Methodist Health System Blog

We love Thanksgiving. It’s a time to be with friends and family, reflect on what you’re grateful for, engage in holiday games and traditions, and indulge in your favorite Thanksgiving recipes. But Thanksgiving can also bring an unwanted visitor — stress. You can stress over family dynamics and seasonal financial burdens. You can even worry about how to enjoy yourself without sa ...

Update November 11, 2021: Methodist Health System is very proud to announce that we have once again earned the 2022 Military Friendly® Silver designation. We also earned Top Ten Employer status in the military spouse, supplier diversity, and friendly brand categories. For Veterans Day, Methodist Health System is honoring all our men and women veterans who are part of the Metho ...

Trying to incorporate a new health behavior into your life can be challenging. No matter how convinced you are that you need to drink more water, meditate before bedtime, or go for walks in the evening, it can be difficult to make it part of your routine. Thankfully, there is plenty of literature on what influences your likelihood of maintaining a new behavior. Here are some ti ...

Have you ever found yourself working through lunch or putting off a much-needed break and then suddenly realizing that hours have gone by? With busy schedules and so many tasks to accomplish during the workday, we’re often tempted to skip any breaks and work straight through. However, it’s important to remember that while our brains are wonderful at interpreting information, th ...

With summer winding down and cooler weather ahead, you may be looking forward to dining outside at your favorite restaurant patio. But as fun as it can be to give yourself a break from cooking at home, you need to be prepared not only to take safety measures during the pandemic but also to make sure you don’t fall off track with your weight loss plan or healthy routine. Not to ...

In honor of Black Business Month, I wanted to share what it means to be part of a company that truly embraces diversity. Every year, the amount that Methodist Health System spends with diverse vendors continues to grow. I believe that this speaks volumes about our overall culture and our commitment to supporting diversity. It aligns with our goals to increase opportunities for ...

DALLAS — Methodist Health System is mandating that all of its workforce be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 1, 2021. Methodist was the first health system in North Texas to offer vaccines to its workforce, and the majority of its workforce took advantage of that opportunity. Now the remainder of its employees (on-campus and remote workers), physicians on the medical staf ...

Have you ever decided that it was time to go to sleep but instead spent hours awake watching TV or finishing something you didn’t have enough time to complete during the day? If so, you may have engaged in what experts call revenge bedtime procrastination. What you’re doing is sacrificing sleep for leisure time. Putting off sleep? Revenge bedtime procrastination is much more ...

Walking is one of the most underrated activities that you can do for your health and well-being. It takes little time, can fit into the busiest of schedules, requires very little preparation, and takes no special equipment or training. When we get up and put one foot in front of the other, it benefits our physical, mental, and emotional health in many ways. Exercising actually ...

Every year as it draws nearAmerica’s Independence DayWe call it her birthdayAnd plan a party to celebrate.Friends and neighbors gatherBackyard bashes and pool partiesFlag a-flying, kids squealingWe build summer memories together. Yet, for many othersIt is a quiet reflectionA moment to recognizeAll that was won and lost. Many years ago, brothers turned foesAs lines in the sand ...

The desire to belong and feel a sense of security and connection with others is a fundamental human need. If it wasn’t so important, we would all be living solitary lives. Instead, it is integral to how we organize ourselves: creating communities, families, groups, and organizations where people feel connected. There are three terms that come to mind when we think about the va ...

When we face a difficult problem, stress, or boredom, many of us turn to food. Food cravings can hit us when we’re at our weakest emotional points. If food is your comfort zone, you may struggle with your weight. The good news is that if you’re prone to stress eating, there are steps that you can take to get back on track. The mood-food-weight cycle Emotional eating is eating ...

When I’m asked what healthcare should look like today and in the future, I think of my wife, Stacey Sheffield, MSN, APRN, AG-ACNP-BC, CEN. I know what she believes about how care should be delivered. I have been there with her when she was a patient and have had the honor of working with her at the bedside for almost 25 years. The idea of patient-centered care resonates with he ...

Have you ever had a good night’s sleep only to wake up still feeling exhausted? You see, sleep and rest are not the same thing. We tend to think that if we had a good night of sleep, then we’re well rested. The fact is, we are a population of chronically tired people, averaging 6.8 hours of sleep per night when adults actually need seven to eight hours per night. Because we lac ...

DALLAS — A state-of-the-art 12-bed oncology unit devoted to medical and surgical patients diagnosed with cancer made its debut Friday at Methodist Charlton Medical Center. The Dr. Stephen and Marilyn Mansfield Oncology Unit pays tribute to the health system’s former president and chief executive officer and his wife. “You don’t have to look far to see Steve and Marilyn’s fing ...

Your family health history may not be the go-to topic during family gatherings or calls with loved ones, but being aware of the health conditions that have affected those related to you can make it easier for you and your physician to monitor your own health. If one or more of your close family members has a chronic condition, you may want to discuss this with your healthcare p ...

  Did you know that Americans spend on average about 90 percent of their time indoors? To put that number in perspective, by the time we are 40, most of us will have spent 36 years of our lives indoors. That’s a lot of time, especially when there’s a great, big, beautiful world outside. And being indoors all the time has a downside: lack of room to play, move around, and expl ...

It's no secret that the Mediterranean diet boasts a variety of benefits. Eating a Mediterranean diet is associated with longevity, gut health, and even improved mood. And according to research published in “Experimental Gerontology,” there’s another benefit to consider — better cognitive function as we age. The thinker’s diet A team of researchers from the University of Edinb ...

Many of us are hardwired to be independent minded and want to figure out solutions to difficult situations on our own. From finding someone to help you manage your kids tackling virtual school to coping with anxiety, grief, or depression, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the uncomfortable need to ask for help. We often feel uneasy requesting help, and there ar ...

  Ah, February, the month of Groundhog Day, Presidents Day, Mardi Gras, Asian New Year, Black History Month, and Valentine’s Day. February is a time of love and fun — two words you don’t usually associate with caregiving. For many, caregiving is a job that just happened. You’re going about your daily life when an emergency occurs and changes everything. You are quickly thrust ...