Lynda Lahti Anderson, a researcher from the University of Minnesota, talks about wellness and flourishing and the importance of a holistic approach to self-care.

Resources

Promoting Wellness for Better Behavioral and Physical Health by Mel Kobrin

Seven Ways to Have a Healthier Relationship With Stress by Jill Suttie

Frontline Initiative

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Learn more about the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota

- Hello and welcome to

the podcast Wellness

Matters for Direct Support.

This is a podcast

developed by the University

of Minnesota's Institute

on community integration.

Wellness matters for direct

support will focus on the

importance of health, wellness,

and self-care for direct support workers.

I'm Mark Olsen, one of your hosts,

and I have to acknowledge

that our friend chat chatter,

who is usually co-hosting with me,

is off doing a wellness thing right now.

She'll be back with us

for the next broadcast.

So I look forward to

having her back shortly.

Today we have Linda Lottie Anderson,

she's our PI on this project,

which stands for Projects

Investigator, which is a weird term that,

that we use in research that

really is just that she's,

she's the head person.

She's gonna share with

us a little bit about why

and what we're doing with this,

but then also we'll get into

some very specific topics

around flourishing and

wellness and those things

and how they're kind of the

same and different in a way.

So what I'd like to do is

introduce Linda. Linda, welcome.

- Thank you. Thank you.

- Could you tell us a little bit

about who you are and, and,

and why you, why this is important to you?

- Sure. I was a direct

support professional, one

of my first jobs, and did that

for quite a while, worked in

providing residential

supports to individuals

with intellectual disabilities.

Back in the days when all,

all services were ICFs,

intermediate care facilities,

there was no community

support services at that time.

We were live ins back

also in those old days,

they used to be house parents.

And so we lived in a house with six adults

who had an intellectual disability.

We shared the house together

and we did that for four years.

And then I worked as a

frontline supervisor,

and I worked as a project director,

and I worked as a case manager.

So I spent a lot of time

working, providing supports

to people in some manner or another.

I'm interested in wellness

and, and direct support workers

because it's a tough job.

I remember stretches of time

where we didn't have

relief staff on weekends,

and we worked months

without, without a break.

It can, it, it can be,

it can be a lot that

of stress and burnout if we

don't take care of ourselves.

And so that is really why I'm

interested in this project

and this podcast that hopefully

our personal experience,

our personal experience

and our knowledge of the research and,

and the work that we do,

we can share some practical

information for people.

I'm also interested in wellness for people

who have intellectual and

developmental disabilities.

They experience health disparities,

poor health outcomes

because of poor access

and other things to healthcare.

And so that's also been a part

of my work here at the

University of Minnesota.

- So, on that,

before we get into the actual meat of

what we're gonna discuss today,

I thought it would be

really interesting for you

to just share when you were

working specifically on,

on wellness for folks with

disabilities, you worked with,

was it the Arc or was it ACL

or who was it that you worked

with to kind of come up

with a little curriculum

Oh, yeah. On wellness. Yep.

- So that was a project

that was funded by,

it's called the National Institutes

of Disability Independent Living

and Rehabilitation Research.

It's a very big mouthful,

but they gave us funding to do,

develop a curriculum, a

program for a wellness program

for adults with intellectual disabilities.

And we decided that social,

social support is an

important part of being well.

And so the, the project was

designed that a individual

with disability

and a person of their choice would go

through this program together.

So it's called partnerships and wellness.

And so the whole, all of the

activities were done as a pair.

All of these, all of the,

the, the weekly assignments

and everything else was done as a pair.

And the idea was that they

would work in support each other

and, and making changes in, in their

lifestyle and daily habits that they,

that they themselves chose.

And so it was an eight week program

and we focused on nutrition

and physical activity

and social support and relationships

and other aspects related

to taking care of ourselves,

like managing stress.

- So what, what I'm hearing there is that,

that you have a lot of background

and you have a lot of desire to make sure

that people are taking care of themselves.

Let's get into the overarching

questions that we're

gonna talk about today.

Sure. And I'm gonna just start

and ask you, what is wellness?

- The Global Wellness

Institute defines wellness

as the active pursuit

of activities, choices,

and lifestyles that lead to

a state of holistic health.

So that's sort of the official definition,

but it really isn't a, an active process

that includes the choices we

make, the things that we do,

and then it addresses things more than

just our physical health.

