Trust as a Foundation in Addressing Whole Person Health - Humana [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Caraline Coats

  • Caraline is VP of Provider Venture Investing at Humana.  

  • She is also the Interim Leader of the Humana Foundation

• [1:02] The role of trust in connecting healthcare and communities 

  • “And if I think of the healthcare ecosystem, both clinically and social, it plays arguably the most important role. And from there, you can start to influence change and co-create solutions and measure and make mistakes together, right?  And come back and learn and develop insights. Without trust, I don't think we really get to that meaningful type of impact.”

• [2:47] Evolution of population health work

  • “So we see some pretty successful providers take their positive results and invest it in community health workers, transportation services, access to healthy food, addressing the health-related social needs, that are addressing the whole person health needs of our members much more effectively than perhaps years ago.”

• [6:39] Framing whole person health

  • “And as we started understanding how important those health-related social needs are on the long term quality of life, and the word whole person health, and now we call human care, is really a part of our mission and DNA.”

• [10:16] Collecting data on health-related social needs

  • “So while there's some noise in it, as there will be, six, seven years of data all directionally showing the power of being able to affect someone's self report on how they feel lonely or social isolation compared to how they're feeling physically or mentally.  I mean, they often say the best predictor of our health is how we feel.” 

• [17:20] Connection between physical activity and health outcomes

  • “And we do see connections between those who are, at least signed off or enrolled in these programs directionally have longer term, better quality in health outcomes and results. And it's hard to determine, is that because of the actual physical activity or were there group and community classes? is that because of the social connection? And there's an interaction there that we may never know, but I think it plays a beneficial role to people in different ways.”

• [21:26] Expanding access to physical activity opportunities

  • “There's not one answer, not even by community or population, I think. So it's a constant marriage of understanding our individual member needs, barriers in the community, building trust within the organizations in that community, and then connecting all of those dots to try to find the best solution. Whether it's physical activity, or food or transportation, or loneliness, or crime or safety, right?”

• [24:32] Best practices in addressing health-related social needs

  • “But when you're focusing on population health, you have to let your competitive guard down, right?  You have to bring in your competition and other payers. And if we're in a community, right, this isn't about improving just the health of those who have Humana insurance. This is about improving the health of the members in the community.”

• [26:03] Pandemic accelerating focus on whole person health

  • “There's an increased level of support to study different and more pilots around addressing health-related social needs. So we can deliver more and more proof points to ultimately change reimbursement and benefits and all of the business impact things we want to do to truly embed whole person health into the way we structure healthcare.”

• [27:49] Best practices for building trust

  • “Taking time to listen and understand the needs at an individual level, but also at a community level. And then consistently showing up and being present to try to bridge the gap for the right solution.”

Racial Justice, Anti-Racism and Equality in the Health & Fitness Industry - TRILLFIT® [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Meghan Venable-Thomas

  • Dr. Meghan Venable-Thomas is Cardio Dance instructor and Community Engagement Manager at TRILLFIT®. 

  • She is also Cultural Resilience Program Director at Enterprise Community Partners.  

• [1:23] Start in the health & fitness industry

  • “And the first time that I actually experienced another person looking like me, as well as an instructor that looked like me, was in a TRILLFIT®  class. And as I continued being a client there, I found out that also the owner was a Black woman. And so asTRILLFIT® began to expand, I was asked to try out to be an instructor. And that kind of started me on this journey as being not just a client, but part of a community and a really a shaper of what fitness and wellness could look like for all folks.”

• [2:46] Creating a culture of belonging and accessibility

  • “How important is it for fitness and wellness organizations and businesses to really have a culture of belonging and accessibility, I think, is critically important. And so to think about what that looks like for your organization, I think, speaks volumes, but also creates greater impact from your organization.”

• [4:11] Finding a community

  • “When I found TRILLFIT®, I was like, Oh, this is different, you know, so it wasn't…. And then it wasn't even a choice to be made anymore, because I saw and I felt completely different when there was a community where I felt like I belonged, and I kind of just let the other places go. And so I think you deal with what you have. But when you find something that actually meets all of your needs, it's just a completely different experience.”

• [5:34] Stepping in to lead in a community

  • “I really stepped in because it felt like a community that I could participate in and that I really wanted to give my skills and assets to as well.”

• [6:18] Creating access and collaboration

  • “And so our mission at TRILLFIT® is really about how do you create access? What does that look like to create access? How do you create collaboration? What does it look like to collaborate in your community, to be a part of your community as a community member and stakeholder?”

• [7:32] TRILLFIT® pledge

  • “And so one thing that we did, in August of last year was we launched a pledge for racial justice, anti-racism and equality in the wellness industry. Because we recognize that in this $4.2 trillion industry, we have a lot of power. And right now that power is not being leveraged towards equity, and change in equity.”

• [10:16] Diversity, equity, inclusion training

  • “But we're also drafting or crafting a DEI program right now, to think about how not only we train ourselves a little bit more prescriptively around diversity, equity, inclusion, but also how we support other organizations and really thinking about what equity diversity inclusion might look like for them as part of the roadmap for how we think about how the pledge, where the pledge can take you.”

• [11:12] Connecting to and serving community

  • “And we are at the same time asking other industry leaders to think about what does community work look like for you? What communities do you sit in? And how are you touching them? How are you reaching out? How are you investing and growing in trying to address health disparities?” 

• [13:08] Industry sign on

  • “Yeah, I mean, I think we've got a ton of studios, but we've also gotten bigger brands like mindbody to sign on, like ClassPass. So there are some really big industry leaders who are interested in this type of work and trying to figure out how they do that, as well as smaller studios.”

• [13:59] Member sign on

  • “And so at every angle, or every part of life, we're really trying to look at how we support our clients, and how we're thinking about health equity in those different experiences. And so I think our clients also love us because we're constantly thinking about all the areas and aspects of life where we need wellness.”

• [15:37] Accessible language

  • “And so how then do we create the type of space where we make it accessible for everyone to be able to stand up and say that I am well or trying to get well. And while I'm in the process, I can still stand up in here and bring other people along with me. And so that, that messaging is really important for us. And I think it should be really important for everybody if we actually are talking about reaching everyone, right?, being completely accessible.”

• [18:44] Opening doors

  • “But also that there are so many barriers to even showing up in the space and feeling comfortable for a lot of people that, you know, how do we start to create the type of culture where people really feel like the doors are open and this is a place where you can get well, even if you don’t feel well already.”

• [21:00] Diverse representation among instructors

  • “If you really want people of all types and styles and looks and ages and demographics and ability levels, then you have to be open to figuring out how can these folks be instructors, right?”

• [23:38] Diverse class offerings

  • “If what we're seeing is the only people that can teach this class look this way, then maybe we need a different kind of class offering where other people can teach that look this way, or like that way, or whatever it is, like how are we being creative about what our offerings are, that actually can meet people where they are who want to be a part of the community.”

• [25:06] Health & fitness as essential during COVID

  • “I think that was because people needed this destressor. People needed this community that they knew. They needed to see these faces of folks who were showing up and being with you every day in this like time of crisis. And a place where you felt like you belong, like being able to come into your home.”

• [27:54] Health & fitness for every body

  • “And like just making more people feel and know that that health and wellness is for every body, every type of body, every age of body, every mobility of body. And it's, I think, a real opportunity at the intersection of equity and health, to really be lifting up that more and more.”

Linking Movement and Mental Health [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Brendon Stubbs

  • Dr. Stubbs is Senior Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London.  

  • He is a physiotherapist and a scientist and researcher in mental health, physical activity and well-being. 

• [1:23] Inspiration for interest in physical activity and mental health

  • “And it was just being trained in physical therapy, or being able to really focus on the body and movement, exercise and how we move. And then looking at people who are coming to seek treatment for their mental health and seeing very early on as a junior physiotherapist—or physical therapist—how inactive people were, how people were not moving around very much at all…”

• [3:34] Connecting a healthy mind and a healthy body

  • “The inaugural medical director of the World Health Organization outright said in their first speech that there is no health without mental health, clearly making the stance that having true health is really about having a healthy mind and a healthy body. And the two are completely interconnected.”

• [8:03] Integrating mental and physical health in practice

  • “And I think my experience has shown me that, because people see me coming in from sort of physical health help, and I'm not coming in to look at their psychiatric medication or give any diagnosis, it really opens a very natural, trusting, open dialogue, which is a great privilege for people to be able to talk about their mental health symptoms, which you would ordinarily never have the privilege and the honor to listen, to hear, to help, and for people to confide in me in the context of their care as well.”

• [12:05] Destigmatizing mental health conditions

  • “And it's really important, because I don't need to tell you or any of your listeners that we all have mental health, and there's times where our mental health is out of sync, and many of us will have mental health symptoms or conditions at one point in our lives. And we all almost certainly know somebody right now who is struggling with a mental health diagnosis. So it's only right that we're openly talking about mental health, and how we can help people.”

• [15:52] Addressing the physical inactivity and mental health crises

  • “Now the links between mental health in the context of the crisis were not always implicitly made. But more and more people are talking about the impact of not being able to connect with our friends being indoors. But physical activity proves a real, profound opportunity to help us move, feel better, connect outdoors safely with other people, and feel a sense of joy and movement. And I think it's a real win-win situation for our physical and our mental health and just our overall connection with each other and also the outside world and the planet.” 

