In this episode of OnScript with NHA, Jeremy Sasser and Jessica Langley talk with Rick Richey, master instructor for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and host of the NASM CPT Podcast. As the prevalence of professional burnout has been on the rise for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, Rick shares some research on how regular exercise can help alleviate stress and anxiety, and conversely, burnout. One of the biggest hurdles for most people is just getting started with a routine, so Rick provides some insight into overcoming this, and other barriers, as well as how employers can remove barriers and promote and support overall employee wellness. Finally, Rick shares some great exercises that incorporate both muscle contraction and relaxation that can be easily done throughout the day without the need for any gym equipment.
Please see below for the studies referenced in the podcast:
Reference: Aerobic exercise training and burnout: a pilot study with male participants suffering from burnout.
“Occupational burnout is associated with severe negative health effects.”
“The key findings are that increased exercise reduced overall perceived stress as well as symptoms of burnout and depression. The magnitude of the effects was large, revealing changes of substantial practical relevance.”
EXERCISE ON WORK-RELATED STRESS
Reference: Exercise to reduce work-related fatigue among employees: a randomized controlled trial.
- Objective: The effects of exercise on self-efficacy, sleep, work ability, cognitive functioning and aerobic fitness (secondary outcomes) were also investigated.
- Conclusions: The exercise intervention had enduring effects on work-related fatigue and broader indicators of employee well-being. This study demonstrates that, in case of work-related fatigue, exercise does constitute a powerful medicine for those who comply with the treatment.
BIOCHEMICAL
Reference: Endogenous reward mechanisms and their importance in stress reduction, exercise and the brain.
“Evolutionarily, the various activities and autoregulatory pathways are linked together, which can also be demonstrated by the fact that dopamine is endogenously converted into morphine which itself leads to enhanced nitric oxide release by activation of constitutive nitric oxide synthase enzymes. These molecules and mechanisms are clearly stress-reducing.”
EXERCISE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND COGNITIVE SKILL
“The benefit of exercise on physical health is clear, but its role in mental health and well-being should not be underestimated.”
Read the full transcription below:
Jeremy:
On Script podcast, episode number three, 2020. Pharmacy Podcast Nation, thanks for joining us for another episode of On Script powered by NHA. The only podcasts on the Pharmacy Podcast Network dedicated to pharmacy technician practice by informing, sharing stories, exploring unique care paths, career paths, and a plethora of other topics affecting the pharmacy technician workforce. And of course I'm joined today by my cohost. She's intellectual, always knowledgeable, a regulatory Ninja if you will. Jessica Langley.
Jessica Langley:
Thanks Jeremy. He gives me way too much credit.
Jeremy:
Stop it. So work-life balance can often be a challenge. Specifically, finding time for self care. And actually you and I were just having a conversation about this over lunch last week, a couple weeks ago. Yeah, we know it's so important, and particularly those who are working in healthcare. In pharmacy, we spend a lot of time on our feet, often time, entire shifts, anywhere from eight to 12 hours on our feet. We don't have breaks for meals, so not only is that challenging in and of itself, but of course finding the energy after that to go out and exercise can be quite challenging.
Jessica Langley:
Yeah. And if you're doing 10 or 12 hour shifts, if you're the only one there, or you're doing second or third shift, it makes it sometimes even worse because you're working alone, you're having to extend even more energy when you're transferring patients or just doing the workload by yourself. So definitely I remember those days where I couldn't remember if I ate or when I had time to use the restroom, to be honest.
Jeremy:
Well, I think we oftentimes say, well that was my exercise, right? But that doesn't incorporate into an exercise plan that involves hitting or targeting different muscle groups, or working on flexibility, strength training. And even recently I've gotten into meditation kind of, yeah, I know that whole facet of self care.
Jessica Langley:
I think it's important to think that we might've gotten our steps in, but really stepping back and asking ourselves, is that enough? Or what else should we be doing?
Jeremy:
Gosh, I don't want to age myself, but I remember we had pedometers and I'm like, what is this amazing scientific breakthrough that counts my steps? Oh my goodness. I even had the Nike shoes with a little thing you put into it and it would tell you how far you would walk or whatever. Not very accurately.
