Leighanne is the lead health promotion coordinator for a group called the Military Sealift Command with about 60 ships in total. She runs the health and wellness program for civilian Mariners out on the open sea.
In This Episode:
- At her position, Leighanne does nutrition education, physical activity education, as well as one-on-one health coaching and even meditation classes,
- Her undergrad degree is in exercise science with a minor in health and wellness. And then she has a master’s in health studies.
- People who are out at sea can spend six months to a year at a time on the ships and job satisfaction is pretty low, so they try to focus on mental health and wellness. Often people know what they should be doing but aren’t doing it.
- We talk about how transformation is not like a switch that turns on and suddenly one’s health is under control, but it’s a gradual progression as we replace habits with ones that better serve us.
- We discuss how setbacks are part of our journey, even those of a health coach and personal trainer.
- We talk about how to deal with the “Oh f*&^% it’s” which is when you make a bad decision, eat a poor meal, etc and decide to just start tomorrow and go off the rails for the rest of the day.
- Those working on the ship don’t have access to fast food and work long hours so some do experience weight gain, but others deal with other mental health and physical issues.
- Leighanne is a big proponent of meditation and mindfulness practices and how it is a muscle like any other that needs to be developed.
Quotes from This Episode:
- “Not only that, but meditation also helps to separate us from our thoughts. And especially these judgmental thoughts we may have towards ourselves when we’re trying to change habits.” – Leighanne
Links To Things I Talk About:
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