So sometimes we think if we're

not sick, then we're, well,

but this is much more broader than,

than just our physical health.

And it usually includes things

like our physical health,

our mental health, emotional,

financial, spiritual,

social, environmental,

and our intellectual or

vocational wellbeing.

And intell and vocational,

there can mean more than

a job that we get paid for.

It's, it's things that we choose to do,

how we spend our time

that are important to us

and give our life meaning and purpose.

And so it's vocation in a broader sense.

And just the job I go to.

- So case in point, I'm,

I'll turn it to myself

for a moment in that when I'm

not doing my work here, right.

I enjoy spending time doing theater,

improvisational comedy, things like that.

And those would be considered wellness

because they are that vocational piece

that's not a paid vocational piece,

but it's one of those things I choose

to do that fulfills me.

- Right. And it's giving

your life meaning and purpose

and it's something that

you love to do. Absolutely.

- And DSPs really need to

work on this, I would expect,

because oftentimes I know,

and you, you spoke of it DSPs

and in my experience as well,

you end up working such long hours

that you don't find

those things as quickly

and as easily as you possibly can.

So, alright. What are some

criticisms of the wellness

- Movement?

Sure. The wellness movement

has some, has some challenges.

Number one is that it has a real focus.

I think on

one of the, one of the main criticisms

of the wellness movement is

that it really does set unrealistic

expectations for people.

If you look at the, the

images that come with like,

wellness messages

and you hear like what you're

supposed to be doing to be,

well, it,

it's not always realistic for people.

And, and then people can

feel like it's unattainable.

And so if you really love going to gym

and lifting weights for three hours a day

and that's really makes

you happy, that's awesome.

You should do that. But

that's not what we have

to do in terms of, like, for

example, physical activity.

It's not always evidence based.

So you can get a lot of

information in the wellness world

that really has no standing

behind it other than

somebody dreamed it up

and thinks it works for them.

And so that is a other

criticism of wellness.

And then the other thing,

there's two other things

that the wellness movement

has, has some issues

with being ableist.

And that almost by definition of

how people think about it is

that if you have a disability,

you can't also be well, which

is not, not true at all.

And there's a somewhat

classist space to it too.

The sort of the things that

people tell you that you have

to do to be, well, you

can only eat, you know,

fresh organic food,

or you can only, you have to

go belong to this expensive gym

with all this fancy equipment can,

can make it seem unattainable for people.

And which is, none of that is true.

Frozen vegetables are

inexpensive and nutritious.

You don't have to have the, the organic.

And if you, if you like organic food

and you can afford organic food

and you can support organic

farmers, that's great

for the environment, do it.

But it shouldn't be a

barrier to thinking about

how you take care of yourself at all.

I kind of like to think

about a different term

that's starting to be

much used much more often.

And it started in the mental health world.

And I think it fits better with sort

of the person centered

thinking about, about health

and just sort of being person

centered and for ourselves

and for the people we support.

And that is flourishing.

And flourishing really means

that we are living a happy

or a good life as we define it.

So we all have things, different values

and different things that matter to us.

We all start from different places.

And if we're able to do things

that make us feel like we're

having a good life, then

that's, that's what's important.

And so it encompasses like

activities and feelings

and thoughts and relationships

that make us feel happy and whole.

- For those that haven't

heard about person-centered

thinking or person-centered processes,

I'm gonna take just a moment to kind

of give a quick explanation

of how I view that.

As someone who trains

direct support folks in

person-centered thinking, it

really is about the balance

of what's important to a person

with what's important for a person.

Now, many of the things that

we talk about when we think

of wellness per se, would be

those important four items.

So, you know, health and safety and,

and you know, taking your medications,

doing a certain amount of

exercise, those things.

But in order to make those

things happen for folks,

you really need to balance that with

what is important to them.

And oftentimes what's

important to a person

is what's gonna drive

being able to do that.

So you might have somebody

who does not really care to go

to the gym to do their exercise,

but they do like to walk well.

Finding a way for them to walk

and maybe meet people

to walk with those types

of things would be balancing

that important to them,

which is that walking

and something that is an

exercise that they'll enjoy

with what's important for them.

And that is just getting the exercise.

So just that balance is

what's important and,

and there's a lot of literature on

person-centered thinking out there.

