Health and Wellness

Ellen Lucas, associate director of Ball State University’s counseling center, said that along with the weather, unrealistic expectations about the holidays and other factors in a person’s life can lead to people feeling gloomy during the holiday season.

Story quotes Jagdish Khubchandani, health science professor at Ball State. Note: Placement is due to a story idea developed and distributed by UMC’s media team

A majority of America’s nurses admit they are stressed out, consuming too much junk food and getting too little sleep, says a Ball State University study.

Ball State Paige Rawl is featured.

Profile of Paige Rawl, a Ball State freshman, who speaks of how she was bullied in junior high and high school when her classmates discovered she was HIV positive (she was infected at birth). She has taken that experience and turned it into a personal crusade to educate people about the disease and how to treat people who are infected. She has won a number of national honors for her campaign. Story shows her going through her daily routine here on campus.

Ball State Researcher Studying Exercise Effects on Astronauts (Sept. 9): Dr. Scott Trappe is the Director of the Human Performance Laboratory and the John and Janet Professor of Exercise Science at Ball State. Trappe was a part of a team of researchers that developed a new exercise regiment for astronauts to do in space. He says the exercises were designed to address a variety of issues to protect all aspects of the body during prolonged space flight.

Ball State's “Cardinal Commitment: Developing Champions” campaign has a $20 million fundraising goal by December 2014, an amount of money that is expected to bring significant upgrades to the Ball State baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, football and golf facilities.

Julie Patterson, Circle City Go Girls and Lindsey Blom, Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Ball State University discuss recent events at the Boston Marathon which will certainly be on the minds of runners and spectators as we gear up for the Mini Marathon here in Indianapolis.

Record a Daily Message. Effective use of voice mail “can eliminate much inefficiency concerning business communications,” says Marilyn Chalupa, a business education and office administration professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Her advice: Change your message each day, and make it specific and useful. For instance, you might leave a message saying that you’re in the office, but in meetings most of the day, and so won’t be returning calls until the next morning. Or you could leave a message saying that you’re in the office, but working on a major project all day, and will only be checking messages at lunch and 4 p.m. You can even leave a voice mail for one person if you know someone is calling for specific information. Some phone mail systems enable you to leave this information in a separate place on your voice mail.

A new partnership is looking to boost the number of registered nurses in the state. The Nursing Academy, set to get underway this fall, is a collaboration between Ball State University and Community Health Network.

A new Ball State University study says more than half of all Indiana smokers have tried to quit smoking in the past year.

A recent Ball State University Study has shown that the traditional dating has been practically dissolved for the younger generations that have entered the professional scene. Most of them now focus on their careers instead of on family. Note: Various news services distributed this story nationally.

Many people don’t realize that problems they associate with old age actually are caused by poor fitness, experts say, and many others simply don’t know how to get started. "If you’re 85, where do you turn to exercise?" asked Scott Trappe, director of the human performance laboratory at Ball State University. "Most people don’t know how to exercise, and if you’re 85, where do you go?"

Sprinkling a spoonful of cinnamon on breakfast foods not only adds a burst of flavor but also dramatically lowers an individual's blood sugar levels, potentially reducing the chance of developing diabetes, says a new study from Ball State University.

Ball State University recently earned kudos for its employee wellness program, which encourages staffers to walk, stop smoking and even take advantage of one-on-one health coaching. The American Heart Association recognized BSU as a Gold Level Fit-Friendly Worksite thanks to the university’s Working Well program.