Health and wellness is important to you and to MSU. The healthier our faculty and staff are, the healthier MSU will be. This category features information related to wellness at MSU.
What’s summer without a barbecue? Get out your grill and cook up some savory food to share with family and friends. Residential and Hospitality Services Senior Executive Chef Kurt Kwiatkowski offers a recipe and some tips to make the most of your summer barbecue.
Smokestack Spartan Ribs
Rib Rub:Continue Reading… Fire up the grill for delicious BBQ
Summer is the perfect time for MSU faculty and staff to get into the habit of biking to work.
Biking is a great way to experience the beautiful MSU campus, get exercise, go green and save on gas and parking.
“You just see things you don’t get to see when you’re in a car, so I just find it a lot more fun,” said Sustainable Transportation Manager Tim Potter, a year-round bicyclist.
Biking is especially practical because CATA’s Spartan Service, which includes most MSU campus routes and allows MSU regular employees to ride CATA on-campus routes for free, does not operate in the summer. Several East Lansing routes have reduced run times as well. Read about the changes here.
Potter recommends starting with small trips and discovering different routes for beginning bike commuters. The Tri-County Bicycle Association has an updated online map that features bike-friendly streets. The MSU-specific map developed by MSU Bikes is a helpful tool as well.
Do you have too far of a commute to bike all the way to MSU? Try driving to one of MSU’s open summer lots and biking or walking from there! In the summer, lots 89, 91, 83 and 75 are free and do not require a permit. You can also make use of the two membership-based MSU bike garages located inside parking ramps to protect your bike from weather and theft.
There are now eight do-it-yourself bike repair stations on campus and even free lockers.
“You can get an assigned locker inside the IM Circle, which is like a $100 value, for no charge if you commit to being a bike commuter,” Potter said. This allows staff and faculty to shower after a hot commute. Learn how to register for a locker here.
Remember to register your bike. Improve yourself, your wallet and the Earth this summer by leaving your car behind!
Best Doctors is available to all members of MSU health plans. They offer three main services at no out-of-pocket costs to you:
In-Depth Medical Review & Interconsultation, where experienced medical professionals can answer any questions you may have about a medical diagnosis or treatment options.
When to call: 
Have a question about a medical diagnosis or treatment options? Ask the Expert.
When to call:
Need a pediatrician? Want the best surgeon in your area? Looking for a world-class medical specialist? Just contact Best Doctors to Find a Best Doctor, and they will locate the right doctor for you—one who’s nearby and in your health plan.
When to call:
To get started, call 1-866-904-0910 or visit their website.
Have you recently experienced fatigue and aren’t sure why? The cause could be adrenal gland issues or hypothyroidism. While doctors disagree as to whether adrenal stress is a veritable medical condition or simply related to hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue theory insists that a great influx of stress can actually hinder our adrenal glands from producing hormones that we need. This lack of hormones can lead to a wide variety of unwanted side effects. Albeit, there is not yet enough evidence to support this theory. Similarly, hypothyroidism is a condition where the thyroid gland fails to produce the necessary amount of thyroid hormone. Without this hormone, our body produces less energy and we may feel greatly fatigued.
Often, hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a condition where the thyroid gland experiences irritation. This inflammation can be due to either a viral infection or antibodies that target and destroy the thyroid gland. It is important to note that hypothyroid symptoms and adrenal fatigue symptoms are largely similar. This means that the two conditions are often misdiagnosed. If you are feeling tired, depressed, cold sensitivity, muscle/joint aches or have experienced poor memory, shortness of breath, chronic yeast infections, low libido, infertility, or weight gain, you may be suffering from adrenal gland issues or hypothyroidism. Treatments require a diligent approach so if you are suspect of the aforementioned conditions, do not hesitate to reach out to your health care provider.
View the entire article by Best Doctors.
If you are facing a medical decision, Best Doctors is here to help. Call 866.904.0910 or visit bestdoctors.com/members.
As the weather begins to warm up, remember that there are wonderful walking and bicycle paths in our region. In 2014, the Lansing River Trail was expanded to reach into South Lansing’s Holt and Mason districts. If you reside in the South Lansing area, remember to take advantage of the trails on a sunny day by biking this route which crosses Willoughby Road along Sycamore Creek. The trail leads you past the Hope Soccer Fields Complex where the trail joins the Aurelius Road bike lane at Jolly Road. Your trip continues north, passing near scenic Hawk Island County Park and going all the way to Fenner Nature Center and Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, where it joins up with what we know as the Lansing River Trail.