Jeremy:
At any rate, I am super pumped about today's guest. Joining us today from our sister company under the Ascend learning umbrella at NASM to provide tips and valuable information to all of you listening out there who are working in the pharmacy trenches day in, day out. Today, as a guest, we are very fortunate to have Rick Richie. Rick is an NASM master instructor holding a Master's degree in exercise science and a doctoral degree with honors in health science and exercise leadership from California University of Pennsylvania. He's also the host of the NASM CPT podcast, which I highly recommend anybody listening to this podcast listen to. So Rick, thank you so much for taking time, man, to join us and give us some good information.
Rick Richie:
Yes, thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your listeners about just some of the things that are going on, and the stressful lives that you two were talking about a moment ago, and what are some of the things from our perspective with the National Academy of Sports Medicine and what we do and how we can create hopefully some change and make people feel and function a little bit better while they're at work.
Jeremy:
Yeah, that's awesome. So I have to begin just real quick by saying, my wife Lindsay is an NASM certified personal trainer and she's a head coach at one of the Orange Theory Fitness Studios here. And she's an avid listener of your podcast, and quite frankly a bit of a fan girl of yours. So the fact that I have you as a guest today, I have scored major points at home with my wife, so even more thank you for that.
Rick Richie:
What's her name?
Jeremy:
Lindsey.
Rick Richie:
Lindsey? Hi Lindsey.
Jeremy:
That's awesome. So Rick maybe-
Rick Richie:
But if she's anything like my wife, she won't be listening to my podcast so she'll never hear that.
Jeremy:
She will listen just about to this point right here before turning it off. But yeah, she-
Jessica Langley:
We'll get her for a few minutes.
Jeremy:
Yeah, exactly. Maybe I'll get her to subscribe because I had you as a guest. We don't know. So Rick, I mean, can you take just a little bit and just start off by telling us about your journey and how you got to where you're at today and what you're doing in the fitness industry?
Rick Richie:
For sure. Yeah. Thank you. I started as a personal trainer for one very important reason. It sounded cool. So I wanted a free gym membership, and that was a means to do and it sounded like a cool job, and I think a lot of people in this job will tell you I got into it, this is why I do it, this is why I do it, but that's not why they started it. Usually people start it because they think it's just pretty cool. And we stick around because of the changes that we help create with people and the benefits that our services provide.
Rick Richie:
And so I stuck around and stuck it out. And it's pretty challenging, initially. And then when you see what you're doing and how you're helping, it became valuable and I wanted to learn more. So I went back and I was like, what certifications could I get? I wanted all the top things. And I had already had my NASM certified personal trainer certification. I went back for some of their specializations and then I thought, let me go back to school and really solidify what I'm doing here.
Rick Richie:
So went back to school for exercise science, went back to school again a few years later for massage therapy, and then went back to school a few years later for my doctorate in health science. And that's kind of where I am. But to go from being a cool job to being a job that makes a difference and knowing that and understanding that, created a whole different world of passion. But relatively high attrition rate in personal training. So I think if a lot of those people who think it's a cool job and then find out it's still a job and it's not as cool as they thought it was going to be because of the work you have to put into it. But when you get that passion behind it and you realize how much you're helping people, it creates a lot of value.
Jeremy:
Yeah, I can definitely see that. I think oftentimes they don't take into account the business aspect of oftentimes being their own contractor with a gym or even being 100% on their own and having to build up clientele. I mean, just like a doctor, it doesn't become a doctor for access to the hospital cafeteria. Becoming a personal trainer ... probably not a wise decision.
Jeremy:
And the clientele, you guys help them in so many ways. I think they often, the lay person doesn't understand the level of knowledge that you bring to that process and all of the science behind it. I mean, even myself until I took an exercise physiology course in college, I was blown away by the things that you can calculate when you started getting into VO2 max and EPOC and some of those types of things. And just the science behind it was fascinating. So there's definitely ...