You can certainly, I'm gonna give the,

the email address that we have.

If you have questions

further about that, please

ping the email address and, and,

and we'll get back to you about that.

But alright. Back to flourishing, Linda.

- Sure, sure. While we're

talking about email addresses, I,

I also wanna just give out a website

that has good information about wellness

and it's the, the SAMHSA well website,

which is the Substance Abuse

and Mental Health Services Administration

of the federal government.

And that the web, the website

address is SAM hsa.gov.

And so if you go there and

search, they have a lot

of really good information about wellness

and the wellness wheel

and it's a great place

to get more information if

you're interested in that.

- That's wonderful that

you bring that up, Linda.

So what's the difference

between wellness and

- Flourishing?

So I think wellness, they,

they, they overlap somewhat,

but I think wellness

sometimes feels a bit more

prescribed to me.

So, and this is my, per my

personal thought, how I,

how I think about it in that

there, there's guidelines,

for example, you should exercise

150 minutes a week from the

CDC or there's, there's this and that.

And I think wellness has taken on an error

of something that, that

to be really well you, it's,

it's almost, you have to be

very driven and perfect in

this sort of, this pursuit

of perfection of some

ideal that's out there.

And it feels very external to me

and I just base that, not

on research or anything,

but really on what the

wellness industry has become.

If you look at images, if

you listen to influencers,

if you read books

and articles by people

who aren't doing research,

but this is sort of their

personal opinion that, you know,

there's a lot of messages

about you should never eat meat

or you should only eat meat,

or you should, you have to drink

your body weight and water.

Or there's a lot of, of ma messages

and sort of myths out

there about what it means

to be, to be healthy.

That, that, it's unfortunate

to have come into the wellness industry

and the wellness concept because

it didn't start that way.

But that's sort of where it's taken.

And I suppose that's what happens

and maybe someday the future

flourishing will also be

there, but

- Well, and and I look at it as the,

there there's a media piece to it.

Yeah. Any sales piece to it Absolutely.

That has come in place.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And of course, what do they wanna sell?

They wanna sell that,

that, that that woman

that's really healthy.

Yeah. You know, in the, you

know, almost the size zero

or the, the endomorphic man

with the bib muscles and all of that.

Yeah. And so those are the images

that often are equated with wellness.

When wellness is, is is much

more than just absolutely.

Those physical attributes. Absolutely.

In fact, for most of us,

in fact the majority of us,

it's not that, it's not

that you can be well

and you can be any shape.

Yeah. Any size, you know, you

can have any kind of pursuit

and you find your wellness in you.

- Exactly.

- So, alright. So

- Yeah, exactly.

That's why I like flourishing

because it really sort of takes it back to

how we define a good life

and what makes us feel happy

and whole outside of

the external pressures of

how we're supposed to be

- For you.

And I'll share as well. Yeah, yeah.

What does wellness look like for you?

- Sure, sure, sure. For me,

the ways that I, I take care of myself

and pursue wellness is I

exercise almost every day.

And I do, I try and

meet the CDC guidelines

'cause I have a background

in public health.

But, but, but I, I, I do strength training

because maintaining our,

I'm, I'm getting up in age,

we're concerned about muscle

loss and bone loss is a thing.

So I do strength training

to make sure I'm maintaining

my muscle mass and bones.

I also find nature very

important to my wellness.

So I like hiking and I

spend as much time outside

as I possibly can.

I have taken up art as

I'm not good at it, but

it's a, a stress reliever

and a way to be mindful

and just focus on something in the present

and not worry about what

else is going on in life.

I eat lots, lots of vegetables

to make my gut healthy and happy.

I also struggle, frankly, with my weight

and I spend a lot of time trying

to improve my nutritional input.

And then, then, you know,

my family's really important

to me too, is another aspect of thing that

helps me feel well to make

sure I'm staying connected

with, with my family. So,

- Alright.

So now I promise that I'd share. Yep.

Alright, so I'll share a little bit

about my wellness journey.

Alright. One of the things

for me is that at the age

of 46 I had a heart attack

and so that, you know,

made wellness even more

of an important thing to me,

but for me it, it involves some

of the exercise and eating better.

And I'm still struggling with both

of those things pretty regularly.

But what I found was really important

for me was de-stressing.

And that was one of the wellness

journey pieces that, that

helped me flourish.

