Tag: campus resources

Add Movement to Your Workday

Published on by Abigail Miller1 Comment

May is Global Employee Health and Fitness Month—an international event created to celebrate and promote healthy living for employers and employees. There are many ways you can keep active and add movement to your workday, and MSU offers a variety of resources to add excitement to your workday. Read more about incorporating activity into your professional life and enhancing your health and agility. 

General Tips

MSU University Health and Wellbeing’s Move More @ Work campaign shares resources, information, and tips for adding movement to your workday, including:

  • Bring/wear a comfortable pair of shoes that allow for movement during breaks throughout the day.
  • Schedule physical activity throughout the day like you would a meeting, and make it a part of your routine.
  • Stay hydrated and eat a healthy lunch to keep your body fueled.
  • Invest in a walking desk! Walking/treadmill desks offer many benefits, including improved physical health, increased productivity, reduced back pain, lower blood pressure, and increased energy levels. 
  • March in place at your desk, or stand up every other time you send an email or make a phone call. 

Campus Resources

  • Register for Desk Decompress every Thursday from May 29 to August 14. This virtual 15-minute class will stretch and strengthen your wrists, neck, spine, and shoulders, all from the comfort of your own desk!
  • Move in the Garden is held most Wednesdays from July 9 to September 17 at 12:15. Free outdoor wellness program held under the Ginkgo Tree in Beal Garden that combines stretching, bodyweight strengthening, flow movements, and relaxation. Rain location: MSU Main Library
  • University Health and Wellbeing’s SPARTANfit team is offering 50% off their Fitness Assessment and InBody Body Composition Analysis through June 27 for faculty, staff, & their partners. The Fitness Assessment is designed to assess your current fitness level through a combination of resting and exercising evaluations. This assessment gives you valuable insights and advice to create a personalized fitness and wellness plan to achieve your health objectives!
  • Try out a group fitness class! MSU Recreational Sports and Fitness offers a variety of group fitness classes with membership pricing for MSU employees.
  • Biking: One of the easiest ways to add exercise to your daily routine is to attach it to an activity or habit you perform already, such as your commute to work. MSU Bikes provides support with commuter resources to help you bike to work with confidence, including a 1-on-1 Bike Commuter Assistance service, which helps you find the safest, lowest-stress route to and from campus to your neighborhood. MSU Bikes also rents bikes to departments for staff to use during the work day through their Department Fleet Services. Bikes are a great way to get around campus for meetings, lunches, errands, or a nice break! Save the hassle of traffic, offer a healthy alternative for your staff breaks/on-campus transportation, and avoid problems finding car parking by adding a bike to your department’s transportation fleet. 
  • Take a walk around campus! Check out the Campus Meditation Map to learn more about over 25 different landmarks across MSU’s campus. You can also follow the MSU Self-Guided Walking Tour to explore areas of campus you have yet to see while on a break.

Learning Opportunities

  • Ergonomic Best Practices for Workplace Comfort and Safety: No matter your role at MSU, all employees benefit from a functional and comfortable workplace setup. This virtual session explores the basics of ergonomics, injury prevention, standing desk use, and stretches and exercises to help reduce the risk of work-related pain and discomfort. 
  • Finding Time: Time Management Strategies for Busy Professionals: It is easy for to-do lists to seem never-ending, and even easier for tasks to pile up if you have a busy schedule. While we can’t borrow or bottle time, this class will discuss strategies for time management, efficiently allocate minutes, and relieve pressure and stress throughout the process. 

Sources:

“Be More Active during Your Work Day.” Www.Heart.Org, 16 Jan. 2024, www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/getting-active/how-to-be-more-active-at-work. 

Opening image provided by Freepik.

August Events Round-Up

Published on by MSU Human ResourcesLeave a comment

Are you looking for activities for you and your family in the upcoming month? There are events (in-person and virtual) on campus and in the Greater Lansing community. Many events require registration, so be sure to click the links to learn more.

Campus Events

Resistance Training: Arts, Sports, and Civil Rights to Open at Broad Art Museum: A new exhibition will be available at the Broad Art Museum from August 19-February 2024. The exhibition explores the shared values between artists and athletes in the advancement of social justice-related issues.

August 27- Sparticipation: Come to MSU’s annual involvement fair that features over 500 student organizations, 30 departments and sponsors. This free event is a great way to kick off any Spartan’s journey. 

Learning Opportunities

August 10- Leading WIth Cultural Competence: MSU HR is hosting an in-person event on recognizing elements of self-awareness, eliminating/countering stereotypes and reinforcing behaviors that support cultural competency.

