“Flu season” is generally considered to be from October or November to May. The flu spreads through coughs, sneezes, sharing drinks or food, and by touching infected surfaces.

The flu contributes to between 140,000 and 170,000 hospitalizations in the US every year. Estimated annual flu deaths hit a low of 12,000 in 2011-12 and a high of 56,000 during 2012-13.

According to the CDC, everyone six months and older should get a flu shot every year. The vaccine takes about two weeks to build up your immunity, so get your shot by October 31.

– Glenn Gillen, APR, S&A Communications

Do you find that your mornings or productive time are filled with meetings, and by the time you can start projects, you’re tapped out and don’t have energy left to work on anything requiring attention? If you are in a position to have control over your schedule, stop letting other people or your inbox control your agenda.

If you’re a morning person, block your calendar and keep it sacred. Don’t schedule a meeting or check your email until 10 AM or until after you get 2-3 hours of genius time in. Protect your time to give your best self.

– Marcey Rader, Marcey Rader Coaching, LLC, Work Well. Play More! Institute

Text, email, voice mail, instant message, social media … we love it and hate it.

Each notification means someone is thinking about us or it’s a request to read, share, buy or task. The average person receives over 150 notifications in a day and gets interrupted about every eight minutes. If it takes 15-25 minutes to refocus, are you ever really focused?

You have trained your brain to react to a notification the same way Pavlov trained dogs to salivate. Rewire your brain by turning off one notification at a time, until you are left with the three most important.

– Marcey Rader, Marcey Rader Coaching, LLC, Work Well. Play More! Institute

Sitting is the new smoking. Meetings are the biggest time-wasters at work. Studies show walking meetings boost creativity and collaboration when done in groups of 2-4 people.

Walk and talks are intimate, provoke honesty, reduce real or perceived hierarchies and decrease multitasking. If 92% of people admit to multitasking during a meeting, prevent it by combining it with a walk.

The health benefits are numerous. It’s a movement opportunity that increases alertness and energy levels and burns calories. See how many meetings you have on your calendar that can be good for your butt and your brain.

– Marcey Rader, Marcey Rader Coaching, LLC, Work Well. Play More! Institute

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease and strokes are among the leading causes of death in North Carolina.

To help provide specialized care, UNC REX Healthcare is building The North Carolina Heart & Vascular Hospital, a state-of-the-art facility on our Raleigh campus that combines heart and vascular services. Our goal is to make a hospital experience better for our physicians, researchers, clinicians and, most importantly, our patients.

Scheduled to open this March, this new heart and vascular hospital will provide treatment, rehabilitation, education and prevention in one location – centered on a mission to improve health outcomes.

– Kerry Grace Heckle, UNC REX Healthcare

This quiz indicated more than 2.4 million germs likely live on my workplace keyboard – more than the number on 420 public toilets.

Considering people tend to touch their faces (eyes, noses, mouths) about 16 times each day, it is enough to be sickening. Germs can live on solid surfaces for up to 48 hours, especially flu germs.

Tip #3: Clean and sanitize your keyboard, telephones, desks and doorknobs weekly provided you’re the only one to touch these. Clean daily if these items are touched by multiple people every day. Alcohol on a cloth or cotton swabs to the rescue!

– Deneen Bloom, S&A Communications

Front Street Brewery in Wilmington, North Carolina, hosts a 75-minute, all-levels yoga class every other Monday. The yoga session is free, but a $10 donation is suggested. All proceeds are donated to the instructor’s local nonprofit of choice.

Not only do participants get a solid yoga session in, but after sweating it out for 75 minutes, they get to enjoy a free beer provided by Front Street Brewery.

The purpose of the yoga class is to unite the local community through yoga and craft beer in order to give back to local nonprofits. Learn more here!

– Abby Leitner, S&A Communications

You probably know Americans spend a lot of time working. According to the US Department of Labor, employed Americans ages 24-54 spend 8.9 hours per day working or on work-related activities. That’s 1,900+ hours each year factoring in weekends, vacations and holidays.

How can we boost our health at work?

Tip 1: Switch to a standing desk or a variable one that adjusts for standing or sitting. This alleviates prolonged sedentary hours seated, which are not good for your back or neck. Plus, standing at a desk burns more calories than sitting. Calculate your calories burned.

– Deneen Bloom, S&A Communications

We all hear the term mobility and are told how important it is; however, we rarely get a proper explanation of what it really means.

Mobility is not simply how much flexibility you have, but it is your ability to move through simple and complex movements properly. Proper mobility requires flexibility, strength and stability. A lack of or dysfunction in any of these areas will lead to altered movements that will diminish your performance and significantly increase your likelihood of injury.

Whether you are currently involved in regular exercise or planning to get into something new, have your mobility checked.

– Dr. Michael Poplak DC, ART, Triangle Chiropractic