Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Worksite Wellness: Can You Be Healthy and Smoke?

Smoking and Employee HealthSome people associate smoking with being thin, but thin doesn’t always mean healthy. Smoking does suppress your appetite, which helps to keep weight off. But do the health risks of smoking outweigh the negatives of being overweight?

Negative Effects of Smoking on Employee Health

Smoking affects heart health and increases an individual's heart rate. It puts employees at a greater risk for stroke and almost any type of cancer that comes to mind. Smoking doesn't just affect their heart. It impacts every other part of your employee's circulatory system, too.

Although smoking a few cigarettes a day might not keep employees from being able to run a mile every day, if they quit smoking they would see how much faster they could run the mile. Employees that smoke and exercise might not even be aware of how much more their body can do until they quit.

Get Employees Help to Quit Smoking

Offer ways to help employees quit smoking. Quiting isn't easy, but there are programs out there to support them.

Encourage employees to schedule an appointment with a fitness trainer or consultant to get baseline numbers. Once they quit smoking they can reasses those numbers a few months later. They will be amazed at how their health and fitness level will improve!

We all know smoking is bad for an individual's body in several different ways. And yes, employees may be able to exercise intensely every day and smoke, but eventually the negative effects will catch up to them, their body and your company's finances. Helping employees now can pay dividends in the future.

Topics: employee health corporate fitness program