Rick Richie:
That was a big deal for me because I thought it was going to be... I thought it was going to be easy to be a personal trainer and then ... My first certification was the NASM, National Academy of Sports Medicine, and I got the textbook and I was like, what? I thought it was going to teach us how to count to 10. Like I could do- I can count reps. And then there was all this science behind it and there was all this assessment, and there was the follow up, and the understanding of movement and joint actions and planes of motion and leverage and things that you probably don't think that personal trainers are educated on. But certainly it's a fun job, but there is a lot of education that goes into it, and there's a lot more to learn. That was the fun part for me is just continuing with learning and becoming a lifelong learner so I can keep it up.
Jeremy:
Yeah, absolutely. I've seen the glaze look on many a students' faces when I taught briefly this kind of the science before getting into the details of being a personal trainer. I don't think they come into it realizing that they're going to learn kinesiology, and origins, and insertions of muscles. And you have to know that stuff and have to know if I want to isolate this muscle, this is the motion or exercise I need to have somebody do. Yeah, definitely.
Rick Richie:
Yeah, well said.
Jeremy:
Became a weeding out process for those who quite obviously were not serious about it. But I think that's a good thing because those that are serious about it, embrace it, learn it, love it. And those are the ones that apply it and are successful once they get their certification.
Jeremy:
So not unlike a lot of professions, pharmacy has been experiencing a lot of burnout lately. I mean, there was a New York times article just recently kind of exposing some of the pressures that, particularly, retail pharmacies are under to hit certain metrics, whether that's a certain volume of prescriptions filled, whether that's converting a certain number to auto refill, whatever the case may be. Burnout is a huge issue in the profession. So how can exercise, or what is the benefit, what is the science behind how exercise helps with stress reduction, helping with burnout, just helping us kind of live a better life outside of our work?
Rick Richie:
That's a great question. And there have been really a wonderful amount of studies that have been done on exercise effects on stress, exercise effects on anxiety, but not as many on burnout. I think there's correlations there, but there have been studies that have been done on, on burnout and work related stress. And one of them that I looked at particularly, and I found it important because it was dealing with people who were on their feet a lot, and it was just saying that the exercise intervention had such enduring on this work related fatigue and other broader indicators for employee wellbeing that it just kind of shows the exercises, their words, a powerful medicine for those who comply with the treatment.
Rick Richie:
So for the people who do it, for the people that do take on the exercise, it's more than just like an orthopedic relief, it's something that can help you feel better in your body. But there is that other sense of wellbeing that takes place there as well. And some of it's biochemical, we know. I found this pretty interesting for many, many years we thought that endorphins might be the runner's high, and they still might be, we're not totally sure yet, but one of the things that also gets released are endocannabanoids. So this production of endocannabinoids, and there are a lot of people who use exogenous cannabinoids, which would be things like marijuana, chocolate also has it, so I feel like that's probably a pretty good reason that a lot of people who love their chocolate. But exercise goes into those same receptor sites.
Rick Richie:
Well those receptor sites weren't designed for marijuana or chocolate. They were designed for exercise, and that high that you feel from doing a relatively rigorous intensity exercise helps to provide that. We also know that exercise helps with dopamine production and when you have dopamine production, there's this kind of conversion from dopamine into, for all intents and purposes, morphine and releases things like nitrous oxide, and that gives us a boost of clarity and reduction of stress.
Rick Richie:
So exercise has these wonderful powers. And if somebody came along and was like, "Hey, I wish that we could come up in pharmacy with a magic pill for this." And we try, but it just doesn't do it and it doesn't do so in a kind of balanced way where we can help reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and surprisingly, help your bodies feel and function better by doing something that stresses your body. And I think that's kind of throws a lot of people off by doing something that adds stress to your body, you actually help to minimize stress on your body.
Jeremy:
Right. Well not unrelated to the study of pharmaco kinetics and pharmacodynamics where we get in metabolism, I think everybody responds to it too at a different rate. Just taking myself and my wife for example, I have drank the orange Kool-Aid, so I'm a participant in the Orange Theory Program. And while I'm there doing it, I am singularly focused on not dying. But after the fact, I feel great. I do feel great. But it's funny, ask me what music was playing, ask me anything, I have no recollection of anything. It's like an out of body experience for me where I'm like, don't die, don't die, don't die, don't die mixed with, don't fly off the back of the treadmill and look like a complete idiot.
Rick Richie:
I guess if you go through all of those challenges, burnout's not going to be an issue.
