Posts from — November 2010

The Facts Speak for Themselves - Health Promotion Helps Reduce Costs

• A 2003 evaluation of one large USA corporation found that simply assisting employees control their blood pressure alone can save $547 per person annually.

• Johnson and Johnson claims to have saved $38 million in healthcare costs for its workers between 1995 and 1999 by promoting healthy life choices.

Healthcare costs lowered $224 per staff member each year (averaged over four years), and this rate improved over time.  The company found most benefits in the third and fourth years after wellness program initiation.

• A 2004 Univ. of Michigan study of 23,500 General Motors staff members showed that nonexercising staff members claimed at least $100 more per year in healthcare costs than exercisers.

The research study  also reported that obese, sedentary personnel who started exercising at least twice a week decreased their costs by an typical of $500 a year.

• The Washoe County School District in Nevada estimated that, in a single year, it spent $300,000 on direct costs associated with obesity and $1 million for gastric-bypass surgeries. It instituted a weight-loss program that paid workers $10 per pound lost, up to 25 pounds.

Program participants missed three fewer workdays a year, producing a cost savings of $15.60 per program dollar spent.

Staff Time
Building a successful Wellness Program requires staff time in addition to money. Some larger corporations may spend 20 hours per week for three to six months preparing all the steps prior to launching a Wellness Program.
Company Costs
Monetary costs can fluctuate widely, depending on whether the company compensates all costs, the personnel pay all costs, or the costs are shared.
A 1992 study indicated that 28% of corporations spent $5 or less per staff member, and 19% spent between $6-10 per staff member.
The Health Promotion Council of America estimates the cost per staff member to be between $100 and $150 a year for an effective wellness program that produces a return on investment of $300 to $450. A sample expenditure for various levels of wellness programs include -
Program Type
A minimal (largely paper) wellness program          $1 - $7         

A moderate health promotion program
A medium wellness program with a few activities       $16 - $35            

A fairly comprehensive wellness program             $36 - $75      

A very extensive, effective wellness program       $76 - $112            

• The news isn’t encouraging. According to Company Week, family healthcare premiums increased 49 percent from 2000 to 2004.

Another increase of 12-15% is expected in 2005. General Motors expects to spend $5.6 billion on health costs in 2005, or 40% more than it earned in profits in 2004.

• More research shows that poor diet andphysical inactivity are major drivers of increases in healthcare costs for employers.  The number of obese adults has doubled since the 1970s.

• The rise in obesity has a significant impact on healthcare costs. on average, 2002 healthcare costs for an obese person were $1,244 higher than for a person with a healthful weight.

• Obesity is causing rapid increases in type 2 diabetes and contributes directly to a 65 percent increase in diabetes treatment from 1987 to 2002. Almost $1 of every $5 spent on healthcare in the USA is for a individuals with diabetes.

Treating employee health care as an investment, rather than a cost, can yield long-term dividends

• At least 50% of your organization’s healthcare costs are driven by the lifestyle related behaviors of your workforce, like smoking, poor diet, and lack of exercise.

• In the past 10 years, the annual return on investment for Wellness Programs has been as much as $6 saved for every $1 spent, doubling the return on investment of earlier wellness programs.

• The typical reduction in health-plan costs, sick leave, disability costs, and workers’ compensation is more than 25% for well-designed Health Promotion Programs.

• Fit workers are more productive workers, with fewer sick days, fewer accidents, higher morale, and lower job turnover.

The concern for employee wellness is an increasing trend for American corporation. Why? the link between employee wellness and the bottom line is clear and consistent.

Employers who integrate wellness in their overall objectives find they experience lowered absences, better morale, lowered health risks, and lowered healthcare costs.

The purpose of this guide to is to encourage and help you launch your own Health Promotion Program. If you already have a wellness program, but are not receiving the results you expected, perhaps some ideas and best practices in this toolkit will help you and your staff reap the benefits of a healthier workforce.

At least 50 percent of healthcare expenditures are lifestyle-related, and accordingly, potentially preventable. Yet despite the $5,000 an average business spends on healthcare per staff member each year, most businesss are spending less than 5 percent of that on biometric testings and prevention.

The most extensive meta-evaluation of Wellness Program studies shows something very exciting! It shows that Wellness Programs aren’t only effective at assisting to reverse the rising spiral of health care costs, but these wellness programs are also becoming more effective.  The average cost-benefit ratio has increased from 1 - 3 for earlier wellness programs to 1 - 6 today.

Simply put, the typical reduction in health care costs, sick leave, disability costs, and workers’ compensation is more than 25% for well designed health promotion programs.

Corporate wellness provides a long-term approach for helping keep staff members well.  The single most crucial thing you can do for your staff members is to start a Health Promotion Program now.

In our modern and hectic lives filled with the demands of family, work, and much more, it could seem challenging to tackle our wellness on our own.  

Many of us create objectives that seem beyond reach and we can’t seem to stick to a specific health promotion program for an extended period of time.  

With the numerous struggles that prevent us from reaching our optimum individual wellness, many of us would welcome the assistance and guidance of a specialist wellness coach.  

A wellness coach is a trained professional who works with person to help them to reach their wellness objectives by developing and implementing personal health promotion programs.  

A wellness coach is highly educated and generally maintains advanced degrees in areas such as Exercise Physiology, Occupational or Physical Therapy, Athletic Training, and Nutrition.  

A wellness coach sets achievable goals for the client, holds them accountable, and acts as a guide, motivator, and support system for that individual.  They focus on behavioral change by using individually designed health promotion programs to meet the unique needs of the client while offering creative solutions to help them achieve their goals.  

In order to fully understand the role of a wellness coach it is crucial that you understand the various factors that involved in overall wellness.  The five major components of wellness are health risks, physical activity, stress management, weight management, and nutrition.  

A wellness coach focuses on each of these areas of wellness while meeting the specific needs of the client whether they’re attempting to lose weight, get in shape, reduce stress, or quit smoking.  

They evaluate a person’s needs based on a highly scientific study known as a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) .  After a wellness coach has determined the specific needs of the client, he or she’s able to create the wellness program, set achievable objectives for that individual, and monitor them while they reach success.  

Wellness coaches focus on physical health as well as mental and emotional health for create a balance in the patron’s life.  They not only work on assisting the patron with their current wellness issues, but they assist the patron to maintain their individual health by creating future objectives in their health promotion program.  

Every individual has unique needs and time constraints that require attention in different ways.  A wellness coach provides convenience with their services by working with patrons in a variety of ways.  

The customer and coach may use telephone meetings, e-mails and instant messaging (electronic coaching), face-to-face interactions, or a combination of these various forms of communication.  

Although electronic coaching is becoming the most well-liked method due to its lower cost and efficiency, each client may select the method or methods will work best for them.  

The wellness coach is available 24 hours a day through web-based communication to make it even more convenient for the patron to reach his or her objectives.  

Wellness coaches offer the kind of assistance that fits the needs of each client in order to make it easier for the client to embrace their personal health promotion program.  

Based on the convenience, knowledge, and assistance that is offered by a wellness coach, it is easy to see why more people  are taking advantage of these coaches to assist them in achieving their ultimate wellness goals.  

How to Take Control of Stress and Improve Your Wellness

What is Stress?

Stress is the emotional, physiological, and psychological effects caused by internal or external mental pressure. It’s an unavoidable part of life, but despite its negative connotation, it is not necessarily a bad thing.  

Stress may even be beneficial in cases when it enhances performance and helps individuals  to achieve challenging objectives. Nonetheless, when stress is excessive and causes an individual to feel loss of control, health problems can occur like headaches, tension, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, irritability, and digestive problems.  

When stress levels elevate to this point, wellness is compromised. Individuals may seek the assistance of a stress management coach in order to help them take control of their lives and improve their wellness.  

Who are Stress Management Coaches?

Stress management coaches are educated professionals who create wellness programs to assist individuals in developing coping strategies to manage stress and minimize the presence of stressors in daily life.  

Coaches explore the reasons why a personal may react in certain ways to various situations by using health assessments in addition to depression and anxiety screenings.  

After determining an individual’s causes for their feelings, stress management coaches are better able to develop wellness programs tailored to meet specific needs.  

Coaches set attainable goals, act as a mentor and a support system, and use techniques that are most suitable for each specific individual.  

There are numerous effective methods to reduce stress, and stress management coaches can help you to achieve your goals to make yourself happier and healthier.  

Just how Controlling Stress Improves Your Health

When person are faced with chronic stress it starts to cause physical symptoms which can range in severity.  Chronic stress can weaken the immune system, therefore making the individual more susceptible to colds and the flu as well as more serious health problems such as heart illness and diabetes.  

Wellness may also suffer for the maintenance of healthful habits is often diminished in priority in the presence of stress.  There are many helpful techniques that a stress management coach can help you develop to protect your health from the dangers of excessive stress.  

Take Control

Stress could be as detrimental to individual health as a poor diet or even smoking when it is out of control.  Managing stress is an achievable goal and will definitely be a reality with the help of a specialist.  

With a stress management coach individuals may work to accept that stress and take action to manage it.  Learning to effectively deal with stress will improve current daily life and protect your wellness in the future.  

Do you find it difficult to stay aroused when attempting to make changes to your health? Are you aware that changes should be made in your daily life but you don’t know where to begin?

Wellness coaches are trained specialists who work with you individually to help you reach your wellness objectives by developing and starting personal health promotion programs.  

They motivate, guide, and support you to reach sustainable behavioral changes by offering creative wellness solutions.  

Health Promotion coaches provide individually designed health promotion programs to meet your unique needs by focusing on physical, mental, and emotional health.  

They help you become proactive in your life by eliminating unhealthy behaviors and making wellness a priority.  

Advantages of Wellness Coaching for Your Employees

Workers may benefit  greatly from wellness coaching in a variety of ways. Health Promotion coaching is one aspect of a wellness program that can help individuals decrease major health risks in their lives by changing high risk behaviors.  

