UI programs help people get a handle on holiday stress

Jittery just thinking about the winter-holiday season? If the next couple months of baking, shopping, celebrating, traveling, and year-end meetings and deadlines have your head spinning, take a deep breath and check out the following campus options.

Staff Development can help. The Stress Reduction Solutions seminar, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Dec. 9, focuses on just-in-time solutions for the hectic holiday season. Lecturer Lynn Houser's presentations—which highlight an action-oriented program geared to help you identify hidden stressors in your job and take control of the satisfaction you get from work—are popular with groups across the country. Fee is $99 and includes course materials. For registration information, call (33)5-2687 or go to www.uiowa.edu/~fusstfdv and click on "Special Events."

Or, breathe deeply and relax at the Making Scents of Aromatherapy staff development offering, noon to 1 p.m., Dec. 12. Education specialist Nikole Mac will teach participants about the benefits of essential oils (in particular, holiday and winter scent varieties) and the ways they can be used to enhance life. E-mail dorian-walker@uiowa.edu by Dec. 3 to register. There is no fee.

Learn to balance your work and your life. Faculty and Staff Services and Organizational Effectiveness and WorkLife Services have teamed up to offer several 30- to 60-minute, free educational seminars for groups of 10 or more on a variety of topics; one is called, conveniently enough, Balancing Work and Life. Participants assess their work/life balance and discuss coping strategies. To request a program for your department or to find out more, go to www.uiowa.edu/hr/fss/seminar.html#worknlife or call Joan Rinner at (33)5-2085.

Don't get sick. With flu and cold season (in addition to the holiday season) upon us, UI Wellness features its Family Health Matters program on the web. The page at www.uiowa.edu/hr/wellness/FHM/index.html includes self-care information and activities for employees and their families. One section advises readers on how to protect themselves against the flu.

Also, the University will offer to faculty and staff several opportunities in November to get flu shots, free of charge to UI permanent full-time and part-time (50 percent or greater) employees. There will be a $12.25 charge (check only, no cash or payroll charge) for vaccination of UI part-time and hourly, temporary, and/or contract faculty and staff, and for anyone requesting vaccination after the program closes on Nov. 17. Here's the flu shot schedule:

Take control. The UI Health Care web site points out that "stress starts when you are confronted with more than you can handle, be it physical, emotional, or a combination" of the two. The site also offers a few suggestions about how to reduce the impact of stress, particularly during the holiday season.

• Don't drink caffeine (even though that eggnog latté is calling your name).
  
• Get rest and relaxation.
  
• Exercise (walking back and forth to the vending machine doesn't count).
  
• Drink in moderation.
  
• Beware of stress eating (and those pesky coworkers who bake goodies for the office this time of year).

Get help. The University offers to those who suffer from stress and its consequences several ways to seek help. For example, the hospital's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program teaches people to use their own internal resources to change their relationship to stress, chronic pain, or illness. The next set of eight-week sessions begins the week of Jan. 20. Those interested must sign up for an information session in advance by calling (38)4-5089. The program fee is $380, but discounts may be available to faculty and staff through the Pilot Wellness Program, provided by Organizational Effectiveness and WorkLife Services and UI Benefits. The Pilot Wellness Program also offers services related to weight management and smoking cessation. Go to www.uiowa.edu/hr/wellness/Pilot/index.html for more information.

Still looking for options? Faculty and Staff Services aims to help University employees and their departments cope with personal, family, and work-related problems. Most services are provided at no charge, so that'll relieve a little finance-related stress. They include one-on-one counseling, educational programs, and interactive online screenings to test your stress, anger, and irritability levels. For details on these services, visit www.uiowa.edu/hr/fss/index.html.

Ponder this. Hans Selye, the late endocrinologist and cofounder of the Canadian Institute of Stress, is known around the world as the man who first coined the term "stress" about 50 years ago. Selye once said, "It is not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it."

by Amy Schoon