This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.
In recent years, your corporate fitness center members have no doubt been made aware of the health risks associated with smoking and inhaling secondhand smoke. Just in case you need one more reason to urge your participants to join in on National Kick Butts day (March 23, 2011), research has proven that secondhand smoke increases the chance of infertility as well as miscarriages and stillbirths.
Society has come a long way. Think back several decades ago when the dangers of smoking weren’t as well known, and women smoked throughout their pregnancies and around their small children. The more studies that surface, the more the evils of cigarette smoke are exposed, whether inhaled personally or secondhand.
If a corporate fitness member shares with you that she is having trouble getting pregnant, what encouragement can you give her? Along with general health recommendations for anyone (for example, eating a balanced diet and maintaining a healthy weight), urge her to become more conscious of situations where secondhand smoke is present. Although many counties nationwide have adopted a no-smoking policy for bars and restaurants, there are still organizations or public events that allow smoking.
It is important to encourage women who are still smokers to stop now, rather than wait until they are trying to conceive, to avoid potential infertility problems.
Although it’s impossible live a completely toxin-free existence, cigarette smoke has been a known carcinogen for many years and can be easy to avoid. Do you plan to run any corporate wellness programming for National Kick Butts Day this year?