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Want to reduce your risk of heart disease? 

Exercise boosts high-density “good” cholesterol lipoprotein (HDL) while it decreases unhealthy triglycerides. This keeps your blood flowing smoothly, lowering your risk of cardiovascular diseases including high blood pressure and stroke. It helps maintain your blood sugar levels, decreasing your risk of diabetes and further reducing your chances of cardiovascular disease.

Physical activity burns calories and the more intense the activity, the more calories you burn.  Excess weight forces the heart to pump harder, increasing your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease.

Physical exercise stimulates the brain chemicals that can leave you feeling happier, more relaxed and less anxious. Regular exercise can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance and, as your heart and lung health improves, you’ll have more energy.

Physical activity sends oxygen and nutrients to your tissues to help your cardiovascular system work better. As

Want to sleep better?  Regular exercise can not only help you fall asleep faster, you’ll enjoy deeper, more restful sleep.  Warning – don’t exercise too closely to bedtime or you’ll be too energized to go to sleep.

They also recommend adding in moderate-to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days per week.

Children under five should be physically active and have plenty of opportunities to move throughout the day. Kids and teens six to 17 years old should get at least 60 minutes per day of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity, mostly aerobic, with muscle- and bone-strengthening (weight-bearing) activities on at least 3 days per week.

If you aren’t hitting that target, you’re not alone, only about one in five adults and teens get enough exercise for maintaining good health.

Start by spending less time sitting. Even light-intensity activity can offset some of the risks of being sedentary. 

Increase the amount and intensity gradually over time, aim for being active at least 300 minutes (5 hours) per week.

Just by being more active – less sitting – you’ll start to see benefits such as better sleep.   Being more active helps you think and feel better and you’ll be able to perform your daily tasks more easily.  

Exercise can be enjoyable, yes, even fun.  Get out of the house and enjoy nature. Make friends with a pickleball player.  Exercise with friends or family or enroll in a class. Check out low or no cost gym options, many insurance companies or health plans offer incentives and discounts and see what your local Y or Salvation Army has to offer. 

If you don’t like it, try something else. 

It counts as cardio.  Who needs a treadmill if you can work up a sweat in the bedroom instead?  According to their research sex is a moderate-intensity aerobic exercise that can help strengthen your heart, lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes all while burning 3 calories a minute.  A bedroom romp is also a great stress reliever and it will help you sleep better.

You’ve seen it in movies, tv and comics, a man in the middle of action suffers a massive heart attack. Nope.  The odds of a sex induced heart attack are slim; less than 1% of heart attacks are linked to intimate activity. In fact, a healthy sex life may lower your risk. A study of middle-aged men over a 16-year period found that those who had sex twice a week or more had a much lower risk of a heart attack than those who had sex once a month or less.

The research cited looked at healthy young and middle-aged men, your age and medical situation must be considered. 

Talk to your health care professional before starting any new activity or exercise routines, especially if it’s been a while since you were active or if you have chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes or arthritis.

Every workplace has them, the person who has been there forever and has seen and done it all, and the ‘new kid on the block’ who is just getting started. 

While some companies invest in outside professional mentoring programs, most rely on the ’buddy’ system, matching the more experienced worker with the green new hire. 

There are many benefits to these office pairings; some do it overtly, while others allow it to happen casually with the experienced worker taking the lead. 

Tracy, a network architect who oversees teams managing Fortune 500 and government systems, is candid as to why she’s a willing mentor. “It’s selfish, I want the best staff who can get the job done without causing me more work!” Mistakes can lose her company lucrative contracts. 

Sharing knowledge, skills and insights with less experienced co-workers can mean more than increased productivity; it can lead to higher employee retention and reduced turnover.  Better workplace efficiency is a given when everyone’s on the same page and working as a team at the same level. 

For the mentee the extra attention can make the difference between frustration and burn-out, and higher work performance, job satisfaction and company loyalty. For the mentor, this teaching relationship can help enhance their leadership role and offer a better understanding of the workplace dynamics, while refreshing their own skill sets and practices. It’s also a great opportunity to polish their professional reputation.

