Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

This blog was written by Sean Holbrook. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Does winter still have you feeling blue? Need a boost for your self-esteem? Regular exercise can improve your mood and sense of well-being; doing it outdoors can give you an extra lift!

Green exercise refers to exercise or physical activity that is performed in nature, which has shown an ability to create a calming effect as well as having a positive effect on your mental well-being. With spring just around the corner, you probably feel a bit like I do: you're ready for the fresh air, green leaves, and warm sun. Green exercise is a simple and free way to get all that and more.

You may ask yourself, how much time do I have to spend exercising outdoors to see the benefits of green exercise? Surprisingly, it takes only five minutes a day, according to a recent meta-analysis of 10 studies involving 1,252 participants. The study by Barton and Pretty (2010) showed improvements in self-esteem and mood for the overall population of the study.

Looking for ways to green your routine?

• Take a five-minute walk during your lunch break.
• Start a garden in your yard.
• Try stretching outside on your deck or patio.
• Plan a nature hike or bike ride on the weekend.

Gather your coworkers for a walk at lunch! Green fitness is one of the many ways your company can get on the corporate wellness bandwagon!

This blog was written by Kara Gootee. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Bike racks! One simple way for companies to encourage worksite health is by providing bike racks for their employees. As the warmer months approach, consider this investment. If employees are biking to work, they are reaping the benefits of physical activity, making for a healthier workforce.

Biking is not only a joint-friendly exercise; it is a great way to work the heart and lungs. Following are just a few of the physical benefits of opting to bike to work:

• Increased aerobic fitness
• Improved muscle tone and strength
• Weight management
• Increased energy levels
• Reduced stress and anxiety levels

May is National Bike Month. This is a great way to promote the implementation of bike racks in your corporate wellness program. Plan and promote a small event around your investment to encourage employees to consider biking to work. Consider having your health and wellness team put together flyers, bulletins, or even a small ribbon-cutting ceremony to create some hype.

Meanwhile, it is important to remind your employees about bicycle safety to ensure their overall well-being.

Is your company promoting corporate health and wellness by encouraging biking to work?

This blog was written by Penny Pohlmann, MS. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Is your desk buried under a pile of paper, file folders, cords, and sticky notes? I know my desk can get a little out of control when class plans, forms, and notes start to pile up. In order to regain that sense of control and focus when my desk gets out of control, I take a few minutes to straighten things up a bit.

Did you know the state of your desk can actually affect your health and productivity at work? Researchers conducted a study of 2,000 office workers and identified the condition of IDS. Yes, IDS stands for Irritable Desk Syndrome, which is caused by a cluttered, messy, and poorly arranged desk. It can cause distractions and stress as well as back and neck pain.

Desk Organization Tips

Invest in employee health, sanity, and productivity at work and encourage them to spend some time cleaning and organizing their workspace. Consider these desk organization tips:

• Minimize visual distractions. Choose a
  few favorite pictures, notes, or figurines and display them neatly so
  that you can admire them from time to time.
• Increase usable desk space. Throw away or
  file unneeded documents taking up space in your work area. (Don’t forget the floor and shelves,
  too.)
• Tidy up. A neat space creates an atmosphere without distractions and stress, meaning you stay focused and on task.
• Sanitize. Wipe down your desk, phone, keyboard, and any other frequently touched surfaces to prevent the breeding and spreading of bacteria that could make you sick.

A tidy workspace tells your coworkers, managers, and clients you are organized and have your business in order.

Ergonomic Adjustment

Do you provide a corporate fitness center at your office? Ask the managers of the fitness center to provide a "Lunch and Learn" or demonstration about proper desk ergonomics to ensure that chair height and computer screen, keyboard, and mouse placement are optimal for minimizing neck, back, and joint pain.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

With all of our corporate fitness centers’ strides toward healthy eating, maintaining an ideal weight, and preventing metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, it’s no wonder that artificial sweeteners like sucralose (Splenda), aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet), and saccharin (found in some diet sodas and chewing gum) became an overnight success. With claims like “as sweet as sugar, with no calories or insulin surge,” they sound like a great solution to staying within a low-calorie or low-sugar diet while still feeding that sweet tooth.

Does Splenda Have Adverse Side Effects?

