news&views Autumn 2020 | Page 17

ARTA Mental Wellness Challenge BINGO ARTA takes pride in promoting a healthy, active, and enhanced quality of life to our members. Wellness is one of ARTA’s strategic goals and we do our best to provide members with tools to implement wellness into their daily lives. Physical wellness and being active is a big part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle; mental wellness is important for our overall health as it influences how we think, feel, and make decisions in our daily life. Mental wellness awareness can sometimes be overshadowed by physical wellness concerns; however, being mentally fit is a huge part of staying healthy. According to the World Health Organization, mental wellness is defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work and fruitfully make a contribution to his or her community.” If you take care of your mental wellness, you benefit from having a healthy state of mind, and your friends, family, and community will also benefit. Being mentally well will give you a zest for living and the ability to live a happy life and bounce back from adversity. Please submit your BINGO card by November 30 th , 2020. Stay well and good luck! ARTA knows that our members’ mental health is important and would like to introduce mental health activities you can do to flex your mental wellness muscles. On the back of this page you will see a wellness BINGO sheet with suggested mental wellness activities. We hope to inspire you to try new skills to boost your mental wellness. HOW IT WORKS Once you have completed a mental wellness exercise on the bingo card, cross it off and move on to the next exercise. For every completed “bingo” (a line across, down, or diagonal) you will receive one entry into a draw (up to a maximum of three entries). If you get a “blackout,” you will get five entries! Each entry will give you the chance to win some great prizes including ARTA gear from the ARTA apparel store. The bingo card can be found online at arta.net/BINGO if you would like to download a copy. You can submit your BINGO card by emailing a picture or scanning your card to jhope@arta.net. 81% of Canadians are more aware of mental health issues compared to five years ago 94% of seniors in Canada who experience mental health problems have chronic physical conditions Being socially connected and challenging your brain can reduce the overall dementia burden by 35% Running for 15 minutes a day or walking for an hour reduces the risk of major depression by 26% bit.ly/393a8RA Find out more about Canadian seniors and mental health at: bit.ly/2VXVJB7 news&views AUTUMN 2020 | 17