SUNY Distinguished Academy Inaugural Webinar: Health and Wellness in the Age of COVID: A Call to Action for Higher Education

Lifestyle behaviors have long accounted for more than 70% of chronic diseases in the U.S., but the ongoing pandemic has focused an intense spotlight on how these preventable conditions—not age —are the main drivers of serious illness. Individuals with COVID-19 are six times more likely to be hospitalized and 12 times more likely to die when they have underlying conditions that include obesity, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes. We are at a tipping point in healthcare where the paradigm must shift from emphasizing treatment to an equally intense focus on promoting lifestyle behaviors, especially healthy nutrition, and diet. This shift can not only prevent and reverse chronic disease, but promote resilience to COVID-19 and future challenges.

This webinar will showcase how wellness and lifestyle medicine can promote the sustainability of SUNY students, staff, faculty, and community especially when external challenges, like COVID-19, have had a disproportionate impact on people of color, and individuals with chronic, underlying disease. We will identify the components of lifestyle medicine that contribute to healthy longevity, namely healthy eating, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances. We will recognize the ability of a healthy diet, composed primarily of whole plant foods, to prevent, treat, and reverse many chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. We will examine how SUNY can promote wellness and healthy longevity, and address health disparities, through proactive student and faculty efforts in partnership with national and local organizations.

This event is for SUNY/FIT employees; REGISTER HERE.