Category: Plan Your Health

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Depressed About Fast Food?

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The other night, my wife and I were enjoying our dinner together at home. We were discussing the results of a study that was recently published that confirmed a link between fast food and depression. As we interacted about the subject, my wife who has been my best helper and supporter during my 25+ years in law enforcement, and who has been researching wellness issues in the public safety profession made this statement:

“It is a vicious cycle, when people are depressed they don’t have… Continue reading

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The Tactical Lunch Bag: Healthy Eating-Law Enforcement Style

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As we finish the first couple of months of the New Year, many of us are adjusting to our committed changes we have made for a healthier 2012.

One area which can make a huge difference in our wellness program is our eating when on duty.
• Do you have a plan for your meals at work?
• Do you succumb to the quick and easy fix of fast food or easy to grab snack foods when we are ravenous?
• Do you constantly pick at food that people offer?

I used to be one of the officers who would spend quite a bit of money on junk food and eating crap while on duty. I felt like crap and it was no secret as I weighed over 350 pounds trying to do this job. My body ached, my demeanor was not nice and I was miserable. I was fortunate many years ago when I slowly decided to change the way I was eating and start exercising. I indicated several weeks ago, I am in the best shape of my life today as I slowly approach the age of 50.

A great part of my success keeping the weight off has been planning out my meals when I have to work. It sounds complicated but it is simple when… Continue reading

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Police officers and SLEEP: “O.K. so like…What’s that?”

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In December 2011, a study was released by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston which reported that about 40% of police officers in the U.S. have a sleep disorder. From my experience over the past 27 years as a cop, my thought is this: “TELL ME SOMETHING, I DON’T ALREADY KNOW”. Seriously, I am thrilled with this study as we are once again getting scientific facts which will help our profession advocate for better working conditions.

Dr. Bryan Vila in his book: TIRED COPS has already been educating us on this serious issue.

As law enforcement officers know most of our duty time is during the night hours. I worked midnights for many years and I can tell anyone first hand that it was tough especially during those shift hours between 0300 to 0600 when we as human beings have a natural dip to fade physically as our human biological clock tell us we should be sleeping. We have other cops who work swing shifts, rotating shifts, 10-12 and some 16 hour shifts. Unbelievable!

The conflict is the public we serve and police administrators expect us to be bright eyed and bushy tailed during these hours. Put on top of this expectation: rotating shift schedules, forced overtime shifts, court appearances and training are some of the professional conflicts that police officers face. This contributes to the problem. I mean let’s face it; there are very few court sessions or in-service training being held during the night time hours with an exception of the large communities or agencies.

Contributing to this problem is… Continue reading

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Critical Incident Stress Management

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Editors Note: The following is an article from Robert F. Rabe who has 38 years of Law enforcement experience, and has been involved in Critical Incident Stress Management for over 20 years.

A college professor once asked the class, “how heavy is a glass of water?”  The professor received several answers but the professor replied, “the weight doesn’t matter, it depends on long you try to hold it…the longer you hold it the heavier it becomes…that is until you put it down and rest.”  Stress is the same way.  If we carry stress especially after a critical incident the stress can become increasingly heavy, if not dealt with properly.  The stress may lead to a crisis.  According to the Chinese symbol for crisis it is made up from two other symbols which are danger and opportunity (see graphic on this page).  We can collapse under the weight of the crisis (danger) or we can learn to develop new skills (opportunity) to meet it head on.  Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell is the founder of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.  In the early 1980’s, Dr. Mitchell, who was a firefighter/paramedic, found that after a critical incident, his peers demonstrated difficulty coping with the stress.  He studied their reactions and developed CISM, which is now a worldwide program. The purpose of this article is to provide to help law enforcement personnel, better understand and cope with reactions following involvement in critical incidents.

CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS MANAGEMENT
CISM is a comprehensive, organized approach for the reduction… Continue reading

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Our Honorable Profession

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On New Year’s Day, I received a telephone call from a good friend who is one of New York’s Finest. I will refer to him as Officer X to protect his anonymity.

Officer X wanted to talk for a while. The N.Y.P.D. recently lost a well-known police officer Peter Figoski who was murdered on duty in December. The news broke on Saturday that A.T.F. Special Agent, John Capano died while stopping a pharmacy robbery on Long Island, N.Y. Officer X was really down and frustrated with the public. His frustration was people do not respect the police or the military like they used to. The increase in violence against cops over the last several years is really starting to hit home for Officer X. Add in the fact he is approaching the 10 year point as a cop, he works the day in-day out daily grind, the tragic events and people he… Continue reading

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A Stress Management Prescription for Law Enforcement and Police Officers

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Stress and all the physiological impacts it has upon a law enforcement officer’s body and mind are a major contributing factor to many of the ills that befall police officers and other law enforcement professionals.  Even though this article is written using the term police officer, it isn’t meant to exclude other law enforcement professionals like deputy sheriffs, corrections officers, parole officers, probation officers, DA’s investigators, dispatchers, CSI’s, code enforcement officers, wildlife officers, park rangers, etc.  The problems of stress seem inherent in the law enforcement profession in general and no one seems immune to its toxic effects.