And so to de-stress, I, I let

go of some things that I had,

I had seen is, you know,

where I wanted to be in life

and said I want to do some

things that I enjoy and have fun.

That led me to doing theater,

to doing improvisational

comedy, to doing things

that just fulfill me more

so that my vocational time,

my time off from work

became much more fun.

I too love the outdoors.

I too love my family and,

and and drawn to my family.

And then the other thing that really kind

of completes me is my pets.

- Hmm. Yes. Yes.

- You know, and, and, and for some

people that's the thing, that's it.

Others it might not be.

And that's one of the

reasons why I asked that

and I shared as well,

Linda, is that this is

that person centeredness

we're talking about applied.

We each have a completely

different walk in what wellness is

for us, but that's that

wellness, that's how we flourish.

Right. And then we can be

healthier because of it. So.

Alright. Yep. So maybe this

next question I just answered,

but I'm gonna still ask it.

Yeah. How do we know

when we are flourishing?

- Well, I think I'm gonna,

I'm gonna take that to

how do we know when we're

stressed or experiencing burnout?

So, we'll, signs of stress can be

our, our brains don't function as well.

So we might have a hard

time making decisions.

We might be forgetful,

we might be angry or irritable a lot.

We might be have insomnia.

That's, I know I'm stressed is

because I stay awake all night

and my brain spins out

all the horrible stories

that could possibly happen where,

and we're just generally not

taking care of ourselves and,

and burnout is stress that's

just gone to another level

where we're, we're just,

we've become apathetic

and we just don't care

and we're just sort of

lost interest in life.

And so if you're feeling that way,

you're probably not flourishing.

So flourishing. If we're

flourishing, we feel pretty content

that having, having a

wide range of emotions is,

is a typical normal human response.

So there will be days

that we don't feel great,

we don't feel happy, but that's,

if long as it's temporary

and it goes away and

it's just part of the ups

and downs of, of daily

living, that's fine.

If you get into a stuck place

where you're feeling happy

and it goes on for a long

period of time, that's a time

to seek, seek help from a professional.

But if we feel energetic, if

we feel wake up in the morning,

happy that the day's

there we feel hopeful.

We feel like we have social connection

and we're not feeling lonely

and isolated, that's probably

all pretty good signs that,

that we're flourishing. You

- Can have moments of flourishing

in within a day, I expect.

And you can have moments

where maybe you're not

flourishing so much.

Yep, yep. I mean, one of the

things that I did recently was,

was of course got all my

holiday cheer decorations

and whatnot and I have a bunch

of those fun fancy light

bulbs that have the,

the flicker like a candle thing going on.

And so I put those in a bunch of my lamps

and I turn those on,

put on some nice music

and I get that feeling

of hia that that Yeah.

Or yeah, that, that, that we talk about.

That's kind of a Danish

philosophy. Yeah, yeah.

Of just finding that

just inner peace Yeah.

In those moments. Yeah.

And sometimes it, you know,

it's for 20 minutes. Yeah.

But it's a thing that,

- And those 20 minutes can help.

And that's one of the

things that when we, I also,

I didn't mention earlier,

do a training for people

who are direct support

workers about taking care

of themselves and,

and being, well I should

have mentioned that earlier.

'cause it's an important part

of, of what I do, important

to me to do that class.

And we really talk about

that, that a lot of people

who are direct support workers are,

might be caring for a family member.

So then it's sort of an an on all the

time kind of situation.

You're always working or

people work multiple jobs.

And so it's hard to find time for that.

And so it's important for me

that people get the message

that, you know, even taking five minutes

for yourself can make a really can,

can really help and make a big difference.

That, and that it's people need

to give themselves permission to do that.

That it's okay to, to

take care of yourself

and you need to, you

need to do that so that

you stay healthy and also you,

you can provide better supports if you're

taking care of yourself.

- So that's kind of

speaking to the why. Yeah.

DSP should find it important. Yeah.

So what does research say about direct

support in, in in wellbeing?

- Yeah. Well, it's really interesting.

Colleagues of ours here at

the Institute on Community

Integration did a, a series of surveys

of direct support workers across

the United States over the

past few years of the pandemic.

They did actually four surveys

and a lot of direct support

workers are really struggling.

There's a lot of people who

are feeling very stressed

and burned out and no longer

love the work that they do.

