Stretch Breaks at Your Desk –Right on your Computer Screen!

It is a pretty much a common fact that prolonged sitting at a desk looking at a computer for hours a day can cause a number of body problems –lower back pain, neck and shoulder aches, eye strain, and hand and finger distress to name a few conditions. When employees and employers ignore these conditions, it can cost money in the form of worker’s comp claims, medical expenses and time missed from work.

Iris Sokol, President of Fitness Works at Work has spent her career teaching employees how to take care of themselves while sitting at a desk all day working. She also has advised employers on how to equip workstations with ergonomically comfortable equipment.  Iris presents to many groups on workstation comfort and as she finishes her stretch session at the end of each presentation, HR people and other attendees come up to her and ask her “Is there any way we can have your stretches on video so that we can share them with our off-site employees and anyone else who can’t make it to these sessions.”

Now they can. We have just finished taping Iris presenting “Stretch Breaks at your Desk” a 13 minute video tutorial that can be uploaded onto any computer and leads the viewer through a series of stretches that bring relief to the body areas affected by prolong sitting. Take a look at this promotional video for an example of “Stretch Breaks at Your Desk” and how you can order the video for your employees.

Meanwhile, you can start feeling more comfortable at your workstation now. Here are Iris’s top ten comfort suggestions:

1. Take a break from your keying at least every twenty minutes (which means taking your hands off the keyboard and do an alternative task).
2. Take a health break from your workstation as often as possible and get up and walk around. Break up long hours of sitting with other job tasks: copying, filing, or something else that gets you away from your computer.
3. Blink your eyes and look into the distance for a couple of minutes.
4. Rub your hands together to warm them up and place them over your eyes for relaxation. Lean back in your chair, close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths. Relax your shoulders, let your arms hang down by your sides and then gently lower your ear to your shoulder. Hold for a count of five and repeat to the other side. Do each side a few times and then you can end by doing some slow, neck rolls starting at one shoulder, slowly rolling the head toward the chest and then over to the other shoulder. Do these slowly, keep the shoulders relaxed and don’t roll the neck backwards! Only go from one shoulder to the chest, to the other shoulder.
5. Stretch your muscles frequently. Get up and move around your office or cube.
6. Stand and place your hands behind your low back. Stretch back your upper body for 10 seconds or so as you exhale.
7. Tighten your hands into fists, hold for a count of five, and then open wide spreading them out.
8. Make a fist and then spread the fingers out like a deck of cards starting at the thumb and working out to the pinky. When they are all unfolded, spread the fingers wide and stretch your hands.

The Lazy, Crazy, Hot Days of Summer!

 What a summer we have had! Yes, it has been hot but isn’t that what summer is all about?  As we wind down the summer of 2010, here are some thoughts and resources to make the rest of August safe and enjoyable.

Wow –It’s Hot Outside!
The dog days of summer are here but that doesn’t mean you need to ditch your workouts. You do, however need to take precautions while exercising in the heat, but with some planning it’s easy to stay on track. People who are at high risk for heat related illnesses are the elderly, the very young, and people with mental illness and chronic diseases but even young and healthy people can get sick from the heat. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and other heat related illnesses. Avoid physical activity during the hottest part of the day, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Avoid dehydration by drinking water 15-20 minutes before your workout and every 15 minutes throughout the exercise. Wear light, loose fitting clothes that can breathe. Always wear sunscreen even if you exercise early in the morning or late in the evening. Listen to your body — if you’re feeling discomfort during your workout, slow it down or take it indoors.

 Get in the Water and Get Fit
Have fun, beat the heat and get a great workout while cooling down in the water. Swimming laps may come to mind when you think of water workouts but you don’t have to be a strong swimmer to reap the benefits. Exercising in the water can be done in the shallow end of the pool or by strapping on a flotation belt and heading for the deep end. Anyone can use the unique properties of water to gain fitness benefits similar to those achieved on land.  Water provides buoyancy and support for the body, making it less likely for muscles, bones and joints to get injured.  Water exercise can encompass all of the components of fitness: cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility. Water running, leg lifts at the side of the pool, or paddling your legs as if you were on a cycle are a few examples of ways you can get a water workout. If you need the push of an instructor and a group atmosphere, try a water aerobics class. The benefits will be worth it!

 Preserving Nature’s Bounty
August and September is the time of year when we are overwhelmed with local fruits and vegetables. Many of wish we had access to this seasonal produce all year long. Freezing fresh fruits and vegetables is one way of preserving these foods for later months. Debbie Harlow, Fitness Works at Work’s Executive Account Manager takes preservation a step further and shares her family tradition of canning tomatoes with her large Italian extended family. Click hereto read this wonderful process and get a delicious chicken Parmesan recipe.

 September is right around the corner and Fitness Works at Work will be highlighting a new product – stay tuned.

Get Employees Moving – Promote Fitness Walking

Last year, The American College of Sports Medicine published revised recommendations for the amount of moderate physical activity that is needed for weight loss:

• At least 250 minutes per week (50 minutes a day, five days a week) for significant weight loss
• At least 150 minutes per week to prevent significant weight gain (20 – 30 minutes, most days of the week)

 Are most overweight Americans living up to these physical activity prescriptions described above? The resounding answer is NO!

 Fitness walking (which is defined as walking at a pace that is above a stroll, being slightly breathless but still able to talk) is a logical activity to get people started on the road to weight loss and better health. If it is so logical, why aren’t more people lacing up sneakers and taking to the outdoors before work, lunchtime or after work for a brisk walk? Our Fitness Works at Work professionals hear all kinds of excuses for why people don’t exercise but these are the most common ones: “No time, can’t get away from my desk, my boss has scheduled a meeting at noon”, etc.

Another observation is that walking is perceived as a leisure activity and not as a fitness activity. On the other hand running is taken seriously and even meetings are rescheduled or not planned at all so that a runner can get his or her time in. When someone says that they are going for a walk, it conjures up a stroll with friends and not a true fitness activity. 

So as an organization, if you are not doing so already, legitimize fitness walking and promote it as a worthwhile, healthy activity. Encourage your managers to give employees time to walk, run and exercise in any other way during their lunch break or other times during the day.

Here are some ideas to get a walking program started:

• Make sure you have a safe place to walk outside
• Enlist ideas from employees who already have a fitness walking routine established
• Form a walking buddy network or oganize a walking group
• Set up competitions between departments or plants using an online tracking calendar on hard copy journals
• Set up a virtual walk among all your US facilities and offices
• Offer “time spent” walking programs by tracking time where there is no need for pedometers – set a time goal instead of a step goal

 What about pedometer programs?
In most cases when people wear pedometers they become more aware of their activity level (or lack of activity) and do make efforts to increase their activity level. However, we have found that the inexpensive models one wears on the waist can be a waste of time. They are time-consuming to calibrate, count any type of movement as “steps” giving false information on activity,  fall off, break and in most cases aren’t accurate and lead to frustration. We now encourage our clients to use accelerometers. They are more expensive but are worth it. We have had great success with our ActiHealth Program using the Actiped from FitLinxx. The ActiPed is a very small, wireless activity sensor that clips onto any shoe and accurately tracks steps, distance traveled, calories burned and activity time. The data from all ActiHealth devices is sent wirelessly to http://www.actihealth.com where members create a personal web site by choosing from a variety of engaging applications that allow them to track their data, set goals, create contests and join communities.. Our FWAW coach then works with participants to set goals and then works with them on a weekly basis to help them stay on track and reach their goals. Many employees who have participated in this program have made significant health changes in reducing weight, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Contact iris@fwaw.com if you are interested in learning more about our program.

Bottom line:  Onsite fitness walking programs and creating a culture of wellness where employees are urged to take time to exercise during the work day can not only help employees to become more active and less of a health risk but can also help overweight employees reach that 250 minutes a week of physical exercise they need to promote weight loss.

Wellness Watch Blog May 2010

Last week I attended the New England Health Institutes’s Forum on Employee Health Promotion. It was an executive roundtable discussion and one of the critical  issues discussed was whether health promotion programs improve employee health and hold down health care costs — the question many employers ask as they wrestle with what to do about health care spending. The opening presenter was Ron Goetzel, PhD, who is Research Professor at Emory University. I was really excited to hear what Dr. Goetzel had to say because he is a widely published expert in health and productivity management (HPM), return-on-investment (ROI), program evaluation and outcomes research.

In his presentation, he highlighted research studies where companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Highmark and Citibank have shown ROI for their worksite wellness programs. It was impressive. However, the research and parameters for these types of programs are difficult if not impossible to administer in most companies that do not have the money to support the implementation and research needed to show results. But it was gratifying to know that targeted health promotion practices do make a difference and can be documented. I did take away one simple statement from Dr Goetzel — providing individual health promotion counseling to high risk employees in a healthy culture can be the magic bullet for successful worksite wellness efforts.

What is a healthy corporate environment with regard to worksite wellness? I see it as twofold —environmentally healthy and culturally healthy. Here are some components of both:

• Environmentally healthy– healthy food choices in the cafeteria and vending machines, offering a smoke-free environment, indoor and outdoor spaces for healthy activities and opportunities to take part in a wide variety of health and fitness programs.
• Culturally healthy–Support and visible participation from senior management in healthy activities, aligning employee wellness with company goals and policies, giving employees time and encouragement from managers to take part in health and fitness activities and offering incentives to participate.

If you are interested in reading the review of the results of worksite health promotion studies, check out the February supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine “What Works in Worksite Health Promotion”. Ron Goetzel is one of the authors.

Wellness Watch Blog April 2010

Here in Massachusetts March ended with torrential, flood-causing rain and April came in with record warm temperatures that reminded most of us of June. The jury is still out on whether this weather pattern is attributed to global warming or just an unusual weather occurrence. At any rate it does lead us to think about our environment and how we are taking care of it or abusing it.

April 22, 2010 is the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day which was started in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson. Its purpose is to promote ecology and respect for life on earth and to encourage awareness of the growing problems of air, water and soil pollution. Today many individuals and corporations are taking on Senator Nelson’s cause. Although conserving, recycling and reusing don’t seem to fit into a traditional corporate wellness program, they rightfully belong there because of how they impact our health and that of generations to come.  Many organizations have sustainability committees that are looking for ways to put into practice these efforts.  Some examples of activities already underway in our client organizations are:

• Genzyme and National Grid have award-winning green buildings
• Millennium Pharmaceuticals:  A Takeda Company has a “Think before You Print” campaign and has all biodegradable cups and packaging in its cafeteria and company-wide to reduce waste
• Haemonetics recycled 20 tons of paper in 2009
• WR Grace has black and white and double printing default settings on all its printers
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is composting food waste and most of its cafeteria paper products in the cafeteria kitchen and dining area which is taken away and used by local farms

During the week of April 19-23, in honor of Earth Day, Fitness Works at Work is working with Soles4Souls, an organization that takes new and gently used shoes and donates them to people all over the world who desperately need footwear.  Our on-site fitness leaders and health promotion specialists will be staffing tables in our client companies and taking shoe donations from employees. We thank our clients Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Art Technology Group, Fresenius Medical Care North American, Smith & Nephew, Ocean Spray, Dunkin Brands, Flir Systems, The MathWorks, and W.  R. Grace for partnering with us in this effort.

Consider celebrating Earth Day this year. Organize a community clean-up, host a company-wide recycling drive, and sponsor an eco-friendly information fair with agencies and vendors who support sustainability. What can you and your organization do to conserve, reduce and reuse?

Wellness Watch March 2010

March marks the launch of our new Fitness Works at Work website and with it I will be contributing a monthly blog on ideas and comments on research findings and other health promotion issues. Since March is our first issue and also the American Dietetic Association’s National Nutrition Month^© it is an appropriate time to discuss a topic that comes up in discussions with human resource professionals – how can I get my food service on board the health promotion efforts of my organization?

Walking through a company cafeteria at lunch time, you can see the full spectrum of employee food choices –some good, some not so good.  I suspect though, that you will see a fair number of employees consuming hamburgers, french fries, chips, sodas, cookies and other not terribly nutritious foods. Understandably from a food service perspective, these foods make money and if you took out all the unhealthy foods, you would probably have an employee rebellion. However, your food service is your vendor and you have a right and, frankly, an obligation to talk with your chef and see where you can make inroads into providing and promoting healthy choices.

Vanessa Cavallaro, RD, President of the Massachusetts Dietetic Association and Fitness Works at Work presenter says “Compliment, don’t criticize and approach your food service vendor in a collaborative way. Making changes is a long term process and isn’t going to happen in a month.”  She suggests that small consistent healthy changes over time make the most sense and are the easiest way for employees to accept change.

Here are some other suggestions to get the conversation going:

• Make an appointment with the head chef. Have him or her pick a down time so you can have their full attention. Usually meeting later in the week and later is the day is better timing.
• Before meeting, make sure you are familiar with all the food offerings in the cafeteria.
• Look over your food service consumer website as there usually is lots of information and helpful bells and whistles. For example, on Sodexho’s Wellness and You! website, you can find a nutrition calculator for all of the items in their cafeteria, a weight management program, BMI calculator and other helpful links. Then you can explore ways to publicize the website to employees.
• Do some background reading ahead of time. Here are two helpful articles:  Healthy Eats: How to Overhaul the Worksite Cafeteria and Cafeteria and Vending Machine Guidelines: Implementing Healthier Options
• Start the discussion with what your food service is doing well –whether it is providing a regular healthy entre, a good salad bar, less sodium items, more broth-based soups and then brainstorm ways to promote these healthy items with employees. If these choices are selling, your food vendor will be more likely to make more healthy improvements.
• Consider tackling one area of the cafeteria first – soups, snacks, deli, grill, entrée, etc…. Get employees used to seeing new “healthy” items and let them build trust that the offerings will be tasty.  It will leave them wanting more.
• Plan advertising strategies well.  If you are working with a company that does not have an existing “healthy option” cafeteria program, how will you announce new items?
  • What “health” claims will you post on either the menu or cafeteria station signage?
  • Will you offer nutrition facts or more generalized statements (i.e., lower sugar, higher fiber, healthy fats, healthy proteins, lower sodium)?
  • Will you offer any “start up” incentives to boost employee participation?

In most cases chefs are eager to showcase healthy items and help in wellness efforts but remember their main job is to provide breakfast and lunch for your employees with choices that employees like to eat.  What you want to do is establish a positive working relationship where you meet monthly or quarterly so that all food service topics can be discussed –vending machine choices, food for office meetings as well as cafeteria options. Some of these issues require corporate policy decisions but if you have a positive working relationship with your food service vendor, you are heading in the right direction in establishing a corporate culture of health.

Wellness Watch January 2010

Resolve to Help Employees Kick the Tobacco Habit in 2010

The first of January comes along every year and with it usually comes resolve for many of us to adopt a new healthy behavior or to stop an unhealthy habit. For a smoker, kicking a tobacco habit is a resolution that has the most impact on living a healthy life. It is estimated that over 34 million people want to stop smoking. Most people who quit smoking for good have tried several times before they are successful.

As an employer, lowering the incident of tobacco use among employees is a resolution to keep throughout the year. It is estimated that a smoker costs $3,561 a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity due to smoking-related illness, according to the Center for Disease Control¹. Making sure that your organization has a comprehensive, on-going smoking cessation program that address smokers at all levels of their readiness to stop is an important goal. Here are some implementation ideas:

• Make your workplace smoke-free and offer programs that support good nutrition and exercise.
• Communicate to employees the importance of quitting and your organization’s support in their quitting.
• Make sure your health plan offers effective treatment for smoking cessation including online and telephonic support, and covers pharmacotherapy.
• Disseminate the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society smoking cessation information on a regular basis.
• Offer a quarterly “Are you Thinking of Quitting” information session led by a trained tobacco cessation specialist who outlines the latest pharmacotherapy, nicotine replacement aids and support ideas.
• Offer a variety of on-site programs such as hypnosis, meditation and stress workshops that help people to quit.
• Run on-site smoking cessation clinics periodically and allow relapsed smokers to join the group again.
• Publicize local hospital and clinic programs.
• Offer incentives for healthy behaviors.

Taking steps to good health shouldn’t be something to focus on solely in January but an ongoing process over the course of the year. As an employer, when employees successfully make healthy behavioral changes, whatever time of year, it is good for business. They lead to lower health care costs, better on-the-job-performance and less absenteeism. Helping employees who smoke to quit is one of the biggest bangs for your wellness bucks.

Wellness Watch December 2009

It’s the Most Wonderful… and Stressful Time of the Year!

The holidays are upon us with family gatherings, gift giving, work parties, and for many of us, high expectations of grand celebrations. That coupled with the effects of the economy can motivate some of us to pull the covers over our head and reemerge sometime in January. Before the grandeur begins to numb your senses, think about how you can keep a season of holiday cheer in perspective for yourself and for your employees. Here are some ideas:

Give to yourself: To stay stress-resilient, be sure to continue your exercise routine and make healthy eating choices. Having a strong foundation of healthy habits will help you rebound from a stressful situation, and will remind you that moderation is the key.

Give to others: If your budget allows, onsite chair massage is a stress reducing gift that can be given to staff to show appreciation for hard work, and at the same time benefit the organization with more productive employees.

Reduce the hustle and bustle: Allow flextime for employees to do their holiday shopping during non-peak shopping hours. Organize a small craft/vendor fair at the workplace so holiday shopping can be done with ease. At the same time, raise money for a good cause by donating vendor fees to a charitable organization.

Stay within your budget: Financial worries can be a stressor throughout the year and particularly during the current economic climate. Create a holiday gift budget and stick to it.

Check your list: Organization and good planning will help reduce the last minute runs to the store. If you are hosting a gathering, plan your menu and create a shopping list. Write down your gift list and don’t forget to include your spending limit.

A long winter’s nap: Get 7-8 hours of sleep daily. If you are having trouble falling asleep, create your “to do list” for the next day and allow for some downtime before bed. To help you relax, listen to music or try meditation, visualization or progressive muscle relaxation. Avoid caffeine and alcohol six hours before bedtime.

Forget about perfection. If you’re beginning to feel overwhelmed ask for help. This is a time for giving and sharing. A gathering can be made easy by asking your guests to bring a dish to pass. Have family members help with baking and chores around the house.

Keep this as your holiday mantra

Good food, good friends, good times…in moderation!

The Fitness Works at Work team wishes you a happy holiday season and a healthy 2010

Wellness Watch September 2009

In Search of ROI

As a health promotion program provider, we are sometimes asked by clients what will be my return on investment from my wellness program? It is a fair question with a complicated answer. There have been many studies over the years which have documented the effectiveness of wellness programs, some saying that for every one dollar of investment, an organization can realize up to $5 in return in future heath care costs.^{1, 2} These studies are usually meta-reviews of a number of smaller studies or a study with a large employee population based over a series of years. Most organizations which are running wellness programs aren’t at a point where they are willing to invest the time, money and effort into that kind of study.

There has been some research in two areas where an ROI on projected future use of the health care and pharmaceutical benefit may be realized – in smoking cessation and obesity reduction measured by BMI.^{3, 4} This is not surprising since most know the impact of smoking and obesity on disease prevention.