The Law Enforcement Survival Institute offers a prescription for law enforcement stress management called “Rx3x”.  The prescription (Rx) is for stress management activities three times (3x) a day.  The Rx3x process calls for a combination of mind and body exercises to reduce and manage excessive stress on days when a law enforcement officer or other professional is working.  The process calls for:

1. A Physical Fitness Workout of 30-45 min each day focused upon building strength and aerobic fitness;
2.  A Buffer Workout for Stress Reduction (20-30 min) between the work and home transition; and
3.  A Stress Management Session (20-30 min) later in the day focused upon reducing mental stress.

A career in law enforcement can become very toxic… Continue reading

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2011 US National Suicide Prevention Week

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Editors Note: CopsAlive was created to prompt discussions within our profession about important issues like police officer suicide, and we invite you to share your thoughts and opinions in the Comment Box that is at the bottom of this article.

Today begins National Suicide Prevention Week in the U.S. which runs from Sunday through Saturday preceding World Suicide Prevention Day on Saturday September 10th.

No matter who’s statistics you consider on the issue of police suicide, police officer suicides are a major problem worldwide.  We invite you to discuss this problem within your agency and we have provided a roll call discussion guide at the end of this article.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health, is hosting World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th, 2011. This year’s theme is “Changing the Legacy of Suicide,” and will focus on raising awareness that suicide is a major preventable cause of premature death on a global level. Governments need to develop policy frameworks for national suicide prevention strategies. At the local level, policy statements and research outcomes need to be… Continue reading

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The West Coast Posttrauma Retreat

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Editors Note: This is a guest article written by Anne Bisek, Psy.D. about the activities of the West Coast Posttrauma Retreat.  They are trying to learn more about PTSD and how it affects law enforcement officers and other first responders.  Please help them out by taking their online survey and maybe referring someone you know to them for assistance.

Pedro sat in front of his computer, when Jay snuck up from behind him with a can of jalapeño flavored jelly beans.

“What the –?” Pedro gasped.
Jay laughed.  “You gotta try one of these. Hey, what are you doing? That looks like Survey Monkey.”

Pedro grabbed the jar away from his colleague, a veteran of the police department for 9 years.  “You are going to hurt someone with that.”
Inside, Pedro breathed a sigh of relief. This was the first halfhearted attempt at a practical joke he had seen from his friend in months.  Since the last SIDS call, Jay had lost his usual spunk, and was less interested in the banter at the office.

“Yes, this is Survey Monkey. I am filling out a questionnaire for a group called the West Coast Posttrauma Retreat.  They are developing a new questionnaire for PTSD because the current ones are normed on civilians and don’t fit us cops.”

“So you have PTSD?” Jay asked hesitantly.
“That is not the point.  WCPR needs a lot of cops to fill this out because what is normal to us isn’t normal to the general population.  The measure will also be able to… Continue reading

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The Importance of Sleep to Police Officers

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As a Cop, Do You Get Enough Sleep?

The issues of fatigue and poor sleep quality are become more and more important to effective law enforcement management.  Police managers, supervisors and officers, need to be aware of the issues and liabilities that surround officers who are fatigued at work, and how that might affect their job performance.  Individual officers need to be responsible for insuring that they are properly rested and ready for work.  Effective stress management and proper sleep habits work hand in hand and law enforcement professional need to know how to care for themselves as well as they care for their communities.

In his article “Sleep Deprivation: What Does It Mean for Public Safety Officers?”, written for the National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs, Brian Vila, Ph.D. cited that
“More than 90 percent report being routinely fatigued, and 85 percent report driving while drowsy.”  He also suggested that “Sleep deprivation is dangerous. Researchers have shown that being awake for 19 hours produces impairments that are comparable to… Continue reading

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Stress Reduction Program for Police Officers and Other Law Enforcement Professionals

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I had an interesting opportunity this week to interview an expert on the subject of police stress reduction, which is an excellent followup to our articles on the problems of police suicide and the other toxic side effects of a career in law enforcement.

Professor Edward LeClair has been a criminal justice professional since1969. During the last 15 years, working with dozens of police departments in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Professor LeClair has researched, designed and implemented the Law Enforcement Officer Stress Reduction Program with unique training based upon gender and sexual assault investigators stress reduction.

The police training was the outgrowth of Professor LeClair’s unique training as an intern at the Mindful Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts Worchester Medical Center, which was under the direction of John Kabat-Zinn, PhD; and the published medical research on the “Relaxation Response” by Herbert Benson, MD, from Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

As mentioned above Professor LeClair has found that the stress response is different for male officers and female police officers which is one of the things we talked about in our interview. Here are some things… Continue reading