They're not having a

good work life balance.

And that work is completely

taking over their lives

to the point where they can't take care

of themselves or their family.

And so it's a workforce

that's really struggling

and in crisis.

And certainly there was some

of that before the pandemic,

but it worsened over the pandemic.

And so figuring out how we can support

direct support workers to be resilient

and to manage their stress is important.

And, you know,

but there's the long term we need

to fix the under systematic issues.

But that's a, that's a

different conversation.

But it's, it's, it's not

been an easy few years

for people but who provide

direct support work.

A lot, a lot happened over

the past few years that added

to the stress that was already

going on in a profession

that is really, really important

and usually undervalued.

- Well and hearing you

talk about the, the,

the actual policy changes

that need to be made

makes me think about,

you know, that that's one

of the things that I also would say

that I've done at a time.

But now I'm kind of

passing the torch on that

and that is taking

and being someone that,

that is working in the field

and is approaching those policy makers.

That was part of my

wellness for a good part

of my life was trying

to make a difference.

Now sometimes when you're

talking about policy

and big policy like that,

it takes years and years and years.

So you have to be ready for the long

- Haul. Absolutely.

- But you know, maybe that's

something that's a part

of somebody's wellness Yep.

Absolutely. Is, is to say, I'm

gonna make the change. Yep.

I'm gonna be the person that

pushes that change in my neck

of the woods within my

organization, within my,

just my particular area of service.

You know, it can be at any level,

but just making the

changes that that make,

make wellness a part of things. So.

- Well it's just, it's

interesting you say that

because feeling like you have

control is an important part

of resilience and, and wellness.

And so being active

and an advocate is a, is

a really good way to sort

of build wellness and

flourishing and being resilient

because you're taking action on something

that hopefully will improve over time.

Even if it's just going

to your elected officials

and telling your story.

Stories matter.

They, they listen to stories

of constituents more than they listen

to statistics from researchers.

So always, you know,

sharing your story. Yeah.

- In my policy work, that's

always been the case.

You have a good story

that's got a hook line

and a sinker that gets 'em

to kind of wanna support you,

but then you back it up with Yeah.

Then research you up with

research. Exactly. Exactly.

So that's the way that

you can get folks to kind

of listen a little bit more.

So we could go a whole

podcast on that itself.

Yeah, that's right. And we

won't spend the time today

'cause we're focusing on

wellness and flourishing. That's,

- That's right. That's right.

- Why is self-care important?

And you may wanna do

find selfcare for us a

- Little bit.

I think self-care is the things

that we do for ourselves.

And so it is the, the actions and thoughts

and choices that we

make regarding our own,

our own wellbeing.

Our brain is an amazingly plastic organ.

And so the our, we can retrain it to do,

to do, to do things differently

and think differently.

It's not a hard, it's hard work.

It takes a lot of work to

do that, but it can happen.

So self-care is doing

those things that sort

of teach our brain how, how

to manage stress better.

How we might move our bodies in ways

that enjoy ourselves on a regular basis.

And so it is things about, you know,

making sure you get

enough sleep, taking care

of your physical health

by getting those doctor's

appointments and preventives

and care done.

And which can be difficult

when you have, don't have a lot

of time or if you don't

have good insurance,

I recognize that.

Making sure that we maintain

social connections with people

and thinking about our food choices and,

and how if they're supporting,

supporting us in away in terms

of being healthier or not.

And sometimes, you know,

food has, it's not just

for physical reasons like hunger,

but sometimes food has other purposes.

It's a social thing. It

can be a comforting thing.

And so just thinking about, you know,

why we're eating while we're eating

and if it's helping us move forward

in the goals that we want,

- There's a whole psychology

connected to food.

Oh, absolutely. And, and yeah.

And it's, it's one of

those things that yeah,

I think I contemplate

every once in a while.

Yeah. It's like, okay, why am

I choosing to eat this? Yeah.

When I've got this here.

Yeah. That's healthier. Yeah.

It's like, you know what,

it's because I've had a

really stressful day.

Yeah, yeah. I'm, I, I, you

know, it's just, I I'm,

I'm bottling it in that way.

Yeah. And that's one of the

things that I work on Yeah.

To try and make the more healthy

choice in those situations.

Although I don't beat

myself off of Yeah, yeah.

Self up if I don't And

- Sometimes it's okay to make,

to pick the comfort food.

Right. You know, it's fine.

- Yeah. And, and that's

the thing that I think

that our wellness, you know,

a lot of the folks that are

pro providing wellness ideas

that aren't providing

a research base Yeah.

Are oftentimes it's all

about what they think. Yeah.

And what they think is, you

know, you have to do. Yeah.

And it's not a, it's not a have

to, it's not a should. Yeah.

You know, we don't shit on people.

It's okay, what

what do you need in this

moment when you're at a better

place, what might you do differently?

Right, right. You know, and, and,

and you can think about it.

Yeah. And, and that's

one of the great things.

So, alright, so we've got you here. Yeah.

You've given us an opportunity

to learn a little bit about

wellness and flourishing.

Sure. What are some simple

and quick ways for direct support folks

to care for themselves?

Sure.

- I'm gonna talk a little

bit about mindfulness first.

Mindfulness has a lot

of research behind it.

Mindfulness is not meditation.

So I'm not telling you to sit on a cushion

and silently for an hour.

For some of us, that would be an un

an unpleasant experience.

- That would be h and double

toothpicks is what you're

- Telling me.

Yeah. Yeah. But for some

people that works for them.

And do it really, mindfulness just means

bringing your mind

and focusing on the present

and whatever you're doing.

So you can be mindful

in all kinds of ways.

You can do mindful walking,

where you focus on your footsteps

and then the sounds and things you hear.

You can do mindful dishes

and pay close attention

to the act actions of doing the dishes.

There's all kinds of ways of being mindful

and sometimes just sitting with yourself

and just focusing on your breathing in

and out is a way of being mindful,

but really is a way to stop

worrying about the past

and stop worrying about the future.

And just really focus on what's going

on in your life right now.

And my, and thinking about

being mindful when, when you're

with other people is

helpful in, in relationships

and you can get closer to people

and you can understand that

people you support better.

It's all sorts of resources

out there about mindfulness

and its benefits.

And there's been a lot of

research about its benefits in

terms of our brain health and

our stress and mental health.

It's a, it's a powerful tool

that's actually fairly easy.

And if you want to mark, we can do an

activity right now if you want

- To.

Let's do one. I think that would

- Be fun.

Okay. This one's really, really simple.

Just get comfortable and open your eyes

or close your eyes,

whichever works for you.

Just take a couple deep

breaths, the kind that sort

of fills your abdomen, your stomach up,

and just do that a couple times.

- The old singer in me says,

oh, breathe from the diaphragm.

- Breathe from the

diaphragm. That's right.

Okay. I would like you

to think of five things

that you can see.

I would like you to think of

four things that you can hear.

Three things that you can touch

- I,

- Two things

that you can smell

and one thing that you can taste.

And so it's called a grounding activity.

It's a very simple way of sort

of pulling your brain

back into thinking about

where you are right now

and focusing on the now.

It's one of those things

that's really straightforward

and simple that you can

teach the people you

support to do also.

And, and it's good

to practice these things

when you're feeling calm.

And so then you remember it

when you're feeling stressed.

If you just only practice it

when you're feeling stressed

or the person you support

is feeling stress,

you won't remember it Well

- And for those of you

that that are out there, I,

I just wanna say that in

doing that, as Linda talked me

through that, one of the things that

that happened is I could feel myself, all

of a sudden my muscles

loosened a little bit.

I was less tense.

I started breathing more,

more, more gently and smoothly.

And if, if I were to take

that for a little bit longer

and just sit and do those

breaths for a while,

it would've really calmed me even more.

Yeah. So I could feel how that

actually made that happen.

And it, what I love

about it is it's really

- Quick.

Yeah. It's really quick.

It's something you can

do in a minute.

You can, before you get out

of your car if you're going

to a stressful meeting

or just, just anything.

I think the other interesting

part of the, the breathing is

that how we breathe can

affect our heart rate.

So when we're feeling anxious,

our heart will beat faster.

So if we slow down our breathing,

it auto it automatically also

slows down our heart rate,

which can help us feel a

little less anxious about,

about situations.

- You've talked about

nutrition, social support

and the importance.

Ah, one thing on here that we, we,

we really haven't touched upon

yet is the importance of sleep.

- Sleep, sleep is really important.