Jeremy:
That is also very true. Very true. But like somebody like my wife, she gets it immediately. If she goes on a 10 mile run, she may be kind of hurting a little bit from mile one, and then as soon as all of those things kick in, she's just like, she's a machine. So I think it hits all of us a little bit differently. So you kind of, you have to try different things, different modes probably, to see really what it is for you that works. Because as great as exercise is, if it's not something that you're going to ultimately stick with, then it also doesn't have any value.
Jessica Langley:
And Rick, maybe you can...because we're not running 10 miles, right, as we're working or standing at the pharmacy counter or working in a physician's office or something like that. So in order to kind of make an impact on the mundane yet sustaining being on your feet all day, are you able to provide a couple of examples, understanding the environment in which they're working in, that might be able to help or things that they can do during the day whether it's ... Our Apple watches tell us it's time to stand, time to move.
Jeremy:
What would we do without the Apple watch?
Jessica Langley:
What are some of those things that we can maybe provide our listeners that could help them?
Rick Richie:
Yeah, it's a great question. I think that without assessment, you don't get anything specific on what the needs are. But there are general things that we understand that are better for us. And so there are a couple of things I want to say here. One is I will give some examples, but the first kind of hurdle you have to overcome is talking yourself out of doing it. And that's the very first thing because I think a lot of us have an idea of what would be helpful, whether or not we did some type of stretch or we did some just exercise in place.
Rick Richie:
But then we start thinking, well what does that look like to other people? And I've not done it so I don't want to do it now. And it's kind of weird, and we will talk ourselves out of everything. And there was an interesting book and it was an entire book to say the same thing over and over again. It's called The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins. And she just wrote a book that said you have five seconds before you really talk yourself out of it after you come up with a good idea that's going to create a challenge. So exercise is one of those things. And instead of waiting, don't wait if you know that you need to do it and you're in a place where you can. Go into some exercises and don't wait five seconds because you know you're going to talk yourself out of it if you do so.
Rick Richie:
So with that said, what are some things that you can do? I believe that you're going to experience several different issues. There're going to be some lower body stuff, there're going to be some low back things, probably, that people are feeling and [inaudible 00:18:43] position, and then there're going to be some neck and shoulder issues.
Rick Richie:
So the first thing is, I would say focus on the movement. And I think sometimes people will say, "Oh, stretching is good." And it absolutely is. And we've got research that shows that stretching can attenuate some of the feelings of tightness and aches and pains. But also moving and exercise. So what I suggest for people who are kind of cooped up and need to do both, is to find an exercise where you can do both at the same time. And one of the ways that I like to do this, there's an exercise called inchworms. And an inchworm is where you're standing up tall on two feet, and then you reach down like a hamstring stretch. Like you're going to set your hands to the floor. And then bend your knees if you need to until your hands touch the floor.
Rick Richie:
I need to. My knees bend. And then try to keep the knees as straight as possible for as long as possible, but then walk your hands out into a pushup position. And then as you walk your hands back into a standing position, again, try to keep your knees as straight as possible for as long as possible. And those with tight hamstrings, like myself, and a lower back, you're going to get a wonderful stretch in both of those positions. But you also help to create core stability, and it is really a lot to do with the tissues of the core stabilization, and that helps to support everything else. So as a great physical therapist who I follow and think a lot of, his name is Dr. Craig [inaudible 00:00:20:29]. He says, "The tissue isn't the issue. The motion is in the lotion ... or the lotion is in the motion." So getting people to both stretch but also to create movement at the same time.
Jessica Langley:
So what you're saying is when we have a lead, a building here that we work in, and when I'm sitting at my desk for too long, my light goes off and Jeremy always gets onto me saying, that means that you haven't moved in a really long time. And now he can stop making fun of me when I stand up and do an inchworm. Right? And know that [crosstalk 00:21:03] to try and keep the light on and keep moving.
Jeremy:
Well, yes. And the next minute I find myself doing a burpee. You'll probably also think I'm doing an inchworm.
Rick Richie:
Sometimes my burpees look a lot like inchworms.