• [18:35] Physical activity as a coping strategy

  • “People were asked in the context of the pandemic, out of a whole plethora of options, what is the number one coping strategy which you're using to help get by and help you cope during this pandemic.  Number one spot was people put physical activity and exercise.” 

• [22:02] Building the evidence base linking mental health and physical activity

  • “So I think, more broadly in the context of mental health and physical activity, I think there's been some really exciting developments over the last 5,10,15 years where we’ve moved from physical activity, structured exercises as being something which would be like a nice to have...”

• [25:00] Translating research for a lay audience

  • “There's a lot of noise out there, there's a lot of views, there's a lot of views, there's a lot of opinions. And often the people who are most listened to in the context of lifestyle, movement, nutrition, are not the ones who are undertaking, leading, or doing the science. So we've got, we've got a mismatch between the people who are being listened to and heard and the people who are doing the science and the rigor and know the evidence and trying to connect those two dots.”

• [26:44] Call to action

  • “And really know that helping people move is going to help people's physical health.  And if we help them with physical health, we're going to help people with mental health.  In its own right, there's really robust evidence that helping people move more can help prevent and manage mental health symptoms, make us feel happier and help with people with mental health diagnosis.”

15 Minutes of Daily Physical Activity for Fitter, More Focused Children - The Daily Mile [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Elaine Wyllie

  • Elaine is the founder of the Daily Mile.

  • She started the Daily Mile while head teacher at St. Ninian’s Primary School, and was named Teacher of the Year at the Pride of Britain Awards. 

• [1:19] Starting the Daily Mile

  • “And so I had often thought, you know, you hear on the news, and you hear about children's fitness and fatness, and so on. And I had often thought, why don't children just run round the field once a day? You know, wouldn't that do them some good?”

• [4:13] Engaging children in the process

  • “Those things all happened with no planning—zero planning—but the children invented it. So in a sense, it turned everything on its head and became the children's thing. And that has been replicated across school cultures across climates across the world. And I think it's because the Daily Mile meets the needs of childhoodę—fun, fresh air, friends, freedom— and these needs are the same wherever you go.”

• [6:31] Discovering your inner fit child

  • “So, those children, who were just simply a bit unsporty or a bit unfit, discovered their kind of inner fit child, and that it was for them too. So they discovered that they were really all actually an athlete. And that was really interesting for us.”

• [10:24] Demonstrating the benefits of the Daily Mile

  • “We now have convincing research that says to head teachers and principals and teachers, the benefits are so great for almost no time—focus, concentration, happiness, behavior.  Children learn when their needs are met.  And if children are sitting too much, you know they get antsy, they get fidgety, they're not learning.  They need to run around.”

• [15:39] Making a difference with child obesity and overweight

  • “After three years at St Ninian's there was a remarkable difference between obesity and overweight in St. Ninian's and Scottish schoolchildren as a whole. Our children were lean and fit compared with the national average, and it cost nothing.”

• [17:26] Scaling

  • “So we got, quite quickly, a lot of support from the medical and public health community. The fact that it fits and works meant that schools would see and give it a go. And it works from day one. And it's easy, it's easy to do.  The fact that it's free, you don't need resources of any sort, you basically open the door and take the children out.”

• [20:55] Health partnering with schools

  • “The Daily Mile is a solution. It's not a message. It's a practical solution in the school day. It's on a plate. parceled up. There you are. And if you do the Daily Mile, you will change the health and well-being of your children.  Now, and for the future.”

• [23:20] Building resilience

  • “But essentially, almost all weathers, we say.  And children respond.  And, as you say, it builds resilience.  They respond to nature and the seasons.”

• [25:33] The Daily Mile and COVID

  • “And, interestingly, the Daily Mile signup increased during COVID in schools, because it was the one thing that worked. So you're not touching equipment, you're not indoors, you can do it in your bubble, it just worked. It was outdoors and so schools kept it going, and more schools signed up. And that was really important to us that those schools who kept going with The Daily Mile and were open, kept their children fit.”

• [28:01] Fit for Life

  • And so we need help to take it to adults, but that realization that they can, they can have responsibility for self care, and shift, you know, that thing where there's inactive, somewhat active, and active. And that shift from inactive to somewhat active is the thing that saves the health service and saves the people.  The Daily Mile can help people to make that shift.”

• [29:47] Engaging with the Daily Mile

  • “I often say, you know, we have a huge, massive, complex, expensive problem, and lack of fitness, and obesity levels, and mental health, and loneliness. And, you know, actually, you can have a fairly simple partial solution. It's certainly not the whole solution. But the Daily Mile is a simple and free partial solution to these things.”

Improving Access to Physical Activity Opportunities for People with Disabilities [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Joel Dembe

  • Joel is an Advocate for Disability and Inclusion, PR Professional, and Paralympian. 

• [1:10] Journey to being an advocate for disability and inclusion

  • “I wasn't a fan of being separated from the rest of my able bodied classmates when it came to any type of activity. You know, and obviously for me, identified really at a young age, the empowering feeling that physical activity gave me in spite of being in a wheelchair. And for me, it was my very first gym teacher, really working hard to include me with the rest of my classmates, through all gym activities.”

• [3:10] Identifying as an athlete

  • “And, you know, having the chance to look at Paralympians and look at confident athletes at a really young age, I felt that was the embodiment of disability that I wanted to be known as. I didn't want to be ‘hospital Joel.’ I didn't want to be Joel ‘special needs Joel’ relegated to a different class. I wanted to be a Paralympian. I wanted to be beyond my disability.”

• [4:50] Inclusive physical education

  • “And I think for any person, no matter what your abilities are, whether you use a wheelchair like I do or whatever, you look at what are the core skills that you're seeing here.  Okay, let's find a way to pivot around them or integrate them. And I think exposing other children to disabilities, and ensuring that people with disabilities are given skills to live independently at a young age, are super important.”

• [7:07] De-stigmatizing differences

  • “And so I feel really empowered to tell kids that differences are actually normal. I think we stigmatize differences at such a young age. And that I hope you see the end version of someone who's lived through those differences, but came out the other side in a very positive way.”

• [9:32] Making our own communities more accessible for people with disabilities

  • “And if there's certain pockets in our communities that are cut off from people with disabilities, then that's the easy embodiment for me to sort of discuss those issues of fairness. Because they're in our backyard, they're in our community. Not every playground, not every track is accessible. Not every hockey arena or baseball field is accessible. And that's the sort of idea that I want to put ahead here is, it's happening in our communities. We don't have to think so broadly around the world, there's change that can occur within our community.”

• [11:30] Reimagining physical education

  • “I feel like if you have a disability and you're really young or you have some sort of perceived difference, that gym should really be a way to do things independently. For me it was, I need to learn how to fail.  And I think we should be okay with gym being, any type of physical activity as an opportunity for kids to learn what it means to not succeed, but learning how to work hard to get over that obstacle.”

• [15:33] Connecting community partners

  • “And I often wonder if we expose children to...instead of seeing what the end user looks like in a wheelchair...but showcase the journey of someone learning to be independent, and I'm sure they'd, kids, would learn so much, and also perhaps even want a career in the health field…”

• [18:02] Advice to Paralympians

  • “I would say to athletes that the Paralympics, it goes beyond that. You're training for this singular goal that happens every four years. And you might have one shot to get there in your specific sport. But I'd also encourage athletes to pick up other sports along the way.  Your journey doesn't have to end at the age of 30.”

• [19:59] Lifelong journey in sport

  • “Try to stay around a little bit longer. Get involved in NSO—national sports organizations—get involved in Change for Good Health.  There’s so many ways to have a lifelong journey with sport that maybe isn't as demanding as a high performance athlete, but can certainly provide that same sense of value.”

• [21:37] Health equity for people with disabilities

  • “Fifteen percent of the entire world's population has a disability. And many of them live with health issues every day. And we need to do a better job, not only protecting the health, but ensuring that we're giving the proper tools and opportunities for people with disabilities to not only stay healthy, but stay protected during a pandemic.”

• [24:59] Expanding physical activity opportunities for people with disabilities

  • “We need to better integrate people with disabilities into all aspects of society. And I would start with health being the first thing, recreation opportunities, making fitness equitable. It's simple, I just want all people with disabilities to have the same opportunity to stay fit that able bodied people do.”

• [27:40] Becoming involved in advocacy

  • “And so I would say to students and everyone listening today, discover your own community and find those gaps. And make sure you're identifying how people with disabilities can get involved in whatever you're up to. And, and I would say to everyone, that COVID-19 has really exposed some of these gaps. And I think if we work together, we can make sure that we're not leaving people behind, no matter their abilities.”

Establishing a Lifesaving Habit of Walking - GirlTrek [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, T. Morgan Dixon

  • Morgan is the Co-Founder and CEO of GirlTrek.  

  • Morgan also has a background working as a teacher in public schools.

• [1:24] GirlTrek pledge

  • “And every single one of those members has committed to opening her front door, stepping out on faith, in hope in a time that feels hopeless in the direction of our healthiest, most fulfilled life. What that looks like practically is that we pledge to walk 30 minutes a day, five days a week to establish a life saving habit of walking.”

