Category: Uncategorized

Did you know radon is present in many Idaho homes? The Idaho Environmental Health Program within the Division of Public Health manages the Idaho Radon Program. Below is information to separate radon facts from fiction and help keep your family healthy.

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FACT: All homes should be tested for radon.

Radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that you cannot see, smell, or taste. It enters homes through gaps or cracks in the foundation. All homes, including new builds, existing homes, and those with and without basements, can have high levels of radon gas. With more people working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the risk of radon exposure may be increased as more time is spent within the home. 

Testing is easy and is the only way to know if you are being exposed to radon in your home. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends testing your home every two years or after any remodeling.

 You can order a FREE short-term test kit from www.radonidaho.org or call the Idaho Careline at 2-1-1 or 1-800-247-2435.

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FICTION: Radon is not an issue where I live.

Two out of every five homes tested in Idaho have higher than the recommended levels for radon. In fact, high radon levels have been found in every county in the state. To learn more about radon test results and recommended actions, visit www.radonidaho.org.  You can also view Idaho radon test results by zip code on an interactive map and order a FREE short-term test kit.

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FICTION: Radon is not harmful to my health.

Long-term exposure to radon gas is known to cause lung cancer and is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. To learn more about the health effects of radon, visit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Health Risk of Radon website at epa.gov/radon/health-risk-radon.

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FACT: Winter is the best time to test a home for radon.

Radon levels can change by season and with the weather. The highest levels of radon are found during the winter months when homes get less fresh air. To learn more about radon testing and how to respond to a radon problem, visit www.radonidaho.org.

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FACT: A radon problem can be solved!

Radon mitigation systems can effectively reduce the levels of radon in a home. The Idaho Radon Program recommends hiring a nationally-certified radon professional to fix your home. To locate a radon professional, visit www.radonidaho.org.   

The Idaho Radon Program is offering a free two-hour interactive radon workshop that will explain what radon is, how it enters your home, and what you can do to help prevent excessive exposure and reduce your risk of lung cancer.  To register, please visit www.radonidaho.org.

• January 18, 2022 at 1pm-3pm MT Virtual Online
• January 20, 2022 at 9am-11am MT City of Hailey, Council Chambers (*in-person masks required)
• January 25, 2022 at 9am-11am MT Virtual Online
• February 3, 2022 at 9am-11am MT Idaho Falls Building Department (*in-person masks required)
• February 17, 2022 at 1pm-3pm MT Virtual Online

If you have questions or need more information, contact the Idaho Radon Program at 1-800-445-8647 or radon@dhw.idaho.gov.

The 12 Ways to Wellness

Sung to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas

The first way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The second way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The third way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The fourth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The fifth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The sixth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The seventh way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The eighth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Make time for self-care, understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The ninth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Get vaccinated, make time for self-care, understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The tenth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Plan a vacation, get vaccinated, make time for self-care, understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The eleventh way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Use good ergonomics, plan a vacation, get vaccinated, make time for self-care, understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

The twelfth way to wellness said Health Matters to me,
Build a social network, use good ergonomics, plan a vacation, get vaccinated, make time for self-care, understand your value, eat fruits and veggies, prioritize your sleeeeeeeeeep, move your body daily, drink water, manage your stress, and wash hands to be safe and healthy!

Resilience is the ability to adapt and bounce back from stress, change, and challenge. Like a muscle, the more you exercise your resilience, the stronger it becomes. Being resilient doesn’t protect you from experiencing negative emotions, but it does help you embrace the opportunity to learn about yourself and prepare you for future challenges.

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4 Ways to Revive Your Resilience

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Talk it Out

Talk to a mental health professional if you feel like you are unable to cope. The Employee Assistance Program [E.A.P.] provides confidential, short-term counseling services for benefit eligible employees and their dependents. You can call anytime to discuss marital, relationship or family problems; stress, anxiety and depression; grief and loss, job pressures and substance abuse.

More Resources for Moving More at Work

• Sitting Time Calculator
• Stretches to Do at Work Every Day
• Activity Bursts Everywhere
• A Workout at Work Poster
• Online Timer
• Online Stopwatch
• Activity and break apps to help you move at work

This page is not intended to and does not provide crisis intervention.
If you are currently in a crisis, or have immediate concerns about someone, call the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline at 208-398-4357 (HELP)

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is a time to honor loved ones lost to suicide and renew efforts to prevent suicide deaths. It is also important to focus our attention on hope, help, strength, and recovery! Suicidal thoughts, much like mental health conditions, can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, or background.

