the better blog

Sunday, March 21, was a significant day in history.   The House of Representatives passed President Obama’s massive healthcare overhaul legislation.  There’s a lot of conflict and controversy surrounding this bill, but one thing is certain: health and wellness are officially no longer a “lifestyle”.  That vote says that in the United States of America, fit healthy bodies with healthy partners and families are going to be the only acceptable lifestyle.  Investing in your employees’ fitness and wellness will be critical.  The political fight is long from over, but the aroma in the air is hard to miss.  It’s a spirit of wellness.

Do your part to lower the federal deficit. Be a part of the solution, not more of the problem.

Is this possible?

Absolutely, according to Dr. Jarett Berry, a Cardiologist at The University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas as published in the Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Health & Wellness Section of the Wall Street Journal.

You can be an asset and not just another liability contributing to the demise of the Federal Medicare (and most likely your home State’s Medicaid) bank.

Get moving now.

Although healthcare costs are front and center in the debate, the single largest expense for most companies comes in the form of payroll. If that is true for you, then it makes sense that increasing employee productivity has the greatest potential for improving your bottom line. Achieving even single digit improvements in your team's ability to do their jobs will improve their quality of work and their capacity for innovation. To enable your team to perform with intention to excel and attention to detail, increasing their physical capabilities through exercise and sound nutrition is a proven foundation for success. To create a successful wellness strategy for productivity, make sure it includes these foundations of a healthy lifestyle.

At the IHRSA 2010 conference today, Larry Chapman referenced a research study in the February 2010 journal "Health Affairs" that showed every dollar spent on wellness programs reduced corporate medical costs by $3.27 and absenteeism costs by $2.73. Where else in your organization are you enjoying a combined ROI of 600%?

What is wellness?  Wellness is the absence of disease in the body and the mind. Physical health is easy to identify, but what about the emotional, mental and spiritual capacity of your workforce? Common sense tells us that if our human capital has a sound foundation of physical energy, they will be more connected to their work. If our people are 100% focused on their jobs, and if these same responsibilities are aligned with the team's inner purpose (a.k.a.

Let’s review.  What is health promotion and what does it mean to your human capital?   When you empower your team with the tools for a healthy life, you also facilitate their productivity at work and at home.

In January, IHRSA asked 30 of the most prominent names in the fitness industry to weigh in with their forecasts of what our business will look like this year.  IHRSA is a prominent trade association that has been serving the health and fitness industry for over 25 years.  I had the privilege to be asked to share my vision in Ask an Industry Leader.

According to the CDC and the Surgeon General’s report, millions of Americans have diseases that could have been entirely prevented with regular physical exercise. The numbers are overwhelming: 13.5 Americans have coronary heart disease, 8 million Americans have adult onset diabetes, 95,000 of us are diagnosed with colon cancer every year, and about 1.5 million people experience a heart attack in a year.

Evaluating the return on your investment for a wellness program can be a complex, long-term process.

One of the most effective ways for your employees to lose weight is to practice portion control.