Rick Richie:
Another one that I like is called the- Oh sorry. But another one I like, better called ... We call them cherry pickers, but I think if our Apple watch is reminding us to move, maybe we'll just call them Apple pickers. But it's where you squat down and touch your feet and then you stand up high and touch the sky. So you reach up and stand up high. And it's just a nice way to create movement, to lubricate the joint, and that synovial fluid that starts to flow around the joints. It really only happens when you create movement around it. So doing that and then you can transition your apple pickers from a squat position to a bent over position like we talked about going into the inchworm where you're doing the stretch as opposed to a squat. But adding both of those different modalities into it would be very helpful.
Jeremy:
That's great. And for anybody who's listening, these are just body weight movements, right? This doesn't require anything. No equipment, doesn't require a lot of time. I don't know if you have a recommendation on reps or something like that. I can't imagine that this is like super intense high rep kind of motions. But just get you moving, get the body, or get the blood flowing. I think all of those are great things.
Rick Richie:
No, I'm not going to add any specific recommendations because here's what people do too often is, if I say a 15 is good and then somebody goes, well, I'm not really going to be able to do 15 so I'll choose zero instead. Because if you can't do 15 then people will often say, I can't do that, then I won't do anything. A few years ago I had a business partner, we started an online thing called The Daily Move Challenge, and this is what I would say most often, and I found it very important because it was five minutes of foam rolling and stretching and then five minutes of exercise, all body weight stuff. And continually, I would say a little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing. And if you can't do ...
Rick Richie:
Let's say the ACSM recommends that you should do 150 minutes a week of exercise, and that seems so insane to be able to exercise that much. So instead of doing 150 minutes, we keep doing zero minutes. And I think it's a huge disservice to ourselves to understand that just because I can't get that 150 minutes, which is the recommendation, then I'll go with a zero instead. So be happy with it. I tell people, that little bit of something's better than a whole lot of nothing.
Rick Richie:
And if I have clients that say if I go to the gym, what do you want me to do? And sometimes I'll say, what's your favorite exercise? [inaudible 00:24:19] they say bench press. And I say, "Great, go to the gym and do a one set of bench press." And they're like, "What is that kind of do?" And I went, "Because you've told me in the past that it's hard for you to go work out on your own. So it doesn't go to the gym, find your favorite thing to do, do one set of it, and if you want to do more, do more. And if you want to, while you're doing bench press, you do a few sets of that and you look around and go, I'm going to get through the leg press and maybe I'll do a few minutes on the elliptical machine or whatever."
Rick Richie:
Then what I've found is that, we've heard this phrase, the anticipation of death is worse than death itself, and I think the anticipation of exercise is worse than exercise itself. And if we can just give people something that they like and don't put too many constraints around what it looks like, then we can teach people to start enjoying exercise and make them want to do more.
Jeremy:
Man, you do not know how true that is. Obviously, my wife knows what every day's focus is at Orange Theory, right. When I go, I'm like, I don't want to know anything. I want to show up. Just as surprised as the next guy because I don't want to get in my head thinking about, oh God, this is a 2000 meter row benchmark. This is this, this is that. I just want to show up, focus on not dying, not falling off the treadmill, and just do it.
Rick Richie:
Good, good. I'm with you on that. And if we can simplify that even- And I have to say, bless classes too, and Orange Theory has done really well with it and they hire a lot of NASM trainers. So holler. But plain up, they're doing such a good job and what these classes do is they also take the thinking out of it.
Jeremy:
Absolutely.
Rick Richie:
But they can be wonderfully intense. There are also other classes that are out there that don't have that intensity. So driving people towards working with a personal trainer or going into classes. There's also plenty of evidence that things like yoga and Pilates and other kind of mind body things including meditation can be very helpful in the process of not just feeling less stress, but also the benefits of these musculoskeletal pains that come about as well.
Jessica Langley:
Well I think that's great to really trim it down because we do oftentimes think about the whole exercise, nutrition, diet, health and wellness is this big complex thing, and it definitely can be, like you said, there's a lot of science and everything behind it. But really it comes down to something is better than nothing and you just have to get started, which I say that and I need to be like writing it on a mirror and looking at my fit- Have it stare at me every day. I'm in that, that rut as a single parent for a long time. Two small children, working full time, trying to make all the wheels turn, and it definitely caught up with me and I'm feeling my age. So I'm going to do my best to take your advice and really kind of simplify it and let's see what we can do.
