan on going to sleep.  Try reading a book with soft lighting before bed.
3. Alcohol – 1 glass of wine, cocktail or beer can cause you to feel sleepy but any more than that could also cause you to wake up in the middle of the night and keep you awake.  If you’re having problems staying asleep and you have more than 1 cocktail at night, try cutting back to see if that makes a difference. 
4. Drink Chamomile tea.
5. Do 30 – 60 min of Steady State Cardio right after work.
6. Waking up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night?  Try to stop drinking water 2 hours before bed.
7. Listen to some calming and relaxing music.  Here are a few apps:
   • Relax Melodies
   • Relax & Sleep by Glenn Harrold
   • Pzizz Sleep
   • Sleepmaker Rain
8. Alternate Nostril Breathing for overall stress relief – try LEFT nostril breathing to help relax you, clam your mind and get you ready to sleep.  The following article explains how to do alternate and left nostril breathing…it really works!!! http://thehealthylivinglounge.com/2009/06/16/12-great-reasons-to-start-alternate-nostril-breathing-today/