We can all help prevent suicide. You can #BeThe1To save a life. The five action steps below for communicating with someone who may be thinking about suicide are supported by evidence in the field of suicide prevention.

Mental Health Myths

Help bust the stigma about mental health by separating myth from fact!

Sources: https://www.bethe1to.com/ / https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/promote-national-suicide-prevention-month/ / https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/mental-health-myths-facts

Strong, healthy relationships are important throughout your life. Your social ties with family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others impact your mental, emotional, and even physical well-being.

“We can’t underestimate the power of a relationship in helping to promote well-being,” says NIH psychologist and relationship expert Dr. Valerie Maholmes. Studies have found that having a variety of social relationships may help reduce stress and heart-related risks. Strong social ties are even linked to a longer life. On the other hand, loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.

As a child you learn the social skills you need to form and maintain relationships with others. But at any age you can learn ways to improve your relationships.

NIH funds research to find out what causes unhealthy relationship behavior. Researchers have created community, family, and school-based programs to help people learn to have healthier relationships. These programs also help prevent abuse and violence toward others.

What Is Healthy?

Every relationship exists on a spectrum from healthy to unhealthy to abusive. One sign of a healthy relationship is feeling good about yourself around your partner, family member, or friend. You feel safe talking about how you feel. You listen to each other. You feel valued, and you trust each other.

“It’s important for people to recognize and be aware of any time where there is a situation in their relationship that doesn’t feel right to them or that makes them feel less than who they are,” Maholmes advises.

It’s normal for people to disagree with each other. But conflicts shouldn’t turn into personal attacks. In a healthy relationship, you can disagree without hurting each other and make decisions together.

“No relationship should be based on that power dynamic where someone is constantly putting the other partner down,” Maholmes says.

If you grew up in a family with abuse, it may be hard as an adult to know what healthy is. Abuse may feel normal to you. There are several kinds of abuse, including physical, sexual, and verbal or emotional. Hurting with words, neglect, and withholding affection are examples of verbal or emotional abuse.

In an unhealthy or abusive relationship, your partner may blame you for feeling bad about something they did or said. They may tell you that you’re too sensitive. Putting you down diminishes you and keeps them in control.

In a healthy relationship, however, if you tell your partner that something they said hurt your feelings, they feel bad for hurting you. They try not to do it again.

Abuse in an intimate relationship is called domestic or intimate partner violence. This type of violence involves a pattern of behaviors used by one person to maintain power and control over someone that they are married to, living with, or dating now or in the past. A pattern means it happens over and over.

In an unhealthy or abusive relationship, you may not be allowed to spend time with family, friends, and others in your social network. “One of the signs that’s really important in relationships where there is intimate partner violence is that the partner that is being abused is slowly being isolated from family and friends and social networks,” Maholmes says. “Those social networks are protective factors.”

Social Ties Protect

Studies have shown that certain factors seem to protect people from forming unhealthy relationships over their lifetime. The protection starts early in life. NIH-supported research has shown that the quality of an infant’s emotional bond with a parent can have long-lasting positive or negative effects on the ability to develop healthy relationships.

“The early bond has implications that go well beyond the first years of life,” says Dr. Grazyna Kochanska, an NIH-funded family relationships researcher at the University of Iowa. The goal of Kochanska’s research projects is to understand the long-term effects of that early bond and to help children develop along positive pathways and avoid paths toward antisocial behaviors.

A family that functions well is central to a child’s development. Parents can help children learn how to listen, set appropriate boundaries, and resolve conflicts. Parents teach children by example how to consider other people’s feelings and act in ways to benefit others.

Secure emotional bonds help children and teens develop trust and self-esteem. They can then venture out of the family to form other social connections, like healthy friendships. In turn, healthy friendships reduce the risk of a child becoming emotionally distressed or engaging in antisocial behaviors.

On the other hand, having an unhealthy relationship in the family, including neglect and abuse, puts a child at risk for future unhealthy relationships.

“One caring adult can make a huge difference in the life of kids whose family structures may not be ideal or whose early life is characterized by abuse and neglect,” says Dr. Jennie Noll of the Center for Healthy Children at Pennsylvania State University. “That caring adult could be an older sibling, or a parent, or someone else in the family, a teacher—the kind of people who have a large influence in communicating to the child that they matter and that they’re safe, and that they have a place to go when they are needing extra support.”

