Healthy You - Spring 2021
Mind, Body, Spirit.
Spring 2021, Volume 21, Issue 2.
Front Cover:
Mask Up: What to Know about Proper Mask Use during the Pandemic.
Top 10 Tips for a Successful Virtual Interview: Adapting interviews to a virtual format.
Listen Up! Using Sound-Based Meditation for Stress Relief: Examining alternate forms of meditation through music and sound.
Inside Front Cover:
Dean, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics: Diane Lyden Murphy.
Vice President of the Student Experience: Rob Hradsky.
Associate Provost for Academic Programs: Chris Johnson.
Editorial Director: Luvenia W. Cowart, Ed.D., R.N.
Student Managing Editor: Cate Willing.
Student Copy Editor: Kinley Gaudette.
Graphic Designer: Bob Wonders, Executive Art.
Student Editorial Board: Amanda Burnes, Kinley Gaudette, Alessia Martini, Cate Willing.
Contributing Authors: Janet Pease, Former Head of Collection and Research Services, Syracuse University Libraries; Falk College: Caitlin Mogan ’20, Soleil Sferlazza ’21.
Editing Support: George S. Bain G’06.
Contact Us: Healthy You Newsmagazine, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, White Hall, Syracuse New York 13244, 315.443.9808.
Healthy You welcomes letters to the editor and story ideas.
Healthy You is a student-run health magazine of the Department of Public Health. It is a jointly funded publication of the Syracuse University David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and the Divisions of Undergraduate Studies, and Enrollment and the Student Experience. This publication enhances, broadens and supports the academic and social experiences of students.
The Student Editorial Board is responsible for providing work structure for the magazine’s production, which includes the content, design, production and distribution. The information contained in this publication is not to be constructed as medical advice. Readers should consult a medical professional before engaging in any activity described. The contents of this magazine may not be reprinted without the expressed consent of the editorial director.
Contents:
1. In the Know: New research in health and wellness.
Mind:
2. Public Health Faculty Spotlight: A conversation with public health Assistant Professor Miriam Mutambudzi.
3. Mindfulness at Your Fingertips: Using Technology for Mental Health. An in-depth look at the Sanvello app and its benefits.
4. Listen Up! Using Sound-Based Meditation for Stress Relief. Examining alternate forms of meditation through music and sound.
5. Creating Opportunities: It’s All About Communication. Building your professional networks and portfolio.
6. Top 10 Tips for a Successful Virtual Interview. Adapting interviews to a virtual format.
7. Can You Hear Me Now? The art of listening.
8. Read This Now or Later: Overcoming Procrastination.
Body:
9. Misalignment from Your Computer Assignments? How prolonged computer use can impact skeletal health and what to do about it.
10. Mask Up: What to Know About Proper Mask Use During the Pandemic. A conversation with Dr. David Larsen.
11. Unpacking Antioxidants: Be in the Know. The importance of antioxidants in your diet.
12. Navigating Food Choices on Campus. Creating a mindful approach to fast-food selections.
13. Exploring Medicaid and its Importance to College Students. Health literacy in action.
14. The Value of the Orange Fruit. The benefits of including oranges in your diet.
15. Take a Hike. The physical and mental benefits of hiking.
16. “Water” You Drinking These Days? Learn more about the benefits of drinking water.
Spirit:
17. I’m Sorry for Your Loss: A Guide for Friends Coping with loss within a campus community.
18. Redefining Community Service: A Public Health Perspective Transitioning to new volunteer strategies during the pandemic.
In The Know: Discover new research in health and wellness.
By Cate Willing and Kinley Gaudette, Public Health Students, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
Combatting Zoom Fatigue.
At this point in the work- or school-from-home environment, we all are familiar with the feeling of “Zoom fatigue,” a term coined during the COVID-19 pandemic that describes the exhausting strain that constant video calls and school work can have on us. Zoom fatigue refers more generally to the mental and physical toll that video calls can have. In an article in the American Psychological Association’s Technology, Mind, and Behavior journal, the unnatural elements resulting from work or school from home were studied. In a normal meeting or class, you would not be looking at yourself and your classmates or co-workers the entire time, and you would have some liberty to be creative and walk around without seeming disrespectful. In Zoom meetings, sitting still with camera on and listening is the common courtesy that can be draining, both mentally and physically. To combat this as a meeting participant, hiding self-view, so you do not fixate on your face but rather concentrate on the speaker, can help. As we move forward with virtual work, there is a call for teachers and those running meetings to creativity combat the fatigue that comes from long video calls, including frequent breaks and more social discussions. For now, hiding self-view, incorporating a cover photo for when you do have to turn your camera off, and walking around for quick breaks can help. Engaging in fruitful discussions with your peers and teachers on how you think online class can be more interactive and less draining can also provide some short-term solutions on a case-by-case basis.