However, a study published in the April 2009 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine suggests that poor health among workers is far costlier that just medical costs because poor health impacts productivity. In a recent Employee Benefit News podcast, the lead researcher of the study, Ronald Loeppke, MD, MPH, stated that the full cost of poor health is 30% medical and pharmaceutical costs and 70% health-related productivity costs shown by absenteeism and presenteeism (an employee is at work but not working up to full capacity because of medical considerations.) He suggests that instead of focusing exclusively on ROI, employers should consider VOI – value of investment. The health of a workforce is a performance driver and enhanced productivity is of great value and leads to a greater bottom line. To quote Dr Loeppke: “Enlightened employers are increasingly looking to the benefits of good health as an investment to be leverage rather than just looking at the health care benefit that has to be managed.”

So how does this relate to on-site wellness programs? It means that a company which is working to provide a culture of wellness by offering a variety of health promotion events and activities in areas of weight management, increased physical activity, smoking cessation, stress management, for example, is on the right track. The more in-depth and consistent the programs can be directed to behavior change, the higher probability that an ROI will be realized down the road in health care costs. But keep in mind that the true value of your wellness program investment is likely to show up in increased productivity and performance and that is what really affects the bottom line.

Wellness Watch July 2009

Summer Wellness

Wellness programming has a seasonal rhythm to it. In January the focus is on quitting smoking and starting an exercise program. Spring is a good time to encourage weight loss as the summer beach season approaches and the fall is a time to encourage employees to get back to a healthy routine after the summer vacation time. What to do in the summer? In July and August, with vacations and sometimes shorter workweeks, participation can drop in on-site health promotion events. However, wellness program continuity is important. Here are some suggestions for simple activities to keep wellness awareness alive during the summer heat wave.

Information Tables — Once a month set up a table in the cafeteria or other high traffic area. They require no pre-registration and are accessible to all employees. Ask your EAP to come in and provide information on parenting, elder care, finance or any other topic of interest to your population. Check with your food service vendor and see if their staff RD can provide a table on barbeque safety and summer healthy food. Ask a local health club or other local wellness service provider to come in with information in exchange for exposure to your employees. Add a raffle to each table to encourage employees to stop by.

Food Service Events — Speaking of your food service….ask them to think healthy if they are going to do a summer barbeque event. Along with the usual fare at these events, suggest that they add a few healthy alternatives to the usual burgers and hot dogs.

Company Picnic — Although the economy is dictating cut-backs and conserving, holding an outdoor company event can still be a good idea. It doesn’t have to be over the top. Piggy-back with your food service vendor (see above) and schedule some fitness events and games. Organize a company walk, set up fitness challenges, and if there is some money to spend, bring in a portable climbing wall or some other outdoor equipment that will generate fun and physical activity. Fostering a positive culture in a down economy is important.

Farmer’s Market — Host a fresh produce event by inviting local fruit and vegetable growers to sell their produce in your parking lot. Check out some local markets in your area at http://www.localharvest.org/organic-farms/.

Charity Events — There are many charity walks and runs that take place in the summer and fall. Select a charity and prepare a team of employees to take part in the event. Hire a personal fitness trainer to come onsite and offer instruction in how to walk or run a 5K. The Walking Site http://www.thewalkingsite.com/events.html has a list of many of the events that take place.

Summer is also a good time to plan events for the fall and winter and to start looking to see where you want your wellness program to go in 2010. Schedule appointments with your EAP and health care provider and start the process.

One final note — Taking vacations in the summer or other times of the year is important to recharge and relax. Encourage employees (and yourself!) to disconnect from work by not checking work email and work messages. Put on the away message physically and mentally!

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Move 2009 Activity Challenge is a Success!

Encouraging employees to meet the ACSM’s recommendation for 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity was the goal of FWAW’s Move 2009 Challenge offered in May and June. Employees formed teams of four and collectively they had to accumulate 2009 minutes of activity over a four week period. They could walk, run, cycle, take fitness classes, all of which counted toward their 2009 minutes. Over 500 employees who formed 125 teams in 12 FWAW client companies took part. The result: every single team reached their 2009 minute goal. Team members received Move 2009 t-shirts for the accomplishment and are ready to join Move 2010 next year.