National Health Observances for May..................................2

BetterSafe: What You Can Do About Bullying......................3

DayInDayOut: Let's Hear It for Your Furry Friends...............5

Take Charge: How to Help a Hoarder ...................................7

To Your Health: Music for a Sound Mind & Body...................9

Inspiration.............................................................................11

DIGITALONEHEALTH AND BENEFITS

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MAY 2018

National Health Observances

MAY | 2018

ALS Awareness Month

Better Sleep Month

Employee Health and Fitness Month

High Blood Pressure Education Month

Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month

Lupus Awareness Month

Mental Health Month

Older Americans Month

Stroke Awareness Month

Trauma Awareness Month

Run a Mile Days (May 1-June 14)

Asthma Day (1)

Women’s Lung Health Week (6–12)

Melanoma Monday (7)

Food Allergy Awareness Week (13–19)

Employee Health and Fitness Day (15)

Senior Health and Fitness Day (30)

Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior among peers where there is power imbalance. The behavior is repeated over time and includes actions such as threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone, and excluding someone on purpose.

Bullying can affect kids’ health and well-being. Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying. If you know or suspect that your child is involved in bullying, there are several resources that may help.

Here’s what to look for and how to take action when it comes to bullying:

Recognize the warning signs that your child is involved in bullying. They could be being bullied, bullying others, or witnessing bullying. Although these signs could signal other issues, you should talk to your child if they display any sort of behavioral or emotional changes. Many times kids won’t ask for help, so it is important to know what to look for. If your child is at

immediate risk of harming himself or others, get help right away.

Learn what bullying is and what it is not. Understanding what bullying is is the first step in forming a plan to prevent or respond to bullying with your child. Many behaviors that look like bullying may be just as serious, but may require different response strategies. You can also learn about:

» The frequency of bullying;

» Who is at risk for being bullied and bullyingothers; and

» The effects of bullying

Cyberbullying often requires different strategies than in-person bullying. Learn how to work with your kids to prevent cyberbullying and how to respond when it occurs.

WHAT YOU CANDo About Bullying

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Utilize tips and tools to talk to your child about bullying. Opening lines of communication before your child is involved in bullying makes it easier for them to tell you when something happens. It is also important to work with a school to help prevent bullying before it starts.

If you know or suspect bullying has occurred, learn how to find out what has happened with your child. Understanding what has happened can also help in communicating with school or community officials about the situation.

If you have determined bullying has occurred, learn how you and school or

community officials can work together to support your child, whether they were bullied, bullied others, or

witnessed bullying. If bullying is occurring at school, learn about what your state requires schools to

do in your state’s anti-bullying law. Learn also about federal laws that require

schools to address harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, and disabilities and ways to report situations that have not been adequately addressed to the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.

Remember, parents play a key role in preventing and responding to

bullying. If you know or suspect that your child is involved in bullying, use the

information above to create an action plan and put a stop to the harmful behavior.

FAST FACTS ON BULLYING

According to DoSomething.org:

1. Over 3.2 million students are victims ofbullying each year.

2. Approximately 160,000 teens skip schoolevery day because of bullying.

3. Seventeen percent of American studentsreport being bullied 2 to 3 times a month ormore within a school semester.

4. One in 4 teachers see nothing wrong withbullying and will only intervene 4% of thetime.

5. By age 14 less than 30% of boys and40% of girls will talk to their peers aboutbullying.

LET’S HEAR IT FOR YOURFurry Friends!

About 68% of U.S. households welcome the warmth and companionship of pets. In good times and bad, pets offer unconditional love. And the unconditional love of a pet can do more than keep you company. In fact, mounds of research reveal that living with pets can yield several health benefits. Studies have shown that pets can help lower blood pressure and anxiety, while boosting our minds and mood. Here’s a closer look at some of these key benefits.

