News

During October's Healthy Workplace Month, we asked employees to submit a photo of a beautiful U of G space. We asked, "What’s your favourite space on campus? Take a photo of the place that you love best on Guelph campus, at Ridgetown, the University of Guelph-Humber or at a research station – anywhere U of G is! – and tell us why you like it so much."

We received 21 photo entries and it was a difficult decision for the review committee. The following photos were selected as the winning photos:

1st place- Danielle Watson

On a warm September morning at the beginning of another school year at University of Guelph, Lynne Skilton-Hayes rolls over in bed to turn her alarm clock off after an almost 8-hour sleep. She stretches her arms above her head preparing for the day ahead of her in the state-of-the-art Athletic Centre that her visions brought to life. Rather than breakfast, Lynne makes her way into the kitchen to start her day with a cup of coffee. After coffee, she blends up her smoothie for her ride to work and the fitness classes she plans to teach.

On November 6th, 2018 U of G was recognized at the Canada Awards for Excellence Summit for the Bronze Healthy Workplace® award.  View the full news release from Excellence Canada attached below.

Excellence Canada's mission is to help organizations in all sectors become the best-in-class by implementing standards of excellence. 

You can learn more about U of G's partnership with Excellence Canada and read the Bronze submission here.  

During Healthy Workplace Month, Chef Valerie hosted a cooking demonstration in the University Centre Courtyard, sharing her tips and tricks for cooking the perfect pasta primavera dish.  Participants were given a sample of her delicious recipe following the cooking demo. 

Interested in trying out this dish?  View the recipe attached below and watch the video recording from this event.

Bon appétit!

From September 21st to October 5th, many U of G employees participated in the Guelph Family Health Team's FHT to Move "Hustle for the Harvest" Activity Challenge.  The annual contest celebrates opportunities to be physically active and participants are asked to track their daily exercise. 

Congrats to Danica who rose to the top of U of G's Wellness@Work team with the most activity points throughout the challenge!   

Does it take a long time to fall asleep? Or to fall back to sleep when you wake in the night? Not getting much energy from your sleep?

Answering “yes” to any of these questions suggests that you may have insomnia.

It’s normal to have a sleepless night now and then. However, if insomnia persists for more than 3 weeks and begins interfering with your life, it’s considered a chronic insomnia.

One third of North American adults are having difficulties with sleep and the most common problem is insomnia. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Campus Mile: Healthy Workplace Launch Event.  We had over 100 people join on a rainy afternoon for a fun warm-up with Gryph and a one-mile walk or run through our beautiful campus. Thank you also to the United Way and community mental health agencies that came out to provide resources and information to our campus community.

It’s long been acknowledged that the foods we eat influence our physical health. As we learn more about mental well-being, we’re learning that our food habits can also have a significant influence on our mental well-being. Many of us can relate to the physical symptoms that often accompany stress and anxiety – it’s common to experience an upset stomach or change in bowel habits. If our mental well-being can impact the function of our gut, it makes sense then that what we put into our gut can impact our mental well-being.

In October 2017, the University launched the Wellness@Work Survey, to identify and better understand factors within the workplace that affect the psychological health and safety of University of Guelph faculty and staff. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the Wellness@Work Survey.  

What have we been up to?

Meatless Mondays are a good opportunity to try out some new vegetarian recipes.

The Sustainability Office has pulled together a helpful list of where to eat meatless at U of G. Their Meatless Monday blog also features some yummy vegetarian recipes to test out.