If there is, maybe other

than physical activity,

if the other thing that

I can encourage people

to really think as, as

improving your sleep

and there's all kinds o

of things you could do.

Dimming the lights before you

go to bed, getting rid of the,

the screen time before, you

know, give your brain some time

to unwind from the

stimulation of the screens.

People sleep better in cooler

rooms than in hot rooms.

Some people might benefit from sleep mess

or ear, ear earplugs to sleep better.

I, it is really hard if

you're a shift worker

to have good sleep shift work fights our

bodies natural rhythms.

And so for people who do direct support,

who work overnights, for

example, it's a, it's going

to be a bigger struggle for you.

And it may be something

that you wanna talk

to a healthcare provider about

in terms of help with that.

But our brain, our, our body needs sleep.

Our brains function better

when we've had enough.

The sleep is the time when

our bodies kinda repair itself

and clean out the clean out the garbage.

And so it's really, really important.

But it doesn't, everybody needs different

amounts of sleep though.

And so the range is sort of seven

to nine hours is the

typical range for people.

And so generally if you fall in that,

you're probably doing fine.

Some people need more, some

people need less sleep if

you're not sleeping well.

And it's an ongoing issue,

it's something to talk

to a healthcare provider about.

There are some things

that over the counter

that works for people.

But I would, again, talk to

somebody who's a medical expert

and not me, but

for some people melatonin

works well for sleep for me, I,

I have a lifelong problem with insomnia.

And for me, magnesium is the, is the,

the magic thing that helps me sleep.

If I not taking my magnesium,

I don't sleep as well.

That's a tricky one

because if you take too much of it,

you have gastrointestinal side effects.

So, so you wanna, you wanna

manage that carefully.

A bit of a balance thing you

gotta do there. That one.

Balance, balance there, you

know, but so I, I just really,

sleep is really important.

And so if, if you could

figure out how to make

that happen in your life, I

know it's, it can be hard.

That's, that's a really good thing.

And then the other thing I think that is

that studies show without question is

that human beings need social support

and that having a support

system is critical

to being mentally and physically healthy.

People who are socially isolated

have poor health outcomes in terms

of physical and mental health.

And so, however you can think about

to build social support into your

life, it's really important.

It doesn't mean you have

to have 700 friends.

Like for some people having two, one

or two solid people is, is

what they want and need and that's great.

But having somebody who cares about you

and who you care about in your life,

however that looks is really important

to being well into flourishing

support groups can work for people.

Finding activities with people

that have same interests

as you is one way to get that support

if you're careful about careful about it.

I mean, there's also online opportunities

to connect with people.

Zoom has helped with that, you

know, for the past few years.

- Well I, I think that

that's one of the things

and I was just thinking of that.

It's like when we run into the Covid thing

and it hit us so hard.

Yeah. You know, I know I was

a part of multiple groups

where we would get together

and we'd, you know, we, on a Friday night,

we'd have our little happy hour Yeah.

Where we'd all get together,

we'd pour ourselves a drink

of whatever we wanted to drink.

Yeah. Whether it was coffee or,

or you know, a beer or whatever.

Yeah. And a glass of wine.

And we would just sit and

chat for about an hour. Yeah.

And just be there for

each other in that way.

And it didn't last the entire covid run.

But initially it was really a good way

for us to keep connected.

- And it got you through that

first part of the pandemic,

we didn't really know what was going on.

It was a little stressful.

- Right. And so that was one of those

things where, you know, okay.

That was kind of, you know,

worth doing, setting that up.

Yeah. I still have people

this day that were a part of

that one say, you know,

I really liked it when

we did the, I I did too.

But you know, it was just

suddenly people started dropping

off and then so it's like, okay, we're

- Done now.

We're done now. Yeah. It

served its purpose. Yep, yep.

- And that's okay. Yeah. And

- That is okay.

- But yes, I, that whole

social support thing,

that's another thing

that I talk about with

when I got into the theater thing, was

that I found families basically.

Yeah. Each time we did, I

did a show, we were together,

you know, every evening

until we started our run.

Yeah. And so it really became

almost like a family. Yeah.

Yeah. And, and you take

away good relationships

and friends from that.

So find those interests,

find those interests

because your interests are the things

that will help you find people

that will probably be in

your life for a long time.

- Absolutely. There's

some other things that

people can do that are really simple.

Again, don't take a lot of time,

but have proven benefits of people

who research these things have found.