Despite the benefits, some people do not like to ask for help, or they get embarrassed or upset if they think they are being singled out. It’s a fine line Tracy had to master, mentoring without calling attention to it. “It’s a lot of work but the mentee needs to be open and receptive. It’s hard for some to accept that they are not at their best performance level.

“I take the time to see what this person is lacking and then start to work on those skills.”

For one young engineer, it was a communications issue that had his co-workers loudly questioning if he could do his job.  “He had the technical skills but lacked self-confidence.  He knew a lot but just didn’t know that he knew a lot and so wasn’t able to show the rest of the team that he belonged.”

Tracy began to review projects with the engineer one-on-one, letting him explain the steps he was going to take.  He began to see that he knew what he was doing and that he was actually good at the job.  As his confidence grew in himself, his teammates began to recognize his talents and skill level, taking the pressure off him.

Did he know that he was being mentored? “Not at the time!” she laughs. “But when I moved on to another division, he reached out to thank me for helping him feel welcome and part of the team.”

Tracy’s company took a hands-off, sink-or-swim approach that didn’t guarantee new hires would get the mentoring or coaching they needed. In fact, Tracy remembers that when she got started nobody helped her acclimate.  

Other companies lack the organization or resources to support an inexperienced worker. For many businesses a professional mentoring firm offers the answer.

These companies work one-on-one with the employee and their manager, offering direct coaching to the employee and helping the supervisor set goals and track progress. 

It begins by asking why you want a mentor and if you are ready careerwise. Are you ready to accept feedback and act upon their suggestions?

Sit down and think about what you hope to learn from your mentor.  What do you need to do to accomplish your goals? This will help determine who could be the best mentor for you.

Who do you admire, who do you want to emulate?  Are they open to sharing or teaching their skills? Think about the people you work with or people from a previous job who display the traits and abilities you’d like to develop.

A mentor may be found off the job; it could come through a professional organization in your field. Attend meetings and network events to expand your circle. 

Ask your prospective mentor to meet with you, after work, over coffee or at lunch; a relaxed environment can make the conversation more natural.  Be ready to explain your goals and why you think this person is the right mentor for you.  Let them know who you are, how you plan to succeed and how mentorship can benefit them.

A mentor can not only help you learn the workplace culture and skillset, they can help you jumpstart your career, developing a network of connections that can help you find future opportunities.  With benefits now and for the future, for you and you mentor, it’s a win-win partnership!

Hunger is everywhere.  Every county in the United States without exception has someone going hungry.

Each year, Feeding America, the nation’s premier hunger resource, issues their study on food insecurity. Map the Meal Gap provides estimates of local food insecurity and food costs to help people, government officials, and local agencies understand who is hungry and where.

The information is eye opening. According to the map, 19.4% of Mississippi’s residents are food insecure, with Arkansas right behind at 19.3%.Breaking down each state by its counties, the map reveals that every county has reported food insecurity. 

Food insecurity is when a family cannot get enough food due to a lack of resources. There can be multiple factors affecting the family, which create a cycle that can be hard to break. Household income, higher expenses, health care costs, and barriers to opportunity all play a part in keeping households and communities from being food secure.

Over 13 million kids don’t have enough food to grow up healthy. That’s one in five. Communities of color, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities are often disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. People who are formerly incarcerated and single-parent households who struggle with employment are also more adversely affected. 

Texas has an overall food insecurity rate of 17.4%, but multiple counties within the state have rates of over 25%, or one in four. In Dimmit, 30.5% of its population are unsure of their next meal.

Even if agriculture is a main industry, many rural areas are considered “food deserts,” meaning there are not enough people to support competitive grocery stores that can stock affordable, healthy, and fresh food. Rural shoppers have to rely on more expensive processed food, or endure a long drive to a town with a supermarket that stocks fresh produce, milk, eggs, and other staples.

In a Hunger in America study, Feeding America discovered that 69% of Americans had to choose between food and utilities, while 66% had to choose between food and medical care, and 57% had to choose between food and housing