• [2:35] Walking as an accessible, affordable intervention

  • “It's a really powerful intervention physically and mentally, to improve mental health and physical health. It's also accessible to everyone around the world, right? It's affordable to everyone around the world. And there are all of these kinds of, this kind of cascade of benefits that happens once you get a critical mass of women walking in neighborhoods, often the highest need neighborhoods in the country.”

• [4:35] 30 minutes of self-care

  • “And so this notion that you don't have time to work out is very real. It's very real. And so asking women to pledge 30 minutes to care for themselves. Just 30 minutes. It's hard to say no to that. It's hard to say no to that. When you frame it in that way. Of your 24 hours, you can work 23 and a half hours for someone else. If you can just work a half hour for yourself, everything can change.”

• [8:20] Self-care as survival

  • “And that, those are strong words.  But we understand that when we are losing our family members at 30 years old, 40 years old, 50 years old, from preventable diseases, that self-care is survival.  It's survival.”

• [10:18] A health revolution

  • “We are a million deep into the revolution. And, you know, there are roughly 17 million women of the age we target, mothering age, in America. And we have one of the 17 in our movement. And so when we talk about change, what change are we seeking? Certainly cultural change, which I believe that GirlTrek is either in the lexicon of half of black women in America, but we need it to be in the lexicon, take a walk, you know, join a movement, walk outside 30 minutes a day to save your own life.”

• [13:40] Revolution success

  • “We want to live. We want the fire in us to just, to have air to breathe.  We want to live. So that's when, that’s when we know the revolution is over.  And then the way we measure living is through life expectancy. And so our next horizon is to increase the life expectancy of black women worldwide by 10 years in 10 years.”

• [17:31] Change agents

  • “I'm not suggesting you do it alone. Because one of the things we learn from the past is that this notion of like the solo change agent, this hero is such a fallacy. It's such a fallacy.  It's not true that you can even do it alone. So my recommendation is to make the edges of yourself porous. So get away from I and ego, really lose yourself in justice work, in change work, in love work, and go in the direction that lights you up the most. And I guarantee that you're going to land on something that changes the world.”

• [21:58] Heroes and everyday women

  • “We know Harriet Tubman. And her story resonates so deeply with us that we believe certainly she's a hero, and so are we. And that everyday, we choose to hope, that hope in the midst of everything we know to be true in America, that that in and of itself is a Tubman-esque effort.”

• [23:15] Superhero blue and visibility

  • “That tiny little example happens thousands of times, I'm guessing, every day in America and we want it to happen thousands more where we can see kind of a sister who has a lifeline there who has shared values, who's made a commitment of the same pledge that we have to take 30 minutes a day for ourselves.”

• [25:32] A tapestry of activism

  • “And, you know, these things in isolation are small, but once we band together with all of our movements and networks and hopes and dreams, it really is catalytic.”

• [27:10] Hope

  • “I just, I continue to think about what it took to get to this moment, what it took for me to get to this moment and it fills me with gratitude, every single day.  And it beckons me to act.  Like, I am invited through that gratitude to act every single day, to act, to act, to act. So I do that. I do that, sometimes I get tired.  But mostly I'm charged from the inside.”

A Physical Education Revolution [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Daniel Fulham O’Neill

  • Dr. Daniel Fulham O’Neill is an orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine doctor, and sport psychologist.  

  • He is also the author of Survival of the Fit: How Physical Education Ensures Academic Achievement and a Healthy Life.

• [1:20] Inspiration for a book about physical education

  • “It was, sadly, not a hard problem to realize when, when we start getting statistics that this generation has a shorter lifespan than the last. But I think the biggest thing I was seeing was kids not only were not fit, but they were not happy. And the childhood depression and anxiety is through the roof.”

• [2:41] Doctors advocating for a physical education revolution

  • “We've got to take the lead on this, you know, doctors have to take the lead on this, but everybody needs to be part of this revolution, as I call it.”

• [4:38] Doctors as messengers addressing obesity and physical inactivity

  • “It's this aircraft carrier that just can't seem to get turned around. And again, this is not some secret thing. Everybody knows this, everybody. Your entire audience knows that we have a problem in this country with obesity, with fitness.  The COVID pandemic, obviously, put a big punctuation mark on this.”

• [7:22] Allies in a physical education revolution

  • “But what we're trying to do as parents is fight Silicon Valley to not addict our children to screen time. And that is a fight we are losing desperately. So every parent has a dog in this fight, a child in this fight.  Every parent, because Silicon Valley is taking your child from—literally from the cradle—and trying to addict them and doing a really good job of it.”

• [11:13] Physical identity

  • “So then we get the first graders. And now we have kindergarten and first grade doing PE.  Every kid, every day.  And now it’s second grade.  And now we just keep building up through your school system. And by the time these kids graduate from high school, this is what they do. They have their physical identity, they know for at least 180 days a year, they are going to be expected to get their heart rates up.”

• [17:34] Redesigning physical education in all public schools

  • “But it doesn't just have to be the rich schools and the rich kids that get this and shame on us for allowing that to happen. This should be every kid and we can do it. And yes, it's harder in inner city Chicago than it is, you know, out in the suburbs or in the rural areas, but it can be done. You know, people are imaginative and people want to be part of this revolution. We just have to give them the opportunities.”

• [20:33] Reclaiming physical identity

  • “”And that's why if we don't let that big percentage of people lose their physical identity, it's a lot easier. You know, it's a lot easier if you've never lost it, then then to regain it, but it can happen. Seven years old seems to be kind of a tipping point.”

• [23:41] Link between physical fitness and academic performance

  • “This is not a theory. We have the data. We have the data on climate change, we have the data on academics and how it ties to fitness. And, right, and if you are a principal, the easiest thing you can do to bring up your test scores in your school is to get these kids moving, getting their heart rates up for 30 minutes every day.”

• [26:07] Window of opportunity

  • “And I said to someone, this was either a really bad time to publish this book or a really good time to publish this book. And I agree with you, I think it's a really good time. Because guess what, the only young people that died from this virus were unhealthy kids, or kids with obesity. These kids, our children have diabetes and pre diabetes and high blood pressure. When I was a kid stealing cigarettes from my father, I was going to get lung cancer and emphysema when I'm 50 or 60 years old. These kids are sick now.”

Reframing Exercise as Play [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Janet Omstead

  • Janet Omstead is a health coach and play expert.

  • She is also the author of The Play Book: How to Get in the Habit of Good Health and the founder of the Play for Life System.

• [1:18] Learning from children about play and movement

  • “And the whole idea of playing and moving shouldn't have to stop just because we grow up. I really don't believe that. I think it's time we rediscover our inner kid and give ourselves permission to have fun.”

• [2:54] COVID taking the playground away

  • “Yeah, COVID really did take the playground away. And it has affected people's physical and mental health. It's a one two punch. I agree. People are recognizing how fundamental movement is and how all movement matters.”

• [4:14] Bringing back the playground

  • “So kids may have had some of that taken away, but I think kids are really resilient. And that's something I really admire about children and childhood, and that we can lose sight of as we age is, there's no harm in tapping back into those things, and finding what brings you joy. And don't worry about it, if it's not perfect. And don't worry about it, if it doesn't follow a rule. Go have fun. We need to.”

• [5:49] Sustainable exercise behavior change

  • “There's nothing wrong with bringing in fun. And something that lasts. There are no magic potions. But it doesn't mean it has to be boring. Yes, change is hard, right? Although I don't think it's impossible when you find out what works for you and you live more in alignment with your values.  The key to your success is managing your expectations with what you're ready, willing and able to do.”

• [7:20] Investing in health

  • “Actually, it's small, consistent changes over time. That's what really works. Sounds kind of boring, but it actually really works. Versus what the majority of people do is they look for this quick fix, right?”

• [9:35] Health coaching

  • “And that’s where my expertise comes in.  Because there is no one size fits all. It's meeting people where they're at.  You know, as a coach, you're not...I'm not there to tell you what to do. I'm there to help you figure out what is going to work for you. And what is going to move the needle towards better health, whatever that means for you.”

• [11:08] Getting to move

  • “I really, in my fundamental heart of heart, soul of souls, really want people to understand this. You don't have to move. You get to move. And when you wake up every day with that lens, how am I going to move today? Like when you're a kid. What am I going to play today? Holy moly, it turns working out on its head.”

• [13:10] The five whys

  • “I think people need to dig into their vision of how they want to age and their why. Why are they moving? What is the long term outcome for them?”

• [15:48] Play and mental health

  • “Yeah, and it's also the mental health piece. That is also what's so magical about play. It really turns on your happy, the happy gear in your brain. When you're moving more you just, you naturally are inclined to want to move more⸺like I said earlier⸺move more, eat better sleep, you sleep better.”

• [17:26] Helping people who want help

  • “I can't help someone that doesn't want help. People who say they want it, versus who they really deep down want it. That's, that's who I help, for sure.”

• [17:54] Play as a new approach to exercise

  • “If you reframe exercise as play, it's just way less of a barrier for people to move without feeling they need to go to a gym or do a hard workout.  And like I said, getting to play versus having to play.  But play is a relatively low bar you can build on and starting small and building up is what makes things sustainable 100%. And it makes it less scary. Play just feels achievable. And, in my opinion, play is a state of mind and a completely new approach to exercise.”