And they research these things.

Like, well they do surveys

like asking you how you feel

before and after, but also

they look at change like

how the brain, the brain is going.

But so practicing gratitude.

And so every day writing down, well,

not every day actually the research shows

that if you don't do this every day,

just multiple days a week,

it actually works better.

But writing down things

that are good from your day.

And it can be really tiny.

Like if it was a rough

day, like, you know,

the sun was pretty today.

It doesn't have to be

anything earth shattering

or sending thank you notes

or you know, thank you emails to people.

Those kinds of things are helpful.

Having a spiritual

practice can be important.

If you have a, a faith tradition

that can be really helpful in wellness

and flourishing, you're

finding some other way to meet

that, that need.

For some people it's nature.

And another thing is,

there's two things that,

that are interesting and I'm, that have,

that are popping up in the

research that interests me.

The first is awe. So like

experiencing awe, which is sort of

that feeling of wonder and amazement.

So if you watch a beautiful

sunset over a lake

or you go to the Grand

Canyon, you know that feeling

of like, there's just

something out there that's

so beautiful and powerful and

awe can help us feel better.

Which is an interesting

and then savoring things.

Just really slowing down and

enjoying whatever you're doing.

So taking time

and actually eating your food in a way

that you're tasting it,

not just wolfing it down

or if you're spending time

with someone you care about,

puts your phones away for a

little bit and it, it's hard.

And just savor the time

you're spending together.

'cause you don't know when

you'll see each other again.

And, and, and it's just

a good practice in terms

of just life will feel

better if you take time

to enjoy even the simple things.

It doesn't have to be any

or shattering thing though.

The walk to your car was lovely today

because the sun was out

and the breeze was blowing.

And just experience that and savor it.

Those are other really simple things

that you can do while you're

doing your other things

that can help build that

resilience and flourishing and,

and feeling like life is,

life is going well for us.

- Well one of the things

that I've, I've run into is

we are not the best and and

this is most of us Right.

Are not the best at giving

ourself positive self-talk. Yes.

We tend to focus on our

negative self-talk. Absolutely.

And for every one thing that we,

we will say good about ourselves

or we will think good about ourselves.

We're gonna be saying or

thinking 10 things that aren't

so good about ourselves.

We need to flip that script. Yes. Yeah.

Let's get it to at least

half and half. Yeah.

You know, I'd love to get it

to other, you know, where it's,

it's the predominant,

we look at the positive,

but it's so hard.

It is hard, you know, and

it is one of those things

that we all struggle with.

Yep. But just remember, you,

you, you can always look

for the positive in what you've done.

Like, okay, well that happened,

but what did I learn? Yeah.

- Yeah.

- You know what,

what will I do different next time?

Yeah. You know, that kind of a thing.

And you can sometimes improve

your wellness that way. So

- We're very unkind to ourselves.

Yeah. And that's hard.

It is. You're right.

It is a hard, hard to thing to break.

- Alright, we're coming to

the end of our time today,

so I would like you, do you have one final

thought that you'd like to give

- Folks?

I have one final thought.

These are all grades ideas.

They, they, they can help us. They work.

But if you're really

struggling, therapy's okay.

It's okay to get therapy and,

and maybe that's what you

need in your life right now.

And so check that out.

And if you don't wanna go places,

there's online places you can do it now.

And that's also an important

part of taking our care

of our ourself is, is recognizing just

as if our physical health

wasn't good that we would go

to a healthcare provider who

takes care of physical things.

If we're struggling with our mental health

that getting therapy is,

might be the answer that would

make things work better for you.

- Well, and it might be one of the things

that just helps you get to

that better place just that much quicker.

Yep. Thank you for joining us.

We have many great topics

lined up to look forward to

and we look forward to

talking with you again.

Tune in for our future episodes

about building resilience

and taking care of your mental health.

Episodes are available

on your favorite podcast

streaming services.

If you have ideas for topics

that you would like to discuss,

send an email to DSP

Wellness, all small letters,

again DSP

wellness@umn.edu

and share with us what

you'd like us to talk about.

'cause we'll be able to look at

what you guys are all concerned about.

That's what we wanna do. We

wanna bring wellness to you.

This podcast is produced by the University

of Minnesota Institute

on community integration.

And it is made by and for

direct support professionals.