Sources: The Washington Post and the American Psychological Association.
Reading for Relaxation.
Did you know that reading can be used as a form of medicine? It’s called bibliotherapy, and it can mean two things:
Reading in a structured or clinical setting as a form of prescribed therapy, or
An individual struggling with an illness like anxiety or depression using reading on their own to improve wellness.
Regardless of whether bibliotherapy is done in a program or independently, it can have huge health benefits, especially for those who struggle with mental illness. Studies have also shown that reading fictional stories can improve mental health, as they evoke feelings of empathy and allow the reader to resonate with the lived experiences of characters. If you’ve ever read a good book, you know how easy it is to forget that you don’t know the characters in real life. When you read, the connection you feel to certain characters can be strong enough to allow you to feel what they’re feeling. That emotional response can be healthy for the brain. In today’s world, it can be hard enough to find time to read our required texts for classes, much less read for enjoyment. However, reading for enjoyment has so many benefits and can truly be effective in treating mental health concerns. So, whenever you have the chance, pick up a new book and let the story take you away for a while.
Source: Psychology Today: Can Reading Books Improve Your Mental Health?
The Power of Positive Thinking
Utilizing the power of positive thinking is more important now than ever. We have spent over a year in the pandemic, coping and adapting to dramatic changes in every aspect of our lives. Recognizing the value that thinking positively can have on your own situation will help you in reaching your goals and maintaining good mental and physical health. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, people with a family history of heart disease who had a positive outlook on life were one-third less likely to have a heart attack or related event within five to 25 years than those with a more negative outlook. It’s proven: Mindset directly correlates to health outcomes, but how? Positive thinking varies from person to person, but starting with smiling more can help you look happier externally and think more positively internally. Second, reframing is a concept that helps to shift your outlook on life and to look on the bright side. When things may not be going your way, reframing the situation to recognize what you are grateful for shifts your mindset to think more positively. Lastly, becoming more resilient will benefit coping strategies to unfavorable situations. One suggestion from Johns Hopkins Medicine is to act on situations that may frustrate you, rather than letting them build up over time. Taking small actions to achieve a more positive outlook on life is beneficial today to your mental well-being as well as benefiting your health tomorrow.
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Public Health Faculty Spotlight: Sitting Down with Public Health Assistant Professor Miriam Mutambudzi.
By Cate Willing Junior, Public Health David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
Miriam Mutambudzi, a recent addition to the public health department in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, attributes much of her ability to think critically on public health issues to her past.
Mutambudzi’s story does not start with her. It begins with the powerful women in her family who came before her. Her grandmother, born and raised in a rural village in Zimbabwe, lives a simple life. Fastpaced, modern life gives stark contrast to Mutambudzi’s 103-year-old grandmother who spent her time taking care of her 10 children, tending to the garden which they ate solely from and going to church. Her lifestyle can undoubtedly be traced to her good health, even at 103 years old.
Mutambudzi’s mother, raised in the same small village, left for the United Kingdom after high school and was faced with a dramatically different life than she once lived. In Zimbabwe, the family had its own property, grew its own food and had no debt. In the U.K., however, her mother was met with what she called “the poverty of the paycheck”—the idea that being able to eat or pay for housing is dependent on a monthly paycheck—and the threat this posed to security and overall health.
This observation is key in understanding the structural determinants of health, in Mutambudzi’s eyes. The experiences of her grandmother and mother taught Mutambudzi early on that “the value of healthy lifestyles and quality of life was so different from the mainstream” and that being healthy isn’t one-dimensional.
Structural issues, one of Mutambudzi’s specialties, were always a topic of interest for her, but she didn’t connect these interests to public health until later in life. From an early age Mutambudzi was interested in examining structural issues and how these correlate to opportunities individuals are afforded, affecting potential health outcomes and overall quality of life.
“Health is going to impact your opportunities, the opportunity of your children and future generations,” she says, “and on the other hand, the opportunities you have now are going to impact your health.” This bi-directional relationship was the light bulb for Mutambudzi as she expanded her public health studies.
Perspective is key to Mutambudzi. Living in Africa, Europe and now the United States has allowed her to “objectively look at something without the emotion, without the attachment to a history, a story or legacy.”
A key difference, from a public health angle, between the U.S. and Europe is the health care system. Living in both a countries with universal health care and then in the U.S., where many do not have access to care, was perplexing to Mutambudzi. “Having access to health care is an absolute human right,” she says. “It was perplexing that it is considered a privilege, in a system that ignores historical, structural and systemic factors, which make it difficult for some groups to access this level of privilege.”