• [19:03] Setting the bare ass minimum

  • “What is the bare ass minimum you can commit to, you know, don't set the bar so high that you have an excuse not to do what you say. Like, I'm going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or I'm gonna run a marathon. Awesome. That's great. We want to get you there. But where are you at now? What is the bare ass minimum you need to do now to be able to do that in the future? And how can you build on that?” 

• [22:43] New ideas for play

  • “So I can't say I have a committee. But I definitely have a few people that, especially my own kids, I get motivation from.”

• [23:47] Motivation for change

  • “Not everybody needs a gold medal. But people like to work towards something. It makes you feel good. And it's the pieces of feeling good along the way that are, why, what is motivating.  And seeing when people, like whether they're winning a gold medal—I mean, come on—a very, very, very few people win gold medals, or they're actually eating—this is an odd comparison. But I think it's kind of cool—or they're actually eating a piece of fruit every day, for the first time in their life. That's achievement. It's totally achievement.”

• [27:09] The world as a playground

  • “Yes, I am a huge fan of the outdoors. I love what the outdoor brings.  The world can be your playground, and I love reintroducing that idea to people.”

Making Exercise Necessary and Rewarding [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Dan Lieberman

  • Dr. Lieberman is Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

  • He is also the author of Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding. 

• [1:19] Journey from a reluctant exerciser to author and researcher

  • “And then I realized that there was a lot to learn about, not just the evolution of physical activity, but also about how and why it's relevant to health and disease. Because, you know, I was teaching my classes and students were just bored out of their mind when I would talk about Australopithecus this and Australopithecus that, but when you start to talk about heart disease and diabetes and other chronic illnesses and cancer and shin splints, and snoring and whatever, right, they get super interested.  So I ended up writing a book called The Story of the Human Body, which is really about mismatched diseases, and here I am.”

• [4:41] Motivation for the book

  • “The reason the book is called Exercised is that I think the more I've studied exercise, the more I've studied the evolution of human physical activity, the more I realized that people are really confused about physical activity and about exercise. And there are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about it.”

  • “And it's just very obvious to me, that what we're doing isn't working very well. I mean, the fact that 80% of Americans don't meet basic levels of minimal recommendations, which are 150 minutes a week, that's of moderate to vigorous physical activity, that's 21 minutes a day.  The fact that 80% of Americans don't do that means that we're not doing a very good job, right?”

• [8:20] Debunking myths about exercise

  • “I mean, just equating that with smoking is, to me, part of the problem. And I understand why it's, good-intentioned people wrote that, with all the right intentions, but it just makes people skeptical of the science. Because exercise is not a magic bullet. And a chair is not a cigarette.  And so we need to kind of tell people the truth, which is that sitting is kind of normal, but if you sit too much, it's a problem.”

• [11:38] Physical activity and living healthier for longer

  • “Natural selection doesn’t care about you if you're a 75 year old hunter gatherer who can't forage and hunt, right?  You need to be healthy in order to have a selective benefit to be that old. And so what we were selected for is not so much lifespan, but actually for health span, how long we could live in order to be vigorous and active and healthy. And lifespan follows from health span.”

• [16:11] Book cover

  • “Because, to me, the treadmill is the apotheosis of exercise, which is how strange and weird it is right? You know, to pay money to either buy or go to a gym to go on a machine that makes you work really hard and gets you nowhere, right, is to me the perfect example of how weird we've made exercise.”

• [17:34] Making exercise necessary and rewarding

  • “And, and for the most part, the efforts that people have gone to get people to be more physically active, just aren't working very well. I mean, sometimes it does, but on average, it just doesn't seem to work very well. And so, we evolved to be physically active for two reasons and two reasons only, right? One is when it's necessary. And the other is when it's socially rewarding in some way or other, right, when it's fun. “And so I think that the trick is to make it both, right, recognizing that it is an abnormal behavior, that doing discretionary, voluntary physical activity for the sake of health and fitness, although it's good, isn't normal, it's, and we shouldn't make people feel bad for that. And so let's find ways to make it necessary and rewarding.”

  • “And I think what we need to do as a field is to get away from the usual prescriptive, medicalized, commodified way of getting people to exercise. And try some much more anthropologically normal, social ways to get people to be physically active.”

• [20:28] Requiring students to exercise

  • “And we know, and I'm sure you know this from your work, that the habits you develop in college are really, really important as lifelong habits. This is the time when people sort of settle into the kind of way they're going to be as an adult. And so I don't see any problem whatsoever with requiring college students to exercise. We did it for hundreds of years.”

• [21:48] Exercise and education

  • “So what we do is we make it necessary and rewarding going to school. And I don't see why we should treat exercise any different from education. It's the same. It's exactly the same model.”

• [23:00] Exercise and academic performance

  • “I mean, the data are clear. People who are more physically active do better cognitively. They do better at memorization. They do better at performance on tests. I mean, this is not like a hypothesis. It's actually, like a fact.”

• [23:29] Moving outdoors

  • “But, you know, I like being outside.  And so that's for me the number one problem. So I've, for example, I've done some outdoor kind of like CrossFit workouts, and those are way more fun than doing something in a gym. So have an outdoor, turn a parking lot into a kind of a more, maybe, I don't know, I mean, but so that's for me, that's part of the issue is just the indoor nature of them or just I find off putting.”

• [24:58] Trainers making exercise fun

  • “And they, you know the trainer there did a fantastic job making that workout really fun. It was very social, it was like, because it was a company, and they were trying to build, you know, camaraderie among people. And they were doing all kinds of really charming things that also involved exercise.”

• [26:34] Requiring employees to exercise

  • “I've never heard of any other company that actually requires all its employees to exercise. I think it's the only one. If there are others, I'd be curious to find out. But so far, it's the only one I know about.”

• [27:10] Physical activity as a right

  • “And so, I hope that this is a wake up call that we need to not only promote physical activity more, but also we need to promote it differently. Expecting people to get physical activity by paying for it is, I think, immoral. And it's unacceptable. I mean, if healthcare is a right, which I think it is, and education is a right, which I think we now all agree on. Why isn't the opportunity to be physically active a right?”

Bridging the Gap Between Medical and Fitness - MedFit [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Lisa Dougherty

  • Lisa is the Founder of the MedFit Network and the Founder and President of the MedFit Education Foundation.

  • Lisa has been the Owner of Whole Body Fitness for 21 years.

• [1:21] Building a medical fitness network

  • “And so I started to reach out to people in the fitness industry primarily, even though, MedFit Network, you could be an acupuncturist and joint massage, physical therapist, as long as you have services for people that have Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, MS.”

• [6:00] Integrating health & fitness with healthcare

  • “And so I think this is a perfect storm for the fitness industry to uplevel their education and be part of the healthcare continuum. I don't think it's going to be about glutes and abs anymore. I think it's going to be about prevention, wellness and rehabilitation. Living as long as you can in a state of wellness. You know, recovering from an injury, I think that's what's really important. And that's where we could serve our highest good in the fitness industry.”

• [9:05] Fitness professionals becoming trusted partners in the healthcare continuum

  • “Right now, there's no barrier to entry to the fitness industry. Anyone can call themselves a personal trainer or fitness instructor if they have some muscles, or they look fit. And that puts an unfair burden on the consumer and the physician to seek out someone who's qualified and educated. There's no licensing for our industry like massage therapy and physical therapy, where there's a certain required schooling and criteria met on a state level, I think it is for a lot of these industries. So that is not in place for the fitness industry.”

• [13:37] Fitness professional education and continuing education

  • “As a fitness professional, you can't just study one thing, you have to know it all because people are everything. So I think you need a very well rounded education to be in the medical fitness space.”

• [19:01] Fitness industry standards

  • “Well, right now, in order to get this off the ground and make it acceptable, I'm trying to start with the standards of the fitness industry.  If I make the bar too high, my concern is that no one's gonna want to jump to it or cross it, unfortunately. So I'm hoping to kind of get people into that with 20 hours of con ed, 10 hours to be a specialist.”

• [20:36] Medical fitness movement 

  • “I would like to see it as its own separate industry from mainstream fitness. Because again, I think that the standards, to your point, education, continuing education, needs to be greater.  And sure, there's people that are going to still want to do group fitness or help someone lose five pounds for, to fit in a wedding, that stuff will still be there. But I mean, really, for us to be part of the healthcare continuum, there has to be greater standards, and there has to be kind of a new industry born.” 

• [21:32] Post-pandemic fitness industry

  • “I think a lot of people who weren't part of gyms—I think they said only like 15% of America were part of gyms prior to COVID anyway. So, there was 85% of people that weren't, but these 85% of people who didn't want to go to gyms started virtual training or virtual apps. So these people right now are exercising who weren’t before, okay. And we're human beings, we like contact. So once people get vaccines or they're not home sheltering, they're not going to want to do virtual training, because that's no fun. They did it during COVID.”

• [25:51] Medical fitness success stories

  • “There's been a lot of people that have helped, I want to say special populations. Because right now, I think the healthy people are special populations  But they've helped connect with people and helped them stay well, stay fit during this pandemic. And I see these relationships growing stronger in the future. We've been saying exercise is medicine for so long. I really want it to be that. But I want, the real public to understand that, not just us talking about it within our industry.”