ALLERGIES

It was once thought that if your family had a pet, children would be more likely to become allergic to the pet. And if you came from an allergy-prone family, pets should be avoided. However, a growing number of studies have suggested that kids growing up in a home with furry animals like a cat or dog will have less risk of allergies and asthma.

AGING

Studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients have fewer anxious outbursts if there is an animal in the home. Their caregivers also feel less burdened when there is a pet, particularly if it is a cat, which generally requires less care than a dog. Moreover, walking a dog or just caring for a pet, for elderly people who are able, can provide exercise and companionship.

STRESS & MOOD

Research has shown that pet owners with AIDS are far less likely to suffer from depression than those without pets. In one study, stockbrokers with high blood pressure who adopted a cat or dog had lower blood pressure readings in stressful situations than did people without pets.

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Interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood.

SOCIAL SUPPORT

Animals can serve as a source of comfort and support. Therapy dogs are especially good at this. They’re sometimes brought into hospitals or nursing homes to help reduce patients’ stress and anxiety.

Researchers are studying the safety of bringing animals into hospital settings because animals may expose people to more germs. A current study is looking at the safety of bringing dogs to visit children with cancer. Scientists

will be testing the children’s hands to see if there are dangerous levels of germs transferred from the dog after the visit.

Dogs may also aid in the classroom. One study found that dogs can help children with ADHD focus their attention. Researchers enrolled two groups of children diagnosed with ADHD into 12-week group therapy sessions. The first group of kids read to a therapy dog once a week for 30 minutes. The second group read to puppets that looked like dogs.

Researchers will continue to explore the many health effects of having a pet. They’re ultimately trying to find out what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s safe—for both the humans and the animals.

HEALTH RISKS FROM YOUR PET

Kids, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk for getting sick from animals. Take these steps to reduce your risk:

» Wash your hands thoroughly after contact withanimals.

» Keep your pet clean and healthy, and keepvaccinations up to date.

» Supervise children when they’re interactingwith animals.

» Prevent kids from kissing their pets or puttingtheir hands or other objects in their mouthsafter touching animals.

» Avoid changing litter boxes during pregnancy.Problems with pregnancy may occur fromexposure to toxoplasmosis, a parasitic diseasespread through the feces of infected cats.

Hoarding is a common problem that is difficult to treat. To be sure, you may have seen reality TV shows about people who hoard mail, gadgets, cats, and even trash. You may be puzzled as to how people can live in such conditions why they just can’t let go of certain items.

Indeed, when people aren’t able to throw things away, piles can grow to the ceiling. These piles can make it impossible to use bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchens. The piles may fall over, trap, and injure people. They can catch on fire. Cluttered homes and yards may attract pests. Neighbors may call the police. Parents may lose custody of children.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HOARDING

There are a lot of misconceptions about hoarders. For example, people don’t choose to be hoarders. And they aren’t being sloppy or lazy. This is a very real mental disorder. It is important to recognize that people with hoarding disorder have lost control of their decision-making abilities.

Research suggests it’s hard for people with this disorder to part with items, even things with no real-world value. Scientists have found that brain activity is different between people with hoarding disorder and healthy people.

Many people with hoarding disorder often don’t seem terribly bothered by their circumstance. If they don’t have to make a decision, the parts of their brain that are largely in charge of becoming bothered are underactive. But if they are forced to decide about whether to discard something, that part of the brain becomes overactive. And so, the brain is essentially screaming that everything is important.

Doctors don’t know what causes hoarding disorder. There’s no X-ray or blood test for a diagnosis. Instead, doctors assess how well people are functioning in their lives.Hoarding disorder can start during a person’s teens or later. It may grow more severe over the decades.

HOW TO HELP A HOARDER

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HOW TO TAKE ACTION

If you know someone who may need help, try to be gentle, calm, and patient. It may take several conversations before the person agrees to work on the problem. Try not to start an argument. If a person is not really motivated to do something about the problem, they can become even more stubborn in their ways. Arguing can even make the problem worse.

