Tag: total wellness for police officers

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The Tactical Lunch Bag: Healthy Eating-Law Enforcement Style

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As we finish the first couple of months of the New Year, many of us are adjusting to our committed changes we have made for a healthier 2012.

One area which can make a huge difference in our wellness program is our eating when on duty.
• Do you have a plan for your meals at work?
• Do you succumb to the quick and easy fix of fast food or easy to grab snack foods when we are ravenous?
• Do you constantly pick at food that people offer?

I used to be one of the officers who would spend quite a bit of money on junk food and eating crap while on duty. I felt like crap and it was no secret as I weighed over 350 pounds trying to do this job. My body ached, my demeanor was not nice and I was miserable. I was fortunate many years ago when I slowly decided to change the way I was eating and start exercising. I indicated several weeks ago, I am in the best shape of my life today as I slowly approach the age of 50.

A great part of my success keeping the weight off has been planning out my meals when I have to work. It sounds complicated but it is simple when… Continue reading

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Two NIJ Studies on Shift Length, Sleep Disorders and Police Officer Wellness

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U.S. NIJ STUDY SHOWS THAT 10-HOUR WORK SHIFTS OFFER BENEFITS
OVER THE TRADITIONALLY USED 8-HOUR SHIFT

Shift length most beneficial to officers may also save money

This week, the U.S. National Institute of Justice released findings from two new studies that have implications for improving police officer wellness and work life. The Shift Length Experiment showed that the length of an officer’s work shift has a significant impact on their wellness; a 10-hour work shift offers a number of benefits over the commonly used 8-hour shift, including that officers get more sleep. This report is released on the heels of Sleep Disorders, Health, and Safety in Police Officers finding that 40 percent of officers studied had at least one sleep disorder. Sleep disorders are associated with an increased risk… Continue reading

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Thank You to Law Enforcement Everywhere!

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On this Thanksgiving day in the United States we say thank you to all law enforcement professionals around the world.  Thank you to all the police officers, sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers, detectives, parole officers, probation officers, SWAT team members, traffic cops, police supervisors, law enforcement managers, and police chiefs from around the world.  Thank you for all that you do to protect and serve our communities and make the world a better place.

We also want to thank and recognize all of those people who support, love and encourage law enforcement officers.  Thank you to all the police wives and police husbands, police mom’s… Continue reading

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Total Wellness for Law Enforcement Professionals

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The CopsAlive Total Wellness Project is a community effort to ensure the wellness of police officers around the world by gathering tips, suggestions, stories, strategies and resources from law enforcement officers to help other cops survive this career.

We are planning on creating a special report on how to create total wellness for police officers and protect ourselves from all the threats that affect us in or following a law enforcement career.

CopsAlive.com was created to help law enforcement officers successfully navigate their careers and build happy, healthy lives.  We believe that law enforcement is the most noble of professions and acknowledge that many people working in law enforcement make sacrifices everyday to make our communities safer and happier.  We believe that those professionals in law enforcement also deserve to be happy, healthy and successful and we intend to help them plan for that by collecting and disseminating information that will help them have better careers and better lives.  We accomplish this by establishing a running commentary on the Internet through the use of a web log or Blog.  We create interactive discussions and stimulate action around the hidden dangers facing the police.  We use survey instruments online, and in person, to discover the beliefs of our industry and we tailor information strategies and tools for them from this information.  If you believe in this mission and have something to contribute we would welcome it.

We are looking for stories, examples and strategies that will re-enforce a sense of total wellness and protect us from all the threats that confront a policing professional in or following a career in law enforcement.

The final product a “Special Report” will be distributed free to police officers and other law enforcement professionals around the world.

Everyone who contributes to the report will automatically receive… Continue reading

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Ten Tips Toward Total Wellness for Police Officers

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CopsAlive.com offers law enforcement professionals a list of Ten Tips Toward Total Wellness for Police Officers with supporting information from the Mayo Clinic and other health professionals.

1. Drink Lot’s of Water
2. Get Eight Hours of Sleep
3. Control Your Stress
4. Reduce Your Intake of High Fructose Corn Syrup Continue reading

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IACP Conference Addresses Police Wellness

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Over 13,000 registrants and hundreds of other walk in law enforcement officers attended the 116th annual International Association of Chief of Police conference this week and among the dozens of topics were educational seminars on the issues of police suicide, stress management, wellness, nutrition and the role of sports medicine in officer safety and wellness.  The presenters came from the Los Angeles Police Department Behavioral Sciences Unit, The Denver Police Department and the Fairfax County Police Department.

Of the resources made available… Continue reading