• [27:28] Play span

  • “Right now, there's not one pharmaceutical drug that cures anything.  They all just treat right now. There isn't a pill that cures and it's often said if they could put exercise in a pill, every doctor would prescribe it.  We talk about a lifespan, and it should be like a play span, how long can you play as you age, and keep that youthful attitude.” 

Accessible, Equitable, Activity-Friendly Communities - America Walks [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Mike McGinn

  • Mike is the Executive Director of America Walks.  

  • He also served a term as the Mayor of Seattle, and is a longtime environmental and climate advocate.

• [1:14] History with walking advocacy

  • “So I guess that’s a warning to everybody.  Be careful! If you start working on sidewalks in your neighborhood, you might end up running for mayor of your city. It’s always been at the core of it, is this idea that we need to create places that aren't just safe, but that are really welcoming, inviting, inclusive, accessible, equitable, you know, where people can live full lives.” 

• [4:14] Role elected officials can play in creating safe, walkable communities

  • “So the biggest thing is, elected officials have power, undeniably, but the necessity for public demand. You need the public demand. You need people organizing out in the community pushing the Mayor further.  It's very hard for a Mayor to get out further than the political demand. And then it also really helps to hire a good traffic engineer.”

• [8:57] America Walks mission

  • “But the ultimate goal of America Walks is bigger than just you should get out and walk more. It's really taking an approach of places should be, you know, should have activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.   We should have great places, we should have walkable places. That's a slightly different type of message and mission than simply, you know, safety while biking.”

  • “It's really about building, as I said, these inclusive, accessible, equitable places. That draws people from different places to it, right?  People might come in from a public health perspective, people might come in from a climate perspective, people might come in from a land use and economic vitality perspective, an affordable housing perspective. So we have a little bit more of a challenge, trying to figure out how to really support everybody and knit together a movement.”

• [12:35] Changing culture from car-centric to walkable

  • “Somerville was a town that was built up, you know, back when people walked more, and you can feel it, because there's so much more within walking reach. And so changing the culture of America to think that, let's go back to the old ways and invest in that again, it'd be good for all of us.”

• [14:18] Creating public demand

  • “One thing a city could do or town could do is actually get out there with clipboards and ask everybody who's arriving, where are they coming from? where are they shopping, and how did they arrive? It'll vary by neighborhood but you'll find that a lot of neighborhoods most of a large number of people are there on foot or arrive via transit, you know, and they're shopping on their way home. So actually answering that question is helpful.”

• [16:26] Walkability movement future

  • “I like to think of this walkable community thing as on one side of it, how can we make a place that is not terribly walkable, more walkable.  We could also make the walkable places accommodate more people, which by itself would make it more walkable. But we could probably do that a lot quicker than we could repair horribly auto centric places and turn them into walkable places.”

• [20:15] Community organizing

  • “So we've got a host of great arguments why we should make these changes, right? Whether it's climate, your personal health, the safety of your community, the vitality, the economic vitality of your small businesses. We have no shortage of arguments. What we don't have yet is sufficient public demand and political will from elected leaders to implement the changes that would really work for us on so many different levels.”

• [24:07] Finding allies

  • “But if you can get yourself to start sitting down and reach out to somebody who's not like you, who's not in your demographic trouble or your neighborhood bubble. And just ask them, you know, what do you care about? What are you working on?” 

• [27:58] Moving the walkability movement

  • “I am working to talk to the leaders of all of our state organizations or big city organizations. I really want to talk to people who shared some characteristics with me when I started, which were, you know, hey, I'm a volunteer in my neighborhood, and I just want to make it better. I want to hear from them, too, about what they care about, and what gets them engaged.”

Creating Opportunities for Youth to Thrive Through Sport [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Shellie Pfohl

  • Shellie Pfohl is a Special Advisor to the Sport Integrity Global Alliance.  

  • She also served as the Executive Director of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in the Obama Administration.

• [1:16] COVID-related school closures and childhood obesity

  • “I'm first and foremost, quite honestly concerned about how kids are getting fed, how families are being supported in terms of food insecurity. And then, in addition to that, from a movement standpoint, from a physical activity standpoint, from a social and emotional standpoint, we know that the ability of kids to interact at school, whether it's on a playground, or in the hallway, or in a gymnasium, that those things now are not taking place.”

• [3:43] Learning conflict resolution and leadership skills through sports and recess

  • “All the things we know that we learned on the playground at recess or in after school programs. Conflict resolution, right?  Just, you know, how do we interact with people, leadership skills. All those things that we learn by participating with each other, whether it's just a game, a made up game at recess, or if it's, you know, formalized after school sports. That is a huge void right now.”

• [5:53] Playworks and PeacePlayers teaching conflict resolution and leadership skills

  • “I got to travel around to inner cities and see Playworks programs, and to rural communities and see how organizations came together to support the most vulnerable within their communities. And organizations like PeacePlayers as well, who are working in cities to do just that, that are teaching skills, conflict resolution skills, leadership skills, community building skills.  And creating those opportunities for young people to thrive.”

• [7:58] Long-term solutions to enhance health and well-being

  • “But if you listen and you empower them, and inspire them, and encourage them and break down a few barriers where you can, and let them come up with the solutions that will last, you know, that are long term solutions for their families, for their communities, for their schools, for you know, you name it, that is the best and most lasting legacy, if you will, that anyone or any organization can do to enhance the health and well being of Americans.”

• [10:49] Building successful partnerships to address physical inactivity

  • “You don't want homogenous people or organizations necessarily. I think it's very healthy to have organizations that come together that maybe don't agree on everything, that, you know, maybe have this like-minded principles and values, and maybe their ultimate outcome is compatible. But how you get there, that journey together and being able to, again, listen to each other and the constituents within those organizations is what creates true impact.”

• [12:58] FitnessGram and win-win public-private partnerships

  • “And if our ultimate goal is to enhance the health and well-being of young people throughout our country, then what is the best path forward? And that best path forward was truly to combine forces, to have one assessment, and then to figure out how to get those resources out to schools across the country.”

• [16:20] Link between movement and joy and learning

  • “I think the hope was that there was a reawakening to really how the brain works and how important movement is to learning. And, as you said, really helping, I'll say teach, but really just offer the opportunity for kids to experience the love and the joy of movement.”  

• [18:15] U.S. Center for SafeSport

  • “It has dedicated people that truly are working to uphold all that is good about sport, and making sure that we're rooting out the bad players, if you will, within the sport. Whether that's coaches or other athletes or physicians or trainers or what have you. They come in all walks of life. But that we're truly, again, creating a culture where respect is key. And then if we truly integrate respect and champion respect in sport, that abuse will have no place.”

• [22:27] Post-COVID youth sport activities

  • “As we come out the other side and kids are allowed to engage again with each other and be on the field of play together, I think there's going to be a huge demand for youth sport activities. And the question is, who will be there to fill that demand?”

• [26:51] Youth development through sport

  • “It's about developing young people, it's about developing those leadership skills and those conflict resolution and how kids can and will and are truly becoming the leaders in our communities. They have a voice, they will continue to have a voice. And if we can create those opportunities for young people to come together, give them a few resources, and use some evidence-based programming along the way, in order to do that. That's how we change culture, right?  So I truly see myself at my core, it's about youth development, and creating those opportunities for young people to thrive.”

A Call to Action to the Health & Fitness Industry to Reach the 80% - Exercise is Medicine® [Podcast Series]

• [:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Bob Sallis

  • Dr. Bob Sallis is a family medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente.  

  • He is also Past-President of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and current chair of Exercise is Medicine® Advisory Board. 

• [1:26] Exercise is Medicine® evolution

  • “And once I began attending the ACSM annual meeting each year, I really came to appreciate the depth and the breadth of the knowledge we had around the health benefits of physical activity, and I just became fascinated by the powerful effect that exercise has on our health. And as someone who comes to work every day trying to treat and prevent disease as a family medicine physician as well, it just occurred to me why were we not listening to all this data?”

• [3:01] Exercise is Medicine® mission

  • “So that was sort of the mission of Exercise is Medicine® since the beginning, was simply to just make physical activity assessment, you know, asking patients were they exercising and if they aren’t, to make a formal exercise prescription to them.  That's been the goal from the beginning.  And then along with that, the longer range goal was how do we merge the fitness industry with the healthcare industry? And that certainly is another frustration. Why can I refer my obese patients to a bariatric surgeon, and that gets covered, but I can't refer them to a fitness professional?  Again, something that just makes no sense to me and continues to this day, that I can refer them for all these expensive pills and procedures, but not something so basic and simple of just getting and moving.“

• [3:46] Engaging the health & fitness industry around reimbursement

  • “We have no problems getting reimbursement for that, but nobody knows how to do it in the fitness world. How do we get the fitness industry reimbursed? How do I as a family physician send a referral and have it covered by insurance? It just doesn't happen. And that's been the biggest battle that I encountered through this whole evolution of Exercise is Medicine®. And even quite beyond that the fitness industry, in my estimation, they've actually been the most difficult to engage. Just really a lack of interest from the fitness industry on sort of working with the healthcare industry on how to get these reimbursements to happen.”