Healthy friendships and activities outside of the home or classroom can play protective roles during childhood, too. In fact, everyone in a community can help support the development of healthy connections. Adults can serve as good role models for children, whether the children are their own or those they choose to mentor.

Helping and Getting Help

At any age, your relationships matter. Having healthy relationships with others starts with liking yourself. Learn what makes you happy. Treat yourself well. Know that you deserve to be treated well by others.

Having an unhealthy or abusive relationship can really hurt. The connection may be good some of the time. You may love and need the person who hurts you. After being abused, you may feel you don’t deserve to be in a healthy, loving relationship.

With help, you can work on your relationship. Or, sometimes in an abusive relationship, you may be advised to get out. Either way, others can help.

If you or a friend needs help with an unhealthy relationship, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at www.thehotline.org or 1-800-799-SAFE. If you know a child who may need help, find resources at the Child Welfare Information Gateway at www.childwelfare.gov.

Source: https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2018/04/building-social-bonds

Strong, healthy relationships are important throughout your life. Your social ties with family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and others impact your mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. From the time you’re born, your relationships help you learn to navigate the world. You learn how to interact with others, express yourself, conduct everyday health habits, and be a part of different communities from those around you. Learn how positive social habits can help you build support systems and stay healthier mentally and physically.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines mindfulness as “the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment, thought to create a feeling of calm.” It means being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings instead of going through life on autopilot. Mindfulness matters because it can help manage stress, anxiety, and depression. It has also been associated with a greater enthusiasm for life and improved self-esteem.

The four exercises below are examples of ways to start, or enhance, a mindfulness practice.

Exercise 1: Body Scan

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The body scan practice helps you become more aware of how all parts of your body are feeling. When you first start this practice, it may be helpful to go to a quiet location. As you gain experience, you can do the exercise anywhere and anytime. You can choose to do this exercise for five minutes or for more than an hour.

1. Find a comfortable position. The first few times you do this practice, try lying on your back with your eyes closed.
2. Take five breaths. Feel your belly rise as you breathe in. Feel your belly fall as you breathe out. Continue to breathe slowly throughout the exercise.
3. Note how your body feels as a whole. What information is your body giving you? Is there any area of tension?
4. Now begin to focus on each part of your body in order.
   • Begin with the toes of your left foot. What do you feel? Cool air? A soft blanket? A scratchy sock? A confining shoe? Perhaps you don’t feel anything. This is OK. Take a deep breath and end your focus on your toes.
   • Next move to the sole of your left foot. Again, what do you feel? When ready, take a deep breath, and end your focus on your foot.
   • Continue to focus on each part of your body. Give each part your full attention in the order listed. (Go down the first column, starting with “top of the left foot” and then the second column. Thus, “left fingers” will follow “chest”). Once you finish with an area, take a breath and move on to the next area. When your mind wanders, be gentle with yourself, knowing that this is what minds do. Take a breath and refocus where you left off.
     • top of the left foot / left ankle / left shin / left calf / left knee / left thigh / left hip / pelvis / right foot and leg (as you did the left) / return to your pelvis / belly / back (lower, middle, and upper) / chest / left fingers / then in order–your left hand, wrist, forearm, upper arm, shoulder / right hand and arm (as you did the left) / neck / face / scalp / top of the head
5. End the practice by returning to your breath. Take five breaths, noting the rise and fall of your belly.

Exercise 2: Seated Meditation

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Go to a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

2. Decide how long you want to practice. Do you want to start with two to five minutes? Consider setting a timer, so you know when the time is up without being distracted by looking at a clock.
3. Sit comfortably.
   • If you are in a chair, put both feet on the floor.
   • If you are sitting on a cushion, it is best to have your hips higher than your knees. Position yourself on the cushion so that your knees can rest on the floor. Or support your knees with a prop that keeps them lower than your hips.
   • Let your spine stretch up into a neutral spine position, lengthening out like a string of pearls.
   • Put your hands in a comfortable position.
4. Set an intention for this meditation. It may be as simple as “May I cultivate mindful awareness in my life.” Another example is “May I seek and practice the benefits of silence and stillness.”
5. Close your eyes and turn your attention inward, or gaze softly at the floor.
6. Focus on your breathing.
   • When you breathe in, is it fast, slow, noisy, quiet, easy, or difficult?
   • When you breathe out, is it fast, slow, noisy, quiet, easy, or difficult?
7. If your attention wanders, accept that it is normal. Then resume focusing on your breathing. Be kind to yourself. Minds wander; that is what they do. The key is to gently bring your awareness back to your breath when it wanders.
8. Continue to focus on your breath.
9. When the timer sounds, slowly open your eyes.
10. Think about your experience.
    • How did it feel to focus on breathing for this length of time?
    • Concentrating on your breath in this way can be challenging at first. It becomes much easier with practice.

