Spring 2020
Bicycling Season Is Right Around The Corner
For some, bicycling is a year round activity; however, for most of us it’s a spring/summer/fall activity. Bicycling to work, to school, to parks, to libraries, and/or to shop is a great way to increase your physical activity time, reduce your carbon foot print and enjoy the beautiful Minnesota weather. To help you, your family and friends Give it a Try, sign up for one or more of the following encouragement activities:
30 Days of Biking - This is a pledge to ride your bike every day in April and share your adventure online. You can ride around the block or 100 miles. The distance doesn’t matter, just getting on your bike every day does! Find more information and register here.
National Bike Challenge – The League of America Bicyclists offers this challenge for free and you have a chance to win great prizes. Find more information and register here.
May is Bike Month – National Bike Month, established in 1956, is an opportunity to celebrate the unique power of the bicycle and the many reasons we ride. Sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, activities during the month include: Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 6th, Bike to Work Week during May 11th-17th, and Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15th. You can take part of these on your own or you can get things rolling in your community by creating an event for your organization, workplace, or community. Contact David Anderson.
Bike Cannon Falls – This is a local group of bicycling advocates that is working to make it safer and easier to bike in Cannon Falls. They are celebrating National Bike Month with social rides, bike to school and work events and more! To see what is happening, like Bike Cannon Falls on Facebook.
The momentum for bicycling is building, with growing cultural awareness around health and wellness, sustainability and economic savings, it’s being seen by new and broader audiences as a simple solution to many complex problems, from reducing obesity rates to increasing mobility options. Join the movement!
E-cigarettes are Not Safe for Youth
Nicotine is a chemical commonly found in cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products. Nicotine is highly addictive and can be toxic. Nearly all e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Since nicotine is highly addictive, it can harm the developing adolescent brain. Because the brain is still developing until about age 25, youth and young adults exposure to nicotine can lead to addiction and disrupt attention and learning. No amount of nicotine is safe for you.¹
Similar to smoke and secondhand smoke from cigarettes and other tobacco products, aerosol from e-cigarettes (often called vapor) contains harmful and potentially harmful constituents, such as ultrafine particles, heavy metals like nickel, tin, lead, and other cancer-causing chemicals.² Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the e-cigarette, or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) outbreak. Vitamin E acetate has been found in products samplers tested by FDA and state laboratories and in patient lung fluid samples tested by CDC from geographically diverse states. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI.³
Quitting vaping can be tough, but there are resources that can help!
• TEEN.SMOKEFREE.GOV – Smokefree Teen helps teens stop using tobacco by providing information grounded in scientific evidence and offering free tools tht meet teens where they are – on their phones.
• Truth Initiative – Truth Initiative is America’s largest nonprofit public health organization committed to making tobacco use a thing of the past.
Find more information.
1. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/tobacco/ecigarettes/index.html
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults. A Report of the Surgeon General. 2016, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health: Atlanta, GA.
3. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html?s_cid=osh-stu-home-spotlight-006
Truth Initiative
Wellness @ Work Collaboration
Do you have wellness on your mind lately? A well-designed workplace wellness initiative can have a positive impact on employer financial measures like healthcare utilization, worker productivity and employee turnover. Live Well Goodhue County’s goal is to help workplaces design a comprehensive wellness program that will increase physical activity and healthy eating, reduce use of tobacco products, support nursing mothers and support stress management.
So how can you improve wellness at your worksite? We are currently hosting quarterly workplace wellness meetings called Wellness @ Work Collaboration. These meetings are free and open to anyone who is interested in learning about workplace wellness. Each meeting will focus on a different topic. This is a great opportunity to network with other local organizations and learn about successes and challenges with workplace wellness! The next Wellness @ Work Collaboration will be held on April 9th from 8:30 am to 9:30 am and will be delivered virtually. (More details to come about how to watch this.) Nicole LaChapelle-Strumski, Program Manager for Southeast Service Cooperative, will be presenting Stress Management in the Workplace. See more details and register for the event.
Live Well Goodhue County is also available to provide individual workplace wellness assistance to any organization or business in Goodhue County. Our goal is to help you and your employees make policy, systems, and environmental changes focused on healthy eating, breastfeeding support, active living, tobacco-free living and stress management. We also have mini-grant funding available to help support your workplace wellness initiatives! Please reach out to Megan Roschen at megan.roschen@co.goodhue.mn.us or 651-385-6140 if you’d like more information.
You CAN Reverse Prediabetes!
More than 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes and more than 80% don’t know they have it! There is good news to this alarming statistic - prediabetes can be reversed! To find out if you’re at risk, take the American Diabetes Association Risk Test. Live Well Goodhue County will host FREE prediabetes screenings when able, where you can get your glucose tested with a finger prick. If you’d like to host a screening in your community for the public or at your worksite for your employees, please contact Megan Roschen to schedule!
If you have prediabetes or are at an increased risk for prediabetes, you can join the lifestyle change program called I CAN Prevent Diabetes to learn how to create a healthier lifestyle and prevent diabetes! This is a 17-week diabetes prevention program where participants will meet with a trained lifestyle coach once a week to help you lose weight, eat healthier and increase physical activity. After the 17-week program is completed, support and additional learning sessions will be offered on a monthly basis for 8 months. This program really works! Since 2014, participants across the state achieved an average weight loss of 5% of their body weight in the first four months of starting the course according to the U of M Extension.
The next course will start on May 5, 2020 at Zumbrota Towers (93 E 4th St, Zumbrota). For more information about I CAN Prevent Diabetes, contact Kanko Akakpovi at the University of Minnesota Extension 507-332-5948 or email.