• [5:10] COVID and physical activity

  • “And there was no discussion about that. How important was exercise to trying to prevent COVID and mitigate the harmful effects of it. Nobody seems to care and continues not to care. You never hear those coming out of the lips of Anthony Fauci that maybe we ought to go out and exercise every day. Try to be as fit and healthy as we can. It's no, just wait for the vaccine, hide in the house. Why is that?”

• [12:40] Physical activity vital sign

  • “And then at Kaiser Permanente, I knew that that we would be the perfect test place for this and that was one of my biggest battles was getting us to begin using a physical activity vital sign—we call it an exercise vital sign—where every patient at every visit gets asked about their exercise habits. And so right along with blood pressure, pulse, they weigh you and your height. So you have your BMI calculated, whether or not you smoke, we have two questions about your exercise habits. So we have exercise data on all of our patients that are asked it at each outpatient visit.”

• [14:43] Referring patients to strength training programs

  • “But clearly, I need more than just having my patients go walk. I'm missing out on the benefits of strength training, which is probably more important than cardiovascular training, if you're going to pick one.  And then flexibility as well, I'm not really leveraging those health benefits that are particularly important as we age. And so I need more help than just telling people to go walk. That's a fine starting point. But we need to figure out how to take it to the next level…”

• [18:06] Finding trusted fitness professionals

  • “But honestly, I struggle with how do we figure out who we can trust and who we can go to. And I also think sometimes there's maybe too much emphasis put on, being so restrictive.  Maybe you don't need a doctoral degree to work with my patients, you know, or even a bachelor's degree for that matter. I mean, I just need somebody that can be motivating. And obviously, I don't want them to hurt my patient, they got to make sure they know what they're doing in terms of what works for certain patients. But I'm not convinced they need such an in-depth medical knowledge.” 

• [20:25] Fitness professional standards

  • “But we have a standard that we sort of use, and it seems to me so easy to be able to apply the same sort of approach for fitness professionals.  Yet, we seem to make it so confusing and hard to follow that I think it's an easily solvable problem if there was some real motivation to do so.”

• [22:15] Patient exercise behavior change

  • “It's often tying into those kinds of things that the patients are afraid of, they're worried about, or they're in for symptoms that I know can be helped if they just get exercising. That's where you often see the behavior change, when I can tie it to those things they're worried about, or they're currently dealing with. And that's what I really look for opportunities to do, to explain to them how this is what you really, if you would just exercise if you would just walk every day, I guarantee you this will be it will go away or be much better, you'll be able to deal with it much easier.”

• [24:50] Reaching the 80%

  • “Yet the health club industry just continues to try to steal away that 18%. They have never seemed to be interested in growing it. And I just don't understand that. And as a physician, I can tell you that my patients who belong to a health club, I'm not worried about. They're going to be fine. They'll keep doing it, they'll find a way to do it. But it's the patients who have never belonged to a health club, that 82% of the population. That's the ones that cause all the problems. Those are the ones I'm worried about. Those are the ones costing us all the money. They're the ones filling up nursing homes at a young age, you know, that is who is getting disability and can't work at a young age. That's who is costing us. Health care costs are primarily driven by that group. Figuring out a way to get them into a health club is key.”

  • “I think that the fitness industry has got to fundamentally change how they try to service the public in the United States. What their mission is and what their role is has got to change if they're going to be relevant.”

• [27:41] Call to action

  • “And I just think we can't do it without the health and fitness industry.  Somebody in that industry has got to take a leadership role, to really step up and say, we're going to look beyond what we've been. Because that's needed, I need that expertise, I can't sit with a patient and put them on a proper resistance program, They need somebody to work with them. And it needs to be readily accessible. And but until you build it, no one's gonna come until there's interest on the part of the health club industry to make these clubs something more than they've been.”

Impact of Employers on Employee and Community Health and Well-being - HERO [Podcast Series]

• [:57] Dr. Bantham introduces her guests, Karen Moseley and Dr. Mary Imboden

  • Karen Moseley is the President of the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO).

  • Dr. Mary Imboden is the Director of Research.

• [1:19]  Cross-sector collaboration and innovation in worksite health and well-being

  • “And it's related to physical activity in the workplace, or specifically, they've identified the worksite sector needing to develop consistent criteria for physical activity, physical fitness, sedentary behavior assessment, in worksite health promotion. And some of those policies that we are seeing in the worksite related to physical activity include things like encouraging short activity breaks, walking meetings, allowing employees to meet for 15 minutes for a movement break throughout the day at a specific location so there is some social connection as well.”

• [5:53]  HERO mission and vision 

  • “So yes, HERO has been around for more than 20 years now, established to bring to light best practices for improving the health of employees and elevating those best practices, sharing the evidence, helping employers to see how to apply the evidence to their workforce.”

  • “And then about, so about 10 years ago, we had expanded the HERO vision to include or to emphasize the positive influence that employers can have on the health and well-being of not just their employees, but also families and communities.” 

• [9:21]  The role of employers in addressing social determinants of health

  • “Earlier this year, we released a report on the employer’s priority in addressing social determinants of health. And it asked employers to ask the question, is our community thriving, healthy, inspiring, attractive to talent? Or, is it perceived as deteriorating, sick and unsafe? And it gives a call to action to identify one thing your organization can do in the next 12 months to address the social determinants impacting your employees. And then it goes on to give you multiple examples of ways that you can do that.”

• [13:24] The impact of culture on workplace health and well-being

  • “We saw that cultural support and leadership support have critical roles in developing these high performing well-being initiatives.”

• [17:33] Critique of workplace wellness program research

  • “And the intervention elements included implementation of health promoting policies, workplace environmental changes. And we saw things like, components like smoking cessation, physical activity, a lot of ones that we know help to improve blood pressure, and that's what the study was mainly looking at was hypertension. And so we did see that this worked.  And the key elements that I think stood out to the study was the comprehensive approach, the longer timeline, and the individual plans.”

  • “The importance of an organizational culture that surrounds the comprehensiveness of a well-being approach, of an organizational culture of health—leadership support, top down, bottom up—all of those factors are often missing from some of these studies that are showing less than desirable outcomes.”

• [23:30] The impact of workplace wellness programs on health outcomes and costs

  • “And the conclusion was that employers may achieve cost savings in the short run by implementing comprehensive health promotion programs that focus on decreasing multiple health risks.”

• [23:43] Reimagining the impact of employers on health and well-being post-COVID 

  • “I'll highlight a few key areas that COVID really has shined a light on—mental health, social determinants of health, and employee policies around parental leave and caregiving. So the COVID pandemic offers a singular teachable moment for employers who are still intent on protecting the health and well-being of their workforce and of their communities.”

Building Your Positivity Muscle with Sports, Fitness, and Coaching [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Christopher J. Wirth

  • Christopher J. Wirth, Founder and President of No Quit Living, a speaking, coaching and training company

  • Chris is also the author of The Positivity Tribe: "The Power of Positivity" One Person at a Time

• [1:11]  Comeback stories

  • “I think ironically—I didn't know it at the time—but I learned everything as far as the foundation from sports in the sense of perseverance, determination, discipline, but also in regards to that whole idea of what eventually became our company, the name, no quit living. And I think for me, it was all about that comeback story.  It was all about that team that couldn't come back or couldn't win, that player in an individual sport, such as maybe tennis or golf, when everyone said, there's no way that he or she can win.”

• [3:14]  Positive mental advantage

  • “Some of the best of the best, they have that positive mental advantage, they have that positive mindset, they prepare themselves, they quote, unquote, control the controllables as much as they can. So if and when they're challenged, they're pushed to that level, they bend, but they don't break.”

  • “It's not always the best talented person or the smartest person, a lot of times it comes down to somebody that's just willing to persevere, and somebody that really has that mental advantage and say, okay, when everything's on the table, you know, my one advantage over that person or that team or that company is the fact that I have that mental perspective of really utilizing positivity and understanding how important it is in, I think, all areas of life.”

• [6:11]  Building the positivity muscle 

  • “And I, I think it's almost the same as a muscle, you know, you train a muscle, you strengthen it, you train it to that level where in some ways you break down muscle, and it builds up and repairs stronger. But that's the same thing from positivity, and the idea of, you have to work on it.”

• [8:48] Facing adversity

  • “I think what people don't realize is, some of the most positive people out there, they still face adversity every single day.  They have challenges, they have obstacles. And one of the things I've been focusing on is not having a bad day, but having a bad moment, or having a rough moment.  And not allowing that moment or that experience or that obstacle or that challenge to ruin an entire day.”

• [12:23] Creativity and positivity

  • “And he said, You know, there are going to be companies that go out of business, there are going to be entities that completely go under. And he said, there are going to be companies and entities and people that really step up and find creative ways to do things and creative ways to stay relevant.”

• [16:24] Coaching different people differently

  • “And what I had to understand, and it's the same, it's the same thing, working with businesses and even college coaches, you have to understand that you need to connect with different people in a different way. So, for example, a kid that or a business person that is highly driven, he or she might be able to, you might be able to go to them with goals and objectives, like alright, can you, you did this, can you get to here where somebody else who's not as goal driven, might, you might have to or they might want you to have a different conversation with them explaining them the process and what you're trying to do.”

• [20:59] Communication and responding versus reacting

  • “I would challenge anybody listening to this. In a personal or professional setting, think about next time you're in a situation. Are you responding? Or are you reacting? Are you listening just to listen and wait your turn? Or are you listening because you really and truly want to understand that other person's perspective?”