Jessica Langley:
In transition, our organization, Ascend Learning, who's the parent company of both NHA and NAS. NASM has created a great working culture around health and wellness. And I know more organizations are focusing on this, but maybe you can share because you're really deep in this space, the importance of creating an environment or a culture that allows for individuals to take that little bit of time, or has other initiatives in place that support a person's health and wellness journey. And it's odd because like Jeremy said, it's typically the health folks that are the worst at it. It's the respiratory therapists that are all smoking on their break. Or we're standing all day and not doing the things that we're telling our patients or the individuals that we're serving to do. So how can their work environment help in this specific case?
Rick Richie:
I think there are a couple of things here. Wonderful, wonderful question, a great lead into it. Several things here is one, you just want to minimize the roadblocks and the barriers that people are going to have. I did my dissertation on something called attribution theory and attributional retraining. And what that basically says is that people find things to blame because they didn't do things that they feel like they should do. And mine was specifically about exercise. And so people would find things like, my family or my time or work, and all of this had gotten in the way. And I found it very interesting that there were two parts of this attribution. It's what people think about themselves and it's what other people think of them. So when I asked the trainers if they thought that was true, the trainers almost inevitably said, "No, everybody's busy. Everybody's busy, this person's not as busy as the other client I have. And that client comes in and trains here and does all of this on their own."
Rick Richie:
So what is it that kind of creates us a sticking point. And I thought one of the great quotes that had come out of it is that we know that even though we attribute things to a specific thing, like I don't have enough time, that may not be true, but sometimes the perception of that is more important than anything else. So if I can help minimize time, that roadblock specifically, or I don't take away from your time with the family, by creating a corporate environment and participating and maybe in our corporate wellness program where there's a fitness facility or a quiet room for meditation, then I just take that roadblock out. I don't add in a 15, 20, 30 minute commute to get to the gym, to get back home, to go home and change clothes, I get in the shower.
Rick Richie:
Everything's kind of present there and simplified. So having something present and close by is very valuable. And I know how valuable it is because people that even travel get in their car and go to the gym will still circle the parking lot a dozen times to find the closest parking spot, and they're going to work out. So how can we actually improve that? And that's by having it as close to and a part of the fitness, or the place of employment that people are. It's just not possible for all locations. And if you're working as a pharm tech somewhere, then that's probably not going to be an issue or not going to be a probability for a lot of people. So creating some simplicity around what it is that you can do onsite, and having a culture where the people around you don't look at you as being strange for doing that.
Rick Richie:
And I think a lot of- Let me say a lot of the fitter people, if they were to do it, nobody would think anything about it. And yet the unfit people, the people who are struggling maybe with weight and with some pathologies and they start doing exercise, and maybe we look at them with a side-eye or at least they perceive that to be the case. So actively encouraging people to exercise and not feel like they're being looked at strange in the office or wherever they are and doing exercise because it's not just about the physical, it is about the mental. And Tony Robbins has a great quote and it's a very short one, which is why I can remember it. And he says, "Motion creates emotion." And if we can move and we can come back and feel better because there's some type of movement and activity that's taking place that allows me to be more mentally astute while also feeling better physically, then you got to take advantage of it and develop that as a part of the company culture.
Jessica Langley:
Well, and in that case, everybody wins, right? You win as the individual of improving your health. You get a clear head, you can be more creative, you can be more astute, in tuned with the task that you're doing, and you can be more open and communicate better and in a better manner with the patients or the people that you're serving. So for me, if an employer doesn't want to consider that or they think that the time is too valuable to let people have 10 minutes or whatever, they should really take a step back and understand what higher productivity levels or what increased level of creativity or strategic thinking would they maybe get out of individuals in the case.
Jessica Langley:
And especially in pharmacy, I mean, we're talking about dealing with individuals that are getting prescription drugs and we know the importance of reducing medication errors and ensuring that we're doing everything the right way for that patient and their specific condition. You got to be on top of it. I mean, or else people's lives are at stake, and sometimes we do just need that mental break. Mental, physical, whatever, like you mentioned to just take a step back and relax in order to make sure we are doing our job to the best of our abilities.