From there you can head either west to the Capitol and Old Town, or east to MSU and enjoy all the campus has to offer on a beautiful spring or summer day. Remember that there are some great MSU walking paths too!
MSU’s Student Organic Farm (SOF) invites MSU faculty and staff to become a part of its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this summer. Participants of the program will receive weekly boxes of local, organic produce. These bountiful shares are designed to feed a family of four, or two prolific veggie lovers. The investment is just $755 for the entire summer, equaling $1.35 per person per day for a family of four. This fee serves double duty by paying for experiential agricultural education for undergraduates as well as the training of new farmers at MSU SOF. The program begins on June 15 and will commence on October 26. Summer Harvest Share pick up is on Mondays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Student Organic Farm located at 3291 College Rd., just south of Jolly.
The benefits of the CSA program are truly innumerable. Reap the following rewards with your membership:
For more information and to join the program, please email msufarm@msu.edu or call 517-230-7987 for details and membership documents. If you are interested in supporting the SOF sans commitment, feel free to take advantage of the weekly campus Farm Stand. The Farm Stand is located on Farm Lane, just north of Shaw Lane and just south of the Red Cedar and will be open every Thursday through October 29 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For additional information and to sign up for the Farm Stand e-newsletter, please visit http://www.msuorganicfarm.org/farm-stand.
Do you suffer from back pain? If so, you’re not alone. Statistically speaking, 85 to 90 percent of those reading this article have been or will be affected by back pain. You may have heard of disc degeneration or spinal arthritis. These ailments become more common as we age and can be attributed to the changes that the bones and discs in our spine experience. So, what can you do to avoid spinal pain and the resulting health implications?
To view the entire article by Best Doctors, click here.
If you are experiencing back pain or are facing a medical decision, Best Doctors is here to help. Call 866.904.0910 or visit bestdoctors.com/members.
Recently I attended the “Relaxing Under the Stars” program and found it very beneficial and intriguing. Not only that, I was able to truly relax and gaze at the stars for some time, something we all probably haven’t done since summer or early fall of last year. I encourage all faculty, staff, graduate student employees, retirees and the spouses/partners of these groups to join Health4U and Abrams Planetarium for “Relaxing Under the Stars” to re-capture that feeling of relaxation and wonderment of the Universe.
The first 20 minutes consists of a guided constellation tour using the impressive Digistar 5, the new computer-graphics-based planetarium projector updated in the summer of 2014. This is truly an impressive piece of technology allowing the presenter to easily point out the constellations and give directions on how to find them during your own stargazing opportunities. The second half of the program features relaxing music to complement your stargazing experience. The particular session I attended culminated with a magnificent grand finale known as the “Spartan Star-Tacular,” which geared me and other attendees up for the rest of our work day.
The next show will be on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. Visit the Health4U website for more information and future dates.
MSU Recreational Sports and Fitness is holding its 12th annual Girls Get Going event on Saturday, March 28. Girls Get Going is a program that was created with the goal of providing educational sports experiences to girls in order to increase their interest in participating in sports over a lifetime.
If your wants to learn and develop sports skills,  Girls Get Going is the perfect opportunity! Participants will be able to play flag football, volleyball and basketball as well as take part in Zumba and taekwondo. MSU athletes, students and community leaders will assist. A circuit training method will be employed which allows girls the opportunity to participate in all five activities. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and activities will commence at 9:00 a.m. Pre-registration is required and space is limited.
Four forms must be filled out per child, available at www.recsports.msu.edu. Registration must be completed by March 16 to ensure that attendees will receive a t-shirt.
Are you interested in learning more about some of the recent developments in personalized cancer care? On Friday, March 27, 2015 at 1 p.m. you can listen in on a webinar presented by Best Doctors where you will learn what personalized cancer care is, how it is different from current practices, what types of targeted cancer therapies are available and who can benefit the most. An expert panel of leading specialists in the field of oncology will host the webinar and help you get the most out of your experience.
You can register for the webinar by visiting this link. View the full release here.