There’s no effective medication for hoarding disorder, although studies are in progress. Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only evidence-based treatment we have for hoarding. This is a type of talk therapy that teaches people how to change their thinking patterns and react differently to situations.

Some people with hoarding disorder are helped by joining a support group with others who have the disorder. There are also organizing professionals who specialize in helping people get rid of clutter.

HOW TO HELP A PERSON WHO HOARDS

Explain why you’re concerned:

“I’m worried that you could fall or become trapped.”

“I’m concerned that you may lose custody of your children.”

“I’m afraid your home will catch on fire.”

Then say how to get help:

“I can help you find a therapist who specializes in hoarding.”

“We can look for a self-help program on how to let things go.”

“We can find support groups for people who hoard.”

“We can ask the county for resources.”

When you listen to or create music, it affects how you think, feel, move, and more. Scientists are exploring the different ways music stimulates healthier bodies and minds. Modern technologies are helping researchers learn more about how the brain works, what parts of the brain respond to music, and how music might help ease symptoms of certain diseases and conditions.

MUSIC & YOUR BR AIN

The brain is a complex processing hub. It’s the control center of your nervous system, the network of nerve cells that carry messages to and from your body and the brain. A healthy brain tries to make sense of the world around you and the constant information it receives, including sound and music.

Music and other sounds enter the ear as sound waves. These create vibrations on our eardrum that are transformed into electrical signals. The electrical signals

travel up the auditory nerve to the brain’s auditory cortex. This brain area interprets the sound into something we recognize and understand.

But music affects more than the brain areas that process sound. Using techniques that take pictures of the brain, like fMRI, scientists have found that music affects other brain areas. When music stimulates the brain, it shows up on brain images as flickers of bright light. Studies have shown that music “lights up” brain areas involved in emotion, memory, and even physical movement. There’s also evidence that music may be helpful for people with other health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, aphasia, autism, and hearing loss.

MUSIC & YOUR MIND

Playing a musical instrument engages many parts of the brain at once. This can especially benefit children and

M US I C FO R ASound Mind & Body

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teens, whose brains are still developing. Introducing music to young kids can positively influence their ability to focus, how they act, and language development.

Being musical may also protect you from hearing loss as you age. We naturally lose our hearing ability over time. In particular, it becomes harder to hear conversations in a loud environment. But researchers have found that musicians are better at picking out a person’s voice in a noisy background.

MUSIC & HEALING

Listening to and making music on your own can bring health benefits. But some people may also benefit from the help of a board-certified music therapist. Music therapists are trained in how to use music to meet the mental, social, and physical needs of people with different health conditions.

Music therapy can take many forms that go beyond listening to music. Music therapists can use certain parts of music, like the rhythm or melody, to help people regain abilities they’ve lost from a brain injury or developmental

disability. For example, a person who’s had a stroke may be able to sing words, but not speak them.

Music therapists also rely on the social qualities of music. Shared musical experiences can help a family member connect with a loved one who has dementia. Music can also be used to help young people with behavior disorders learn ways to manage their emotions.

IS MUSIC FOR EVERYONE?

Music can offer many health benefits, but it may not be helpful for everyone. Traumatic injuries and brain conditions can change the way a person perceives and responds to music. Some people may find some types of music overstimulating. Others may find that certain music brings up emotional or traumatic memories.

As scientists continue to learn more about music and the brain, try striking a chord for your health. Whether you’re looking to boost your mood, stay connected to others, or improve symptoms of a health condition, add a little music to your life.

ADDING MORE MELODY

Here are some quick and simple ways to add more music into your life:

» Listen to music during the day, like on your way to workor during exercise.

» Sing and dance while you’re doing chores or cookingmeals.

» Play a musical instrument. Consider taking lessons orjoining friends to make music.

» Attend concerts, plays, and other community musicactivities in your area.

» Encourage your kids to listen to music, sing, play aninstrument, or participate in music programs at school.

» Ask your doctor if music therapy is right for you.Consider working with a board-certified musictherapist to improve your health.