Rick Richie:
Yeah, and I was speaking with a woman today that just said- We were talking about a corporate wellness program that one of the companies that I have in New York City does, and allowing people to have a break and she said, "Yes, we have to talk to people about giving themselves permission to do that." So a lot of times it's not even the company that puts that on people. The company may encourage it, but they don't give themselves permission to do it. And I think part of what we need to do as a company is not just say you should take vacation, you have vacation, use them. Right, but actively find out when are you going to go on vacation. You need to schedule your vacation, not just because you'll lose your hours. We give you a vacation because of your own sanity and your mental health. And same thing should be incorporated as far as exercise is concerned. Not just put a memo out there that says, "If you need a 10 minute workout break, exercise break meditation break, take it.
Rick Richie:
But actively encourage it and have that come from the top and have the management be a part of it, and have colleagues and coworkers all inspiring each other to do something. Because even if it's not much, a little bit of something's still better than a whole lot of nothing.
Jessica Langley:
That's right. And helping change ourselves ultimately helps us change the people that we're working with. Like you mentioned. Right on. That was the main reason why you got in this because you love seeing the change in people. And everybody working in healthcare, whether it's pharmacy technicians, medical assistants, radiologic technologist, I mean, all of our jobs really revolve around that one concept.
Rick Richie:
Yeah.
Jeremy:
So what do you think, Jessica? We have a gym downstairs. Do we now push for like a napping room or like a quiet meditation room?
Jessica Langley:
Well, I don't know if Rick would say that napping qualifies as doing the movement, but [crosstalk 00:36:11].
Jeremy:
Well if the entrance is through the gym, maybe.
Jessica Langley:
But yes, of course. I know I'm going to do my best to try and clear my schedule, even if it's 15 minutes. But as we mentioned, Ascend does a great job here of promoting that. And I think our goal of today is just spreading the word, and the small steps that you can take, and the simple and easy exercises that you can do to support those individuals that are listening today on, it just takes a little bit, just one step to get started. So we hope that that helps them feel a little bit better and feel more empowered.
Jeremy:
Yeah, absolutely. And I believe we will have some links to some additional information in the show notes that you can kind of explore some of these things on your own, and really just like I said earlier, I think a lot of it is finding the mode that works best for you. I mean, for me, you hit the nail on the head about not having to think about it. Not having to think, is today arm day, leg day, what am I going to do? Being in a group environment that still has an oversight from a personal trainer to ensure that you are doing things correctly so you don't injure yourself, adds a lot of accountability, for one. It creates a great community, but then also takes away that, I'm at the end of the day, I don't want to think anymore. I don't want to make any more decisions. I just want to go and yeah, get my heart rate up for an hour.
Jessica Langley:
Well Rick, thank you so much. Any final closing statements that you would like to pass on to the healthcare space and the pharmacy technicians or even their pharmacist, their leaders that are listening today?
Rick Richie:
I would just say if you think that personal training sounds like something that you might be interested in, then certainly please consider the National Academy of Sports Medicine, NASM, as an option. They're a great company, they have wonderful education, and to go through and understand a little bit more about human movement science, and assessments, and exercise, and the benefits that that could relay. That could be good just as a personal experience that you would want to go through or as a little side hustle that you might want to do at some point in your life. So if it sounds like something you'd like, then please check us out. NASM.org.
Jeremy:
That's awesome. And I'll also remind all of our listeners to check out Rick's podcast. It's the NASM CPT podcast. Subscribe to us, subscribe to Rick. Great content, great information, not just for personal trainers. I listen to it, I enjoy it. I am definitely not a personal trainer. My wife is and she loves it. So definitely have ... If you were here and not in New York, she would be asking for an autograph.
Jeremy:
And as always, we encourage our listeners to email us here at onscript@nhanow.com. You can also find a link to this episode as well as all of our other episodes on our blog at www.nhanow.com/ learning-leading. Don't forget to subscribe there, subscribe to us on Apple podcasts. Until we are back again, thank you all so much, and get out there and get moving.
