edHEALTH Member-Owners: Is Your School Ready for edHEALTH’s February Stressless Challenge?

Wellness comes in many forms, both physically and mentally. Recognizing that the early months of the new year often bring the winter blues or increased cases of seasonal affective disorder, our goal is to encourage self-care and personal well-being—having a little fun along the way!

That’s why, and building upon interest from many edHEALTH member-owner schools, we are adding a second coalition-wide school challenge in 2025. In addition to our annual June walking challenge, edHEALTH is hosting a month-long Stressless Challenge that begins on February 1, 2025!

What is the Stressless Challenge?

The Stressless Challenge is a 28-day challenge that asks participants to Take Five (minutes) for themselves every day. The challenge's goal is to recognize the value of personal downtime, even just five minutes.

What participants do for those five minutes is entirely up to them. Whether going for a short walk, taking some deep breaths or mindful moments, chatting with a friend, or prioritizing your daily responsibilities, the challenge is to dedicate five minutes to self-care or awareness every day. Then, they’ll track it in the Living Well portal, powered by WebMD. Participants also will receive more tips or suggestions for stress-reducing activities when on the platform.

If participants track for 21 of the 28 days during February, they’re qualified and automatically entered to win their school’s prizes. Every participating edHEALTH school will have three winners in total.

How participants enroll in the challenge

Participants sign up for the program through the Living Well portal anytime now through February 7, 2025. (Log-in details are provided in the Living Well flyer that schools received from their member relations manager.) The edHEALTH portal also has a flyer specifically for the Stressless Challenge.

Challenge rewards

Every edHEALTH-participating school will have three e-gift card winners. All qualified participants are entered into a raffle specific to their institution, twice during the challenge and once upon completion. In addition to the individual gift cards presented to our winners, edHEALTH will host an on-site campus celebration recognizing participants for Taking Five throughout the month of February.

Where member-owner schools can find program details

Earlier this month, all edHEALTH schools received an email from their member relations manager with a flyer highlighting the Living Well platform. We also featured Living Well in our November 2024 newsletter. This flyer also includes a school-specific code for their faculty and staff to use. (Member-owners: You can also find your personalized school flyer in your edHEALTH portal.)

Have questions?

Please email either of the following for assistance:

• edHEALTH program-related: Julianna Parker
• Communications support for promoting the challenge: Lisa Barnstein

Resources to Promote February's Heart Health Month

In addition to edHEALTH's Stressless Challenge starting on February 1, it's also the beginning of Heart Health Awareness Month. Heart disease affects men and women alike. According to the CDC, it is the leading cause of death across all races, origins, and ages. Approximately one in five people die from heart disease.

In addition to the horrific loss of lives, and too often with people not aware of their own heart health risks, heart disease is costly. Just five years ago, between 2019 and 2020, the dollars spent on healthcare services, medications, and lost productivity from heart disease amounted to $252.2 billion.

Institutions can help educate their employees by spreading the word about ways to focus on heart health. For example, you can:

• Promote the value of going for regular physicals
• Highlight many of the no-cost wellness programs available online, via apps, and through their health plans
• Offer healthy snack alternatives at work or meeting functions

edHEALTH member-owners: The edHEALTH portal offers a variety of communication templates. You can also ask Lisa Barnstein for assistance.

Join the edHEALTH team and thousands of people nationwide by wearing red on Friday, February 7!

Show your support for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Day, which focuses on addressing awareness and clinical care gaps of women's most significant health threat, cardiovascular disease.

Easy-to-Read and Share Content from Trusted Resources

Many nationally respected hospital systems, nonprofit organizations, and the CDC offer easy-to-read information that you can turn into a newsletter article or intranet post. Some sites even offer free-to-use designed PDFs. Here are three resources to help you share the facts and resources for improving heart health.

1. hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-heart-numbers-you-need-to-know
2. cdc.gov/heart-disease/php/heart-month/index.html#cdc_generic_section_2-shareable-and-printable-tools-in-english-and-spanish
3. goredforwomen.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating