HEALTHY HABITS

Suggestions from the Mind Body Wellness Challenge organizers:

• Emotional Wellness — Engage in positive self-talk.
• Enviromental Wellness — Plant and tend a garden.
• Intellectual Wellness — Delve into current events.
• Occupational Wellness — Declutter and organize your workplace.
• Physical Wellness — Eat five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
• Social Wellness — Become active in a club, group or other organization.
• Spiritual Wellnes — Take time each day for quiet reflection.

Learn more at the Mind Body Wellness Challenge website.

Here’s a New Year’s resolution that should be easy for everyone to keep: Join UC Davis’ 2012 Mind Body Wellness Challenge, which asks participants to maintain a single, new healthy habit for seven weeks.

Do that, the organizers say, and you have a good chance of turning that healthy habit into a lifelong change.

“It is never too early or too late to make lifestyle changes that can result in improved vigor and a happier outlook,” said Sue Barnes, program manager of the Retiree Center, which sponsors the Wellness Challenge annually.

The challenge focuses on overall wellness, not simply diet and exercise, as a holistic approach to improving one’s health. The World Health Organization defines wellness as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

The 2012 Mind Body Wellness Challenge is scheduled from Jan. 27 to March 16, free for staff, faculty, students on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, and anyone else, even people who are not affiliated with UC Davis. Online registration is set to open Tuesday (Jan. 3), UC Davis' first day workday of the new year — an ideal time to put renewed emphasis on personal health.

Other ways to register: Visit or call the Retiree Center, first floor of the UC Davis Conference Center (at the Davis campus's south entry), telephone (530) 752-5182, or register in person at one of the Wellness Challenge kickoff events: Jan. 24 on the Davis campus and Jan. 25 on the Sacramento campus. See below for the details — and take note, you need to register to attend the kickoff events, too.

The organizers said the kickoff events will feature health screenings, wellness information and door prizes — and, of course, everything you need to know about the Wellness Challenge. Also, you can get a Wellness Challenge t-shirt (while supplies last).

The organizers said people who register will receive regular e-mail messages with motivational tips, ideas for staying on track and links to useful resources.

Can’t wait to learn more about wellness and the plethora of resources available to the UC Davis community? Check out the UC Davis Wellness Portal, created by the Mind Body Wellness Group. The portal is divided into seven areas of wellness: emotional, environmental, intellectual, occupational, physical, social and spiritual.

Here’s another thing you can do right now: Download the Wellness Challenge flier, which includes healthy habit suggestions for each of the seven areas of wellness, and a chart that you can use to track your Wellness Challenge progress. Look for the PDF link on the Mind Body Wellness Challenge website.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: 2012 Mind Body Wellness Challenge

REGISTRATION: Online, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3; or in person at the kickoff events

KICKOFF EVENTS (separate registration required):

• Davis campus — 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, ballroom, Conference Center (at the campus’s south entry). Register here.
• Sacramento campus — 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, ballroom, Courtyard by Marriott hotel, 4422 Y St., Sacramento. Register here.

THE CHALLENGE: Seven weeks, Friday, Jan. 27, to Friday, March 16

WRAP-UP: Everyone who completes the challenge will be invited to a wrap-up program where they can celebrate their success, learn more strategies to maintain lifelong wellness, and enter to win door prizes.

MORE INFORMATION:

• Online
• Visit or call the Retiree Center, first floor, UC Davis Conference Center (at the Davis campus's south entry), telephone (530) 752-5182

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The Mind Body Wellness Challenge is sponsored by the Retiree Center, with support from Atria Covell Gardens, Bright Horizons, Fleet Feet, Kaiser Permanente, Optum Health, Sodexo and Woodland Healthcare, and these university units: Human Resources (UC Davis Health System), Intercollegiate Athletics-Physical Education, Internal medicine (UC Davis Health System), Occupational Health, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (UC Davis Extension), Repro Graphics, Staff Assembly, Student Health and Counseling Services, Student Housing, goClub (Transportation and Parking Services) and WorkLife.