• [24:49] Getting the right people on your bus

  • “And I think if you go about doing the right things for the right reasons, and more often than not with zero expectations and return, things are going to come to you, the right people are going to come in your bus, the right opportunities, personally, professionally. And I really try to live my life by that each and every day.”

• [27:38] Prioritizing physical activity

  • “That’s a huge challenge for not only the United States, but the world, is how do we continue to adapt and change and rely on technology more and more every year? But how do we stay active?”

Helping People Find Their Motivation to Start and Continue Exercising [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Michelle Segar

  • Dr. Michelle Segar is Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center at the University of Michigan.  

  • Dr. Segar is also the author of No Sweat! How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness.

• [1:21]  Language and motivation for exercising

  •  “And so embedded in this language is our experiences that many of us have had that just don't feel good, are painful, are shame producing, make us feel self conscious and, more generally, create a negative feeling that make many people disdain exercise and want to avoid it at all costs.”

  • “But really, if we could reframe the term, the language ‘active living,’ to reflect how we live our lives, we look for opportunities to move. Another term we can use for exercise, take an opportunity to move. Who doesn't want an opportunity, right? Inherent in that concept is something positive.”

• [5:15]  Helping people find their motivation

  •  “And I'm asking people if being active or exercising feels like a chore from one (a chore) to a five (a gift). And through that answer, we find out whether people's reason or why for exercising is based on motives or reasons for exercising that research has found actually make it into a chore or are based on logical or should-based reasons, which we know from research and years of promoting exercise for these reasons are actually, they may get people to start exercising, but they don't get people to to continue.”

• “I think I come at it in a sideways way, and, through helping people understand that their whys have actually been getting in their way and then helping them identify what I call the right whys. And it's not that they are right because I say they are right.  The right why is inherent to the individual, which I think is what you're doing with your clients as you're helping them identify what type of why for exercise is actually going to help them both stay motivated, and want to do it but experience positive feelings, all of which the research show will promote sustainable motivation.”

• [8:50]  Moving from a chore to a gift

  • “So if we can use this explicit dichotomy, then it gives us a point of conversation, a point of entry, to convert someone from a chore to a gift.”

• [10:20] Health is not a motivator for exercise

  • “The challenge is that in theory, we care about our health, in theory, we want to exercise for health, but in reality, we have too many other more urgent compelling things to do. So that's why health as a primary motivator for exercise, whether, again, it's right now or in 20 years, may not be the greatest motivator for people who aren't super, super, super, super motivated to prioritize their health.”

• [12:42] Focusing on the short-term reasons for exercising

  • “So we need to align what we really want to achieve with the way it's going to get there. And ironically—I think there's something super ironic about this—that the way to achieve the long term benefits from exercise is actually to focus on the short term reasons for doing it.”

• [14:10] COVID-19 and exercise

  • “So anecdotally, I've heard that some people are exercising more because they have more flexibility in their lives. And on the other hand, a lot of the people who are regular, regularly active before COVID are less active because they can't do what they love doing or what their regimen, their exercise regimens were.”

• [19:16] Making lasting behavior change

  • “I believe we've got to get people focused on the experiences in the now that they are going to achieve from their quote unquote health related choices. So I believe that the beginning is what do you need? What's missing from your life? What's missing from your day? Is it energy? Is it a spark, you know, verve? What is it? And then well what could help you achieve that?”

• [23:47] The health & fitness industry communicating to reach the 80%

  • “And if, when the fitness industry understands—which I think they do—that the 80% that is not coming to their doors looks different than the 20% that is coming to their doors, has had different experiences than the 20% that is coming to their doors. And then addressing those things and showing images of people of all sizes and shapes and colors doing different types of activities and offering different types of classes.”

5 Steps to Making a Health Club an Essential Community Resource [Podcast Series]

• [:53] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Tom Richards

  • Tom Richards is the Founder and Managing Editor of the Activist in Motion and Principal of the Activist in Motion Advisory Services.  

  • Tom is a long time part part of the health & fitness industry through roles at IHRSA and ACE

• [1:13]  Communicating a club’s value proposition to the community

  • “The health and fitness community is really good at marketing to a certain segment of the community, who are in the right frame of mind at the right time to commit to exercise. I think most clubs struggle, however, to communicate their value to the wider community. And I'm thinking of the county council, public health officials, school boards, large employers, libraries, civic organizations, certainly the media, and really all the people who could benefit from the services provided by the club, but who don't really consider themselves to be health club type people.”

• [3:28]  COVID-19 and “essential” businesses

  • “And I think what we're seeing is that the health & fitness community is chronically undervalued, misunderstood, and really isolated from the broader community. And so now, when a crisis hits, we have public health officials and policymakers who are good people, they're not trying to do harm to any particular industry, but they are also in a crisis trying to make quick decisions based on the information that they already know.” 

• [6:17]  Moving away from “non essential” toward “essential”

  • “But I don't think that, broadly, what's happening inside the club—the professionalism and the credibility—is being communicated or translated outside the club. And that's put us in this position where we are now being ‘non essential,’ lumped together with bars and restaurants and casinos, when we should be lumped together with healthcare providers, allied health professionals, and people who are doing the best work in the community.”

• [9:40]  Understanding the needs of the community

  • “And my sense, my belief, is that many clubs are already set up to address those issues and to partner with those groups. They just haven't made the connections yet.  And they haven't made the outreach with the approach or with the language that resonates with the broader community.  And what that means for clubs is more members in the club, more guests in the club, more activities, more events, making the club more essential as part of a vibrant community.”

• [11:36] The Activist in Motion vision

  • “So I named my website and the advisory business the Activist in Motion not really in reference to me, but in honor of all the people who I've come across and who inspire me, who make a positive difference in their community by motivating others to move more and sit less.” 

• [15:58] Transforming the health & fitness industry

  • “There are so many, like you and I are sort of kindred spirits in this work. I also know that there are hundreds of thousands of exercise professionals, physiologists, PhDs, club owners, managers who feel the same way. They're just looking for a place or an idea to put their energy behind. And I think the club industry could be transformed and elevated significantly, both in stature and in revenue, if it can become that community hub that transforms communities.”

• [19:55] 5 steps to becoming an essential community resource

  • “The essential resource plan—the five components that we've discussed—starts with the essential resource scorecard or assessment. The purpose of that assessment is to establish what the club is currently doing that has great value to the community.”

  • “And then, from there, we would move into a community health needs assessment. And that's a review of what are the public health concerns or what are the health concerns in general in that location, in the club’s community. That can be a high rate of diabetes, high rate of obesity, it could be isolation, depression, a range of mental health issues, what's going on in the community that the club could address.”

  • “Clubs need to understand their stakeholders and what their needs are, what their initiatives are, what their goals are, what they hope to accomplish for the next 12 months. And then when you take those three components—the essential resource scorecard, a community health needs assessment, and a community stakeholder scan—you can start connecting those three pieces to the resources in the club and start making recommendations for how the club can better serve the community.”

  • “And then I think the fifth piece is just developing that outreach plan. So you know who your stakeholders are.  You see what, how you could add value to them in the club. How are you going to reach out to them and who is going to do it in your club. How are you going to do it effectively. How are you going to do it in a way that presents the club in the best light and brings forth the credibility of the club.  And you use the word trusted, which is probably the most important asset that a club can have in the communities, that it's trusted. And that trust leads ultimately to a feeling of indispensable, where the club is just an indispensable member of the community, valued and trusted.”

• [26:24] Connecting health clubs to healthcare

  • “And what the essential resource project can do is help clubs connect more effectively, more directly, and more quickly with health care systems and other stakeholders in their community.”

Fixing a Broken Health & Fitness Industry [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Darian Parker

  • Dr. Parker is the Co-Owner of Epic Leisure Management, a longtime fitness professional and part of the health & fitness industry.

• [1:53]  Dr. D’s Social Network Podcast

  • “Yeah, so my podcast, Dr. D’s Social Network, it's all about creating my own network of very like minded people doing very different things in the world. And generally storytelling that is action based, so not only telling stories, but ways that you can get involved with those people on the podcast to make a difference and whatever topic that is for that. So I focus primarily not on one area of life that people are living, but on a wide variety of topics that there's no limitations, pretty much. I will talk about anything that is engaging and exciting.”

• [4:32]  Connection to the health & fitness industry

  • “And I remember my dad saying, make sure you do something that...make your hobby your job, do something that you just really love like that you'll actually enjoy your work as an adult. And I thought that's good, that's good advice, you know. And so, I always loved to exercise. But more than anything, I loved creating meaningful relationships with other people. And I felt that exercise was a great way to accomplish that.”

• [7:43]  Exercise and habit formation

  • “And that hopefully, that you're creating good habits and systems that help you to be accountable to those things. And if that system is a person, like myself, a trainer. Hopefully you have a good personal trainer, or someone who is an authority in that field, who is a good human being, is showing up regularly with you, bringing a positive light to the environment and cheering you on. But when it gets down to it, the actual work part is just not that fun.”

• [10:58] Accountability in exercise

  • “I think in exercise, you should have an exercise companion.  Whether they're working with you or not working out with you or not. Someone who is keeping you on the straight and narrow, being accountable.”

