26 | JANUARY 27 • 2022 

I

f you are like most 
people, you’ve thought of 
health-related issues and 
little else during the past 
year and a half. Yet, at the 
same time, many of us have 
neglected our 
health during 
the pandemic. If 
this seems like 
an oxymoron, 
consider the 
fact that despite 
hours spent 
wiping down 
groceries and researching the 
best masks for our families, 
many of us stopped paying 
careful attention to what we 
eat, how much we eat and 
whether we’re exercising, 
especially now that chilly 
weather is here. And 
somewhere along the way, 
stress management went out 
the window as well! 
If you’ve been feeling 
tapped out and tired lately, 
this may be one reason. 
For most of us, this is 
caused by unrelenting 
stress. We were “all hands 
on deck” in the early days 
of lockdown, but after the 
freedoms of low case counts 
and warm temperatures 

of summer and early fall, 
it is brutal to see that, 
unfortunately, the end is no 
longer in sight. 
This kind of constant stress 
impacts us emotionally, as 
seen by increasing numbers 
of people seeking help for 
depression and anxiety. It 
affects us cognitively as high 
levels of adrenaline cause us 
to be easily distracted and 
forgetful. And it impacts 
us physically in a myriad 
of ways ranging from 
hypertension and weight 
gain to insomnia and broken 
teeth (from grinding them at 
night). 
While there is little we 
can do to control the outside 
world, we can take control 
of our stress levels and our 
health. When it comes to 
taking good care of our 
health, many people are able 
to do that completely on 
their own … they are highly 
motivated and when they say 
they will lose 20 pounds and 
exercise more, they just do 
it. For many of us though, it 
is not that simple. Sure, we 
want to lose weight, exercise, 
lower our cholesterol and 
blood sugar levels, manage 

our stress etc. … but not 
today. Maybe tomorrow. 
If this sounds all too 
familiar, you may be 
interested to know that 
health coaches can help you 
find the motivation to put 
yourself on the road to better 
health. 
A health coach is 
someone specially trained 
to help people increase 
their motivation for 
making changes in their 
lifestyle. They can provide 
assistance with goal setting, 
education and ongoing 
support if needed, as well as 
accountability with weekly or 
biweekly check-ins. 
The focus of health 
coaching is to help us be sure 
we’re using our time between 
visits to the doctor wisely. 
And, best of all, for anyone 
with at least one diagnosed 
chronic health condition and 
a referral from a physician, 
health coaching is covered 
by Medicare and offered by 
Jewish Family Service.
One final point to 
consider: Our ability to 
manage our health is 
intimately connected to our 
cognitive abilities. While 

most of us will experience 
some normal cognitive 
decline as we age, the 
pandemic has accelerated the 
process, causing many people 
to feel more distracted than 
usual, noticing slightly more 
difficulty with short-term 
memory. 
Luckily, Jewish Family 
Service offers Mind Aerobics 
classes. This evidence-
informed curriculum gives 
us a way to fight back against 
cognitive decline, maximizes 
our brains’ built-in capacity 
for neuroplasticity and gives 
our brains quite a workout! 
Each class targets aspects 
of our cognition needed 
for everyday functioning, 
including reaction time, 
visual/spatial skills, attention 
and concentration, memory, 
language and problem-
solving. And, best of all, 
there’s no workout clothes 
required!

For more information on 
working with a health coach 
(one-on-one or in a group 
setting) or joining a Mind 
Aerobics class, contact Joely 
Lyons at (248) 592-1995 or 
jlyons@jfsdetroit.org.

Lynn Breuer, LMSW, CDP, is a licensed 

clinical social worker, a certified 

dementia practitioner, a health coach 

and a New England Cognitive Center 

master program trainer. She serves 

as Director of Community Outreach & 

Wellness at Jewish Family Service.

Consider a health 
coach to get you 
back on track
for 2022.

Sign Me 
Up, Coach!

Lynn Breuer

HEALTH

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