Exercise 3: Mindful Awareness While Commuting

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How do you usually spend the time as you move from one location to another? Often people are lost in thought. You can arrive without thinking how you got to your new location. Moving from point A to point B gives you an opportunity to practice mindful awareness. You can do this whether you walk, cycle, drive, or use public transportation.

Note: For safety reasons, it is best if you first become familiar with this mindful awareness practice while you are a passenger and not driving a car or riding a bike.

Try the following exercise during your daily travels.

1. Avoid distractions like a radio, headphones, phone, computer, print materials, eating and drinking.
2. What do you see? Look around you with fresh eyes. What colors, shapes, textures, sizes, and movements do you see? Try not to judge what you see. Use this as a time to simply see. Keep your awareness in the present moment, not the past or the future.
3. What do you hear? Are the sounds around you loud, soft, harsh, continuous, off and on, high-pitched, or low-pitched? What direction do the sounds come from?
4. What do you smell? Breathe your usual way through your nose. Pay attention to any smells you detect. Then take a deep breath through your nose. Do you detect any different smells?
5. What do you taste? Is your mouth open or closed? Are you aware of any taste?
6. What do you feel physically? (For example, do you feel your hands on a steering wheel? Your feet on bicycle pedals or a sidewalk? Your behind on a seat?) What are you aware of at these points of contact? (For example, do your feet hurt?) What are you aware of elsewhere in your body? Are your shoulders relaxed, tense, or neutral? What about your jaw, your neck, and your back? What emotions do you notice?
7. As you travel, continue to notice what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.
8. When you arrive at your new location, bring this same attention into the rest of your activities. This can make for a richer day

Exercise 4: Mindful Moment

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1. Find a comfortable seated position.
2. Take five breaths. Feel your belly rise as you breathe in. Feel your belly fall as you breathe out.
3. Notice your jaw.
   • Notice how the left side of your jaw feels. Is your jaw tense, relaxed, or neutral? Are you clenching your teeth together? If so, separate them to relax your jaw.
   • Now do the same with the right side of your jaw.
   • Take a slow, deep breath. How does it feel to have your teeth separated and your jaw relaxed?
4. Notice your neck.
   • Does your neck feel tense, relaxed, or neutral as if lengthened like a string of pearls?
   • Allow your neck to stretch out into a neutral position. Look straight ahead. Stretch the back of your neck. Tuck your chin slightly.
   • Mindfully note your neck. As you feel safe to do so, slowly turn your head to look toward your right shoulder. Do not force the motion, just let it flow and stop the turning where you feel safe.
   • Take a breath before returning to neutral.
   • Again mindfully note your neck. As you feel safe to do so, slowly turn your head to look toward your left shoulder. Do not force the motion, just let it flow and stop the turning where you feel safe.
   • Raise your chin so that you are looking where the wall in front of you meets the ceiling.
   • Take a breath before returning to neutral.
   • Lower your chin as far toward your chest as possible without straining.
   • Take a breath before returning to neutral.
   • Again mindfully note your neck. As you feel safe to do so, slowly bring your right ear down toward your right shoulder, keeping your shoulder relaxed. Do not force the motion, just let it flow and stop moving where you feel safe.
   • Take a breath before returning to neutral.
   • Again mindfully note your neck. As you feel safe to do so, slowly bring your left ear down toward your left shoulder, keeping your shoulder relaxed. Do not force the motion, just let it flow and stop moving where you feel safe.
   • Take a slow, deep breath. Notice how it feels to have your neck relaxed.
5. Notice your shoulders.
   • Focus on your shoulders. Do they feel tense, relaxed, or neutral?
   • Raise your shoulders toward your ears.
   • Breathe in deeply. Allow your shoulders to relax as you breathe out.
   • Roll your shoulders forward three times.
   • Roll your shoulders backward three times.
   • Allow your shoulders to come to rest in a relaxed, neutral position.
   • Take a slow, deep breath. How does it feel to have your shoulders relaxed?
6. Take five breaths. Feel the rise of your belly as you breathe in. Feel your belly fall as you breathe out.
7. Maintain your awareness of the jaw, the neck, and the shoulders throughout your daily activities. Repeat this exercise whenever you feel tension building in these areas. This will help keep you tuned in to your body and help you release unnecessary tension.