• [14:18]  Improving fitness performance.

  • “But if you want to get better or walk faster.  You want to actually improve your cardiovascular endurance to a higher level.  That walk has to get harder. It just has to.”

• [19:22] Goal setting

  • “A lot of clients or people, they're in it for weight loss. Like, I want to lose weight. I'm like, why do you want to lose weight? If you can't explain that to me, then you have no idea why you're doing this. And why weight loss? There's something deeper, if it's just weight loss.  There's a huge psychological component to that.”

• [22:00] Getting to the why

  • “Explain it to me, tell me why. If you can't explain your own reasoning for doing something, it's not a good reason. What's the reason if you can't define the reason why you're doing something? Why are you doing it?”

• [22:22] The benefits of online personal training

  • “So how I convey things, demonstrate them my words, my feelings, is totally accomplishable through a live online format, which is what I do for that. You're also providing a huge amount of positivity for clients, consumers, because you're taking away drive times, you're decreasing their...they don't have to get childcare generally anymore because they can be at home. Much more efficient, time wise, for the service provider, you can stack clients, one on top of each other, you don't have to drive to other places if you're not working at a facility. So time is the great equalizer...” 

• [23:58] Fitness and technology

  • “If you alleviate as many friction points for both sides of the equation, then you're going to be much happier doing those things. That's what technology does, in general, it tries to solve problems of the human condition. How can we schedule better? How could we be more efficient at work? How can we communicate quicker and all these things. And I think fitness and technology can work together to be very powerful.” 

• [25:36] Fixing a broken health & fitness industry

  • “I think the industry was broken before COVID. I think it was extremely broken. And I mean, you got to think about an industry where 15 to 18% of the population exercises regularly and that hasn't changed in 30 years. What are we doing that that hasn't changed? So to say that the fitness industry was amazing before that, is a huge lie. The industry has been broken.”

  • “But as long as the people who run our industry are not willing to consolidate and become one larger body and have more rigorous standards, the industry will continue to not provide a way that 30,40, 50% of people start becoming more active.”

• [28:53] Connecting with others

  • “Connection is what you make of it.  If your connection version is to just get your point across and try to be right and push your agenda on very controversial things, you may get a lot of attention, but you're going to feel very lonely. Question is, do you want to be famous and recognized and controversial? Or do you want to have a good life connected to a lot of people that probably will get you no viral activity online, you will not be popular, you will not be trending, but you'll be rich in quality relationships. What do you want? You make the choice.”

Moving Toward Happiness - Move Happy®[Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Erin Nicole

  • Erin Nicole is the CEO and Founder of Move Happy® and host of the Move Happy® Movement podcast.

• [1:07]  Helping patients improve their fitness and happiness

  • “I didn't know if it would work or not, I didn't know if it would help my patients be happier and improve their fitness or not. I believed in my capacity as a fitness educator and seeing previous experiences of people's fitness levels being improved.”

• [4:57]  Quantifying program success

  • “So I designed a one page questionnaire for their happiness, self-perceived, we did include some Likert style questions, which is like a one to five scale, one to 10. And, and then included some open ended questions to get some quality based feedback from the patients. And asked them.  How do you feel this program went?  We did a pre, mid, and post for all three rounds of the program. And I started implementing their feedback from those that felt safe enough to actually share feedback.”

• [10:09]  Naming Move Happy® 

  • “What's an inclusive word? Because my goal.  I said, Go back to your goal. Well, my goal was to get the patients interested in moving because I knew how beneficial movement and exercise is to my own mental health, to my own healing with losing my dad and just struggling with my own personal issues with depression....” 

• [15:09] Adapting programs for different settings and populations

  • “My background is in exercise and sport psychology, I know what motivates and helps to actually make someone believe that they can replicate a movement. The best form would be live version, of course. Second best would be video, but we didn't have a bunch of computers or TV screens to hit play for them to see during our station day. So I used picture.”

• [19:56]  Mental health in the workplace

  • “Businesses are starting to realize that they should care about their employees, but we've got a lot of work to do.  A lot of growth in that area, a lot of professionals needing to take responsibility for their teams. If your employee works a third of their life for your organization or work, then a lot of their time is spent there. So you should care about their mental health, their mental well being....”

• [22:00] Chief Happiness Officers

  • “If businesses could have Chief Happiness Officers or Chief Heart Officer—I've heard it termed as well—I think that that would be beneficial, but a title without implementation isn't going to do anybody any good.”

• [25:28] Creating brand ambassadors

  • “If you focus as an organization on your employees or interns—whoever works for you and adds value to your brand, whether it's sales, marketing, operations, finance, whatever departments are working for you. If you focus on making sure that they're set up for success, that you leave an open door policy so that your company feels that they can come talk to you as leaders at any point, they're going to cover your customers.  They're going to take care of your organization because they will feel valued. And they will then become ambassadors for your brand, which is essentially free marketing.”

• [27:00] Moving toward happiness

  • “Get yourself In a place of gratitude, no matter how small it can be, whether you're running a company or you're working for a company. Take responsibility for what you can, you will never know how big opportunities come your way, or how many opportunities can come through focusing on what you can control, which is being grateful, which is showing others by example that you can focus on things that are positive and going on, you know, happy in your life, and adding value.”

Community Is Medicine - Open Source Wellness [Podcast Series]

• [:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guests, Dr. Elizabeth Markle and Dr. Ben Emmert-Aronson

  • Dr. Markle is a psychologist, speaker, writer, researcher, and Associate Professor of Community Mental Health at California Institute of Integral Studies.  

  • Dr. Emmert-Aronson is a psychologist, researcher, advocate and statistics consultant.

  • Together, they founded Open Source Wellness, a “behavioral pharmacy” operating at the intersection of healthcare and communities.

• [1:28]  Community Is Medicine

  • “So we set out to create the behavioral equivalent of a pharmacy, or an experiential delivery system for one universal prescription, which we abbreviate to be move, nourish, connect, be. So physical activity, healthy food, social connection and stress reduction.”

  • “There's nothing rocket science about physical movement, eating some vegetables, practicing some mindfulness.  Really, in our experience, the active ingredient, the thing that helps people get traction and transformation in their health, their well being, in their lives, is about community.”

• [4:57]  Creating a trusted referral pathway

  • “Providers were desperate to have some referral source. They were desperate for the resources to help their patients make these changes. And they just weren't out there. And so to be able to partner with them in this way, and really spend a little time building that initial relationship so that they could trust the referral was crucial.”

• [7:17]  Integrating programs with group medical visits

  • “What we've learned is that even when a doctor refers a patient somewhere else, about a third of them don't make it for one reason or another. They don't feel safe, they don't feel comfortable, they don't have the social capital to show up or join a new group. And really a breakthrough for us was learning to deliver our program as a group medical visit in partnership with one clinical provider who could then bill for it.”

• [8:23] Delivering programs in clinical- and community-based settings

  • “And we see almost identical outcomes, whether we're looking in the clinical setting or in the community setting. And so we know both of these programs are highly effective. And, arguably more important, both of them are a lot of fun. Both of them set up a really great system where patients don't want to leave at the end of it.”

• [11:13]  Transitioning from a clinical- to a community-based setting

  • “They complete their dose, and they graduate and they don't want to be done. And in some cases, we can offer them a transition to a community-based site, which starts to expand their comfort and their capacity to then go out into the community and get some of those needs for movement, connection, support, etc., filled.”

• [13:01] The role of health coaches in behavior change

  • “And I think really connecting with patients on a one-to-one basis, connecting with patients in a really close manner, and then finding out the goals that matter most to patients is one of those things that our doctors are just not trained to do and don't have the time for. So it's a place where our use of health coaches is vital. So our health coaches sit down with our participants. They hear from the participants what it is that matters most to them, what are the goals that they want to change?”

• [16:00] Integrating healthcare and communities

  • “I think there will be a world where there's a whole clinic community continuum and integration that that we just don't have as a system quite yet.”

• [18:31] Sustainable, scalable models

  • “Our clinical provider, on average, given no shows, was seeing around eight and a half individuals in a clinical shift. And then when we ran the Open Source Wellness program, they were seeing 16 point something on average per four hour shift. And when you look at the FQHC billing rate, what that does is it just generates a lot of extra revenue that more than covers the cost of Open Source Wellness.”

• [21:50] Evaluating program outcomes

  • “We want folks to know that this works. We've talked a little bit before about doctors not having the necessary training around behavioral prescriptions and helping folks to make these behavioral changes. I think so much of that is because the pharmaceutical lobby is much better funded than the exercise lobby or the broccoli lobby. So they're able to come in and share a lot more data. And it's incumbent on us to then gather these data and to share that in and to say, look, this really is an effective method of behavior change.  This improves patient health.”

• [24:55] Role of social support and structures

  • “And so I think we really need to have the courage to look not just at clinical structures, but also at social structures that make it possible, or really impossible, for people to do the things that our bodies and our psyches need to be happy, healthy and well. And that giving somebody a prescription that it's impossible for them to fill. They live in a food desert, the streets aren't safe, they don't have childcare, etc. It's actually not a service, right, we actually just potentiate shame and a feeling of powerlessness. So to go one step further than behavioral prescribing, I think we need to actually embed the social structures and conditions to make it possible for people to carry that forward and into their lives.”