Let’s take a look at the most popular of these, Splenda, to examine any possible health risks. Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than table sugar and is not broken down by the human body. So most of the molecules are not even absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, but rather excreted.

According to the Sucralose Toxicity Information Center, a wide range of adverse side effects have been reported by Splenda users; however, these symptoms mainly impacted those people who were found to have an allergy or sensitivity to the actual sucralose molecule.

As for the rest of the population, studies have not indicated any risk with moderate use. Harmful side effects were seen in the thymus (an organ of the immune system) when sucralose intake amounted to 205 grams per day—that’s equivalent to nearly 17,200 Splenda packets! Furthermore, the amount needed to spark any immune response whatsoever was 51 grams of sucralose per day, or 4,300 Splenda packets (see here for relevant links).

Using Artificial Sweeteners in Moderation Is Key

As with all foods (or food substitutes), moderation is key. The takeaway message for your corporate wellness clients is that artificial sweeteners do not present a real health threat for people using them for weight loss, provided they are using one to two packets at a time and limiting all processed foods.

This blog was written by Bethany Garrity. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

A headline came into my inbox recently indicating that Americans accessed the healthcare system less in 2010. I was intrigued, so I opened the post and read on. The data looked at markers like visits to the doctor, lab tests, and hospital admissions—with all-system access being lower in the first three quarters of 2010 than it was for the same period in 2009.

A Sign of Improved Employee Health?

Although my gut told me the driver behind this trend was economic, a little piece of me was holding out hope that some portion of Americans used the healthcare system less because they took powerful and lasting steps toward improved personal health.

Alas, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the decreased utilization in 2010 was directly related to the economy; individuals lost insurance coverage when they lost their jobs, and they tightened their discretionary spending significantly. So I didn’t get my wish. There wasn’t a
health-promotion fairy out there waving her magic healthy wand to help people choose better health.

An Opportunity for Corporate Wellness Programs

But all hope is not lost—and employers, this is where you really need to listen up. A recent study from the University of Michigan showed that risk-specific messaging may help recipients change their health behavior. While your employees' use of the healthcare system is already down, consider this a prime time to deliver very targeted health-promotion messaging to your employees, and perhaps they will continue to tap into the health system less and less with better health. The result: decreased medical expenses for everyone!

How are you targeting your messaging to your employees?

This blog was written by Samantha Whiteside. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Have you ever wondered how your health would benefit if your company had an onsite corporate fitness center? Well, luckily for a company in Roanoke, Virginia, they don’t have to wonder. Employees simply make their way to the top floor where the onsite fitness center is located and staffed by the National Institute for Fitness and Sport, a corporate fitness center management company based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

How a NIFS Wellness Manager Made a Difference

A few employees made a promise to themselves and the Wellness Manager in January 2010 to lead a healthier lifestyle. The NIFS Wellness Manager made it her personal mission to help these employees reach their goals through personalized exercise plans, nutrition consultations, individual personal training sessions, weekly weigh-ins, educational handouts, and inspirational e-mails with information ranging from stress management to meat alternatives.

Three Portraits of Corporate Wellness Success

Here are some success stories from the company:

• One employee lost 40 pounds over a nine-month period and is now maintaining her healthy weight. She additionally was able to come off of blood-pressure and cholesterol medications and is leading a life she only dreamed of.
• Another successful employee who worked with the NIFS staff was able to lose 42 pounds in a nine-month time frame and is also keeping his weight off. In addition to his great weight loss, he has decreased the pain in his knees and feet, has found a love for running, and has inspired his family to lead a more active lifestyle.
• With an astounding 67 pounds lost in nine months, another employee has also been able to keep her weight off with the help of NIFS. Furthermore, she was able to come off of her blood-pressure medication. And under her doctor’s watchful eye, she decreased and eventually relinquished her depression medication.

These are only three examples of how an onsite corporate fitness center—staffed by a corporate fitness management company—and its caring, dedicated employees, can benefit any company workforce. What do you think you could gain (or lose, rather) with the help of an onsite corporate fitness center?

This blog was written by Penny Pohlmann. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Do you hate the flu as much as I do? The aching muscles, chills, throbbing head, sore throat—I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. The CDC estimates that 5 to 20% of the U.S. population gets the flu each year, which also translates to nearly 75 million missed work days.