August 10- Beal Botanical Garden Tour: Beal Botanical Garden Staff Favorites: Join staff at the Beatl Botanical Gardens for a lunchtime tour (12:10-12:55 p.m.) of their favorite plants and what makes them special. 

August 16- Strategic Planning Seminar: MSU HR is hosting a leadership that focuses on taking your ideas and turning them into action. Join online from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

August 22- Identify and Maximize Your Strengths Seminar: Complete the CliftonStrengths Assessment to tap into your full potential and talents. Join this seminar in-person from 1:00-5:00 p.m. 

August 24- THATCamp: THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) is an opportunity to start the semester with peers and experts by sharing knowledge and experiences in humanities and technology-related fields. This event will be from 8:45 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Registration is encouraged. 

Health and Wellness

August 3- Deepening Your Essential Skills: Register for this free course brought to you by Health4U via Zoom to deepen and develop your essential skills. This meeting is scheduled for 12:30 PM- 1:30 PM. 

Yoga in Beal Garden II: This second phase of yoga in the Beal Botanical Gardens will work to accommodate a workday schedule and promote being active. Yoga in the Beal Garden will run from July 12- August 16, every Wednesday starting at 12:15 pm. 

August 25- Let Your Summer Produce Shine: Discover local produce and Michigan fruit availability and how to incorporate produce in the kitchen. This is a free in-person event and will be hosted at the MSU Union. 

Family-Friendly Activities

August 5- Family Day: MOVE: Make creative connections with our exhibitions through free hands-on and interactive family fun throughout the museum. All ages are welcome. Registration for this free event is encouraged.

August 14- Open House at the MSU Bug House: Visit the MSU Bug House on Monday, August 14 between 5:30 and 7:30 pm! All are welcome. Registration is required.

Campus Resources to Reduce Stress

Published on by MSU Human Resources1 Comment

April is Stress Awareness Month! Everyday stress can take an immense toll on our mental health. While all of us experience stress, we all manage our stress differently. It’s essential to find ways to manage stress if we want to maintain our health and wellbeing. To help you make stress reduction a priority this month, MSU Human Resources has compiled this list of MSU campus resources: 

Activities 

  • Wellbeing Wednesdays: The WorkLife Office and Health4U are partnering to bring you Wellbeing Wednesdays. These weekly sessions are focused on wellbeing in its many forms: workplace wellbeing, mental health wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and more.  
  • Join them on April 12 for Art Therapy! Destressing sometimes means unleashing your inner child. This Wellbeing Wednesday will guide you in making some artwork. 
  • Campus Meditation Map: Beal Scholar, Anhad Viswananth, created this incredible meditation map to highlight the best spots to meditate around campus. 
  • MSU Campus Walking Tour: Taking time to be outdoors and exercise is a great way to manage stress. Health4U has provided a campus walking tour with maps of multiple walking paths throughout campus.  
  • Get Active this Spring: Warmer weather on the horizon means more opportunities to get outside! From sailing and stand-up paddleboarding to golf leagues and group fitness classes, there are tons of opportunities on campus and in the greater Lansing community to make exercise part of your weekly routine. Check out these opportunities and consider joining with a friend. 
  • Sleep: Understanding and Optimizing Your Nightly Reboot: Quality sleep is vital for our health, but it isn’t always easy to come by. This class will explore the science of sleep, the impact sleep has on overall health and wellbeing, and how to improve your sleep quality. Join this virtual webinar on April 18 to learn more.  
  • Rest with Music: The MSU School of Music, Abrams Planetarium, and Health4U invite you to take an hour out of your month to listen and simply REST WITH MUSIC. Join in-person at the planetarium or participate via Facebook live. 

Learning Resources 

  • Managing Stress and Work: This recorded Wellbeing Wednesday webinar shares tools and strategies for identifying stressors, prioritizing responsibilities, and managing stress throughout your career. 
  • Mess Makes Stress: This article will help you find ways to declutter your space, making for a less stressful environment.  
  • How to Recognize and Minimize Burnout During Uncertain Times: This recorded webinar will help you identify how burnout is affecting your work and personal life.  
  • Stress Reduction: Health4U provides different articles and resources that specifically target dealing with stress. 
  • Toolkit: Managing Stress: This resource on the Toward a Respectful Workplace website helps identify the stressors in your life and how to manage them. 
  • How to Avoid or Manage Burnout: This article will help you learn how to avoid burnout and what to do if you’re experiencing it.
     

Have another resource you’d like to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!