June 2010

Supporting Health and Wellness Professionals!

Welcome to our June Newsletter! In this issue you will find information to help you and your clients travel healthier, the latest research on multitasking and our August - December class offerings. Enjoy the journey!

The Well Traveler, Healthy and Well on the Move!

bledlakeview1_2 General Well Travel Tips – Part One

Both ends of my Memorial Day Weekend were all about airports, jets and endurance! This holiday is the unofficial start of the summer season for most folks in the USA, and summer means more travel for everyone across the Northern Hemisphere. As I strategized ways to get through my travel days I encountered the challenge of how we can all stay healthy and well when we’re on the move.

We all thrive on routine and so do most personal Wellness Plans. Travel interrupts that, yet there are ways to meet the challenge and win.

There is one Well Travel Tip that comes before all others:

The Primary Well Travel Tip
Be true to your trip’s purpose.

If it’s a time to recreate, do just that “re-create” yourself! Have fun. Leave work at home. Don’t let the fear of getting behind or losing business spoil the opportunity to let down. If it’s a business trip, go for it, do the biz! When we don’t keep the healthy boundaries in place the bleed-over kills our joy and/or our effectiveness. If the purpose of the trip is to reconnect with your partner/spouse, or your teenage daughter or son, don’t water it down or distract the trip into a labyrinth of visits with family and friends.

I’ll be writing a series of Well Traveler Tips for five different kinds of trips in upcoming posts:
1. Recreational trips
2. Business trips
3. Business & Recreation combined
4. Travel abroad
5. Outdoor Adventure

Multi Tasking - What Brain Research Tells Us

Ever feel like you have to do a million things at once? Research performed is showing that humans can only handle two tasks at a time due to the way that their brain is divided. This doesn’t mean you can’t chew gum and type at the same time – it means that you can’t do more than one task that involves decision making at a time.

Human multitasking is the performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task at the same time. The term is derived from computer multitasking. An example of multitasking is listening to a radio interview while typing an email. Since the 1990s, experimental psychologists have started experiments on the nature and limits of human multitasking. It has been shown multitasking is not as workable as concentrated times. In general, these studies have disclosed that people show severe interference when even very simple tasks are performed at the same time, if both tasks require selecting and producing action (e.g., (Gladstones, Regan & Lee 1989) (Pashler 1994)). Psychiatrist Richard Hallowell has gone so far as to describe multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously."

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, and the frontal lobe helps us manage tasks. Handling more than two tasks simultaneously is like having an air traffic controller trying to handle one too many planes in the sky – it overwhelms the system and increases the risk of error. Using test subjects, the researchers used functional MRIs while the individuals were doing complex tasks using letter sequencing. First, they were asked to alternate one task with another. Second, they were asked to postpone a task while performing the other. When postponing a task, both lobes of the brain lit up. Then, the scientists added a third task to the mix, and the error rate increased dramatically, showcasing that three tasks is really too much for the brain to handle.
Read more

Multitasking - Consequence and Considerations

Though multitasking can be a useful skill it also has its down side. Being bombarded by stimuli can put often unneeded stress on our bological systems. Stress often produces an adrenal response (fight or flight) that can harm over bodies over time. When we can not or do not turn off outside stimuli our minds and bodies do not relax. We do not get a sense of who we are, how we function, what we want as individuals away from our technologically geared world. It is important to find time with out interruption - without outside affect on our minds and bodies. It is important to spend time in a more natural world so we hear and listen from the inside out. So we can renew our bodies, hearts and minds.

There is a danger in people becoming so busy staying on top of everything that they become great Skimmers and do not research or learn deeply about subjects or the world around them.
There is a danger that people could lose or fail to use the face to face body language and communication skills learn over eons of evolution.

Solutions: Turn off the media! You are in controll and you set the pace. Take time daily for yourself. Turn off your computer Pop Up Window. Do not let your email run your life - check it at defined times of day. Understand that Multitasking is really project management and the more organized and focused you are the more effective you will be. Do not expect your brain to track more than one or two things at a time. Write it all down and let it go!
Read more

2010 Training Schedule

An Additional 10% off registrations prior to June 30th!

Wellness Mapping 360© “Wellness & Health Coach" Certification (20 + 12 hrs) Ideal for EAP, Disease Management, Nurses, Health Educators, Fitness Trainers, Sports Medicine, Chiropractors, Physicians, Mental Health Professionals and Coaches specializing in health & wellness applications. If you do not see your profession represented here please talk with us directly.

32 Professional hours of contact hours for nurses and ACSM !

Train with Dr. Michael Arloski, author of Wellness Coaching for Lasting Lifestyle Change and leader in the field of health & wellness coaching. Learn how to motivate others toward health and positive lasting lifestyle change.

2010 Webinar Training Schedule Webinars are interactive and the closest to being in a live classroom. You hear and see the instructor and can ask questions and have them answered in real time. There are no phone charges – you access the webinar via your computer (a steady internet connection is needed) and all classes are recorded for later viewing.

$200 incentive for combined registration plus an additional 10% off for all registrations prior to June 30^th!

Wellness Mapping 360© “Wellness Coach” Certification (20 hours) Learn wellness coaching competencies and a structured, proven methodology that effectively supports the individual’s movement toward healthy lifestyle change.