How can you minimize the spread of the flu virus at your office? The best preventative measure is probably offering a free flu vaccine clinic for your employees. However, there are other health behaviors you can introduce to your employees.

Encouraging your employees to practice more frequent hand washing could be the ounce of prevention that they need. In fact, a German research team found that a group of frequent hand washers and users of hand disinfectant reported they felt better and more productive while at work than a control group that did not use the product.

Encourage your employees to practice healthy behaviors during flu season and all year by keeping their work spaces clean, frequently washing their hands or using hand disinfectant, and maintaining a regular exercise routine to boost immunity.

Need more ideas to help keep your employees healthy? Seek guidance from a corporate fitness management company and the professional staff who supervise their fitness centers.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

We all know of cases where an individual in seemingly perfect health has a sudden heart attack or cancer diagnosis. The unfortunate truth is that genetics can sometimes outweigh a person’s healthy efforts. This is not meant to discourage your corporate wellness participants, but to stress the importance of knowing their family health histories.

Ask Corporate Fitness Members to Fill Out a Health History Questionnaire

Before joining a corporate fitness center, all members should fill out a standard Health History Questionnaire (HHQ). In my opinion, “family history of heart disease” may be the risk factor on this form that individuals and health professionals overlook most often. Encourage your participants to examine their family health history, searching especially for diseases that may be rare―such as certain forms of cancer or any heart disease at an early age.

Have Employees Interview Family Members About Health Issues

This AARP article suggests conducting interviews of sorts among family members to see what health problems arose, at what stage of life, what factors could have contributed, and what treatment option was taken. I would add to this list finding out what symptoms were first experienced so that other family members can have a heightened awareness before a disease progresses.

Designate a month out of your corporate health and wellness programming for members to find out their health histories. Make a form, maybe even similar to a family tree, where participants can make notes on their relatives, starting with immediate family.

Encourage employees to discuss any alarming discoveries with their physicians. Just like the campaign for knowing your numbers, this information can be lifesaving.

This blog was written by Megan Jack. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Some people believe that there is a benefit to working out on an empty stomach. This concept is derived from the idea that exercising first thing in the morning or in a “fasted state” will cause your body’s energy systems to burn more fat instead of carbohydrate stores. 

Why the Empty-Stomach Workout Doesn't Work

As a corporate fitness manager, I hear this theory on a weekly basis, and it is simply just an urban fitness myth. The main problem is that fat as a fuel source is not the same thing as burning fat off of your body. Fat burning has more to do with the total amount of calories burned than the type of energy your system uses.

Another key problem with this theory is that many times without adequate nutrition, you will not be able to exercise as long or as hard. As a result, you will burn fewer calories.

Benefits of Eating Before Exercise

According to an article by Paige Waehner on About.com, there are additional benefits to eating prior to a workout:

• “It boosts recovery and strength gains.”
• “You can sustain longer, more intense workouts.”
• “It helps you avoid feeling dizzy or nauseous from low blood sugar.”
• “It makes workouts more enjoyable” (because you’re not constantly hearing your stomach growl).

Some of my corporate fitness members feel too full or weighed down with a full meal prior to exercise. Some need a snack prior to strength training, but are fine completing a cardio workout on an empty stomach. What really matters is to find something that works for your body and for your schedule.

Most importantly, don’t go hungry simply because you think you’ll burn more fat. Focusing on your growling belly can cause your workout intensity or duration to suffer and that will in turn reduce your caloric burn.

How many times have you told yourself that if you were only allowed some flexibility at work, you could actually utilize the worksite fitness center, participate in a corporate wellness program, or be able to reduce your stress simply by walking outside? It has been found time and time again that worksites that allow flexible arrangements and promote healthier workplaces benefit in more ways than one.

The Ways Flexibility Improves Employee Health

Flexible working conditions not only have been found to reduce employee blood pressure and absences due to illness, but can increase job performance, productivity, and overall morale. Additionally, giving employees more control over their schedules has been shown to have positive effects on mental health, sleep duration, sleep quality, alertness at work, and heart rate.

Ask for Some Work Schedule Flexibility

If you are employed by a company that offers flexible schedules, take advantage of it! However, if you don’t have this option, speak with those in charge of scheduling and make a valiant attempt to work something out.

Who wouldn’t want to improve their mental and physical health? If a little flexibility can help you feel better and work more efficiently, it's a win-win proposition.

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