These exercises were written for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) by Charlene Luchterhand MSSW, Education and Research Coordinator, Integrative Health Program, University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. They were included in a handout as part of a document for clinicians, Clinical Tool: Mindful Awareness Practice in Daily Living, written by Adrienne Hampton, MD. The handout was reviewed and edited by Veterans and VHA subject matter experts. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) by Charlene Luchterhand MSSW, Education and Research Coordinator, Integrative Health Program, University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

Source: “Mindful Awareness Practice in Daily Living” from US Department of Veterans Affairs, June 2020

Strength Training at Any Age

You’ve likely heard that exercise can help you live a longer, healthier life. When you hear the word ‘exercise,’ you might think of going for a run or hopping on a bicycle. Or maybe playing soccer with your kids or basketball with your friends after work. But these activities don’t include all the types of movements that are important for your health.

The examples above are endurance exercise. Also called cardiovascular exercise, activities like these increase your breathing and heart rate. They can keep your heart and lungs in good shape and help prevent many chronic diseases. But exercises to maintain flexibility, balance, and strength are also important.

Stretching gives you more freedom of movement and makes daily activities more comfortable. Balance practice helps prevent falls, which become a concern as you get older.

Strength training, also called resistance training or weight training, is particularly important. It brings many benefits. First, it makes your muscles stronger. That can help you keep up the activities you enjoy—at any stage of your life.

It’s not about getting big muscles, explains Dr. Wendy Kohrt, an aging expert at the University of Colorado. In fact, most people who do strength training don’t see much of a change in muscle size.

But at all stages of life, she says, “maintaining muscle mass and muscle function is really important for quality of life.”

Start Building Muscle Safely

Scroll through the images below for tips on getting started with resistance training.

Building Up Benefits

Building muscle can do more than make you stronger. Some types of strength training keep your bones healthy, too. Strength training can also improve the way your body processes food to help prevent diabetes and related diseases.

“And like endurance activity, regular strength training is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases,” says Dr. Joseph Ciccolo, an exercise researcher at Columbia University.

But the main benefit of strength training, as the name suggests, is that it makes your muscle cells stronger. “That benefit is unique to strength training,” says Dr. Roger Fielding, who studies the benefits of exercise at Tufts University.

Experts recommend that children and teens do muscle-strengthening activities at least three days a week. For adults, they encourage strength training for the major muscle groups on two or more days a week.

The benefits of strength training increase as you get older, says Fielding. Maintaining strength is essential for healthy aging.

“Loss of muscle with aging can limit people’s ability to function in their home environment and live independently,” Kohrt says. “Just being able to get up out of a chair or go up and down stairs requires a fair amount of muscle strength.”

In a recent study, Fielding and other researchers tested a three-month weight-lifting program in older adults who already had difficulty walking. At the end of the study, participants who lifted weights improved at tasks like repeatedly bending their knees. Such movements are essential for activities of daily living. In contrast, study participants who only stretched at home did not see similar improvements in strength.

“As we age, I think it’s even more important to consider incorporating some strength training into our physical activity routines,” says Fielding. “We can either slow down the progression of age-related muscle loss or prevent it.”

Getting Started

If you want to get started with strengthening exercises, what should you do? Strength training may seem intimidating if you’ve never tried it.

“People naturally learn to walk as part of growing up. But you don’t necessarily learn how to lift weights,” Ciccolo says.

If it’s feasible for you, booking a few sessions with a personal trainer is a good way to get started, says Kohrt. “That can get you introduced to the types of exercises you could do,” she explains.

There are also many low- or no-cost classes available. Look for them at local gyms, recreation centers, senior centers, and community centers.

Like with any new activity, to make strength training stick, “you have to find something that you really like to do,” says Fielding. “Some people will want to exercise in a group, in a community setting. Others will be happy doing all their exercises in their home, by themselves.”

If you’ve never lifted weights before, talk with your health care provider before you start any home-based strength training routine.

Whatever you choose to do, “start slowly and build up very gradually,” says Kohrt.

Source: NIH News in Health, March 2020