Some of the many reasons why staff work with wellness coaches are to get in shape, lose weight, reduce stress, quit smoking, and create balance in their lives. Wellness coaches assist person with current health problems in addition to preventing future wellness issues.  

Because each health promotion program that a wellness coach creates is unique to suit the needs of the patron, they can be sure that it’ll be a health promotion program that is right for them.

A lot of busy personnel may feel that they do not have the time to spend working individually with a coach so these wellness experts offer coaching sessions in a selection of ways.  

While electronic coaching through the use of e-mails and instant messaging has become a popular method due to its convenience, telephone and face-to-face interactions might also be used.  

Staff Members have the ability to achieve their wellness objectives and improve their health and well being through the assistance of their wellness coach.

Benefits of Health Promotion Coaching for the Company

The overall advantages of wellness coaching for a corporation are remarkable. Employee high risk behaviors like tobacco use and obesity cost corporations millions of dollars every year.  

These high risk behaviors often cause avoidable illness and keep personnel from coming to work. Health Promotion coaches guide, support, hold clients accountable, and ensure that they receive continued motivation to help them achieve their wellness objectives and eliminate unhealthful behaviors in their lives.  

By starting wellness programs and using wellness coaching in their businesses, businesss reduce the risk of avoidable disease in their businesses.  

This improves the overall health of personnel, decreases healthcare and insurance costs, decreases absenteeism, and ultimately enhances performance and productivity.  

When personnel experience the advantages of higher levels wellness in their lives it causes an betterment in job attitude, energy, and morale.  

Organizations that utilize wellness coaching for their employees experience the benefits of higher productivity.

Hiring a wellness coach will affect your life in more ways than you can imagine.  The benefits of hiring a wellness coach are so great that even the biggest businesses in the world are getting in on the action.

But before you get started, you owe it to yourself to consider the ways that your life will change. After all, anytime that you are faced with a major life change you should really consider everything that is going to be brought to the forefront.

There are three main ways that a wellness coach will affect your life. of course, everybody is different, but typically these details will come into play.

And the good thing is that they’re all beneficial to your life in one way or the next. In other words, hiring a health coach is not something that will have a negative impact on your lifestyle.

A wellness coach will help you to take the way that you look and feel to the next level. Not only will this help with the way that people  perceive you, but it’ll also do a lot for your inner emotions as well.

When you look better and feel good about what you’re doing, this is going to show in the way that you act as well as the way that you see yourself. All in all, a wellness coach will allow you to gain more self esteem than you ever thought possible.

You only have one life, so making the most of it’s important. A wellness coach will make sure that you are doing what’s best to help you live a long and healthy life.

This might  be the biggest impact that a wellness coach has on the way that you live. After all, when minor changes in your lifestyle can help you to live healthier and longer you would be a fool to pass this by.

In most cases, working with a wellness coach will change the way that you see the world around you. Remember, not only do they take excellent pride in shaping your body but the same thing holds true when it comes to your mental state.

Not everyone may be a model, but everyone can feel good about themselves. With a health Coach, you’ll realize the good that is within in addition to the good in others.  

A health coach can and will affect your life from day one. If you’re looking for a positive influence to shape your mind and body and help you to live healthful, a health coach is right for you.

How can a health coach help me? This is a question that many people  ask themselves time and time again. After all, the thought of having somebody to help reach your goals has to be somewhat appealing, right?

But with that in mind, until you know what a wellness coach can do for you, you’ll probably never move forward with hiring one. Luckily, with a bit of research and soul searching you’ll be able to determine the benefits of working with a wellness Coach.

Usually speaking, the most basic way that a wellness coach can help is by helping you in reaching your health and exercise related goals. While it’s easy for people  to set goals, when it comes to actually carrying out the work to reach them things can get a bit more challenging.

This is where a wellness coach can come into play. They will be able to assess your goals, let you know if they’re feasible, and then work with you every step of the way. This way, you won’t be on your own when times get tough and you feel like throwing in the towel.

Now that you know the general details, the next thing is to consider the more in depth areas in which a wellness coach can assist you.  As you can imagine, a wellness coach devotes most of their time to coaching others as far as their physical and sometimes psychological health is concerned.

A lot of individuals  decide to hire a wellness coach because they need simple help in getting their body back in shape. After all, as you begin to get older and time gets tight, keeping in shape isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

This is namely true when you spend the majority of your time at work and/or with your family. But luckily, a wellness coach can work with you either in person, on the phone, or even online. This makes it easy to get the assistance that you need without really changing your lifestyle.

One thing that you need to know about hiring a health coach is that they’ll work with any type of customer. If you think that your problem is too simple, you’re wrong.  And in the same thought, there is no issue that is too big either.

The fact of the matter is that a health coach takes excellent pride in helping anyone who needs it. So before you pass this opportunity by, keep in mindthat no matter what you are up against you’ll qualify for help.

To find out exactly what a health coach can do for you, touch base with one of them to discuss your situation. From there, you’ll have a much better feel for how to move forward.

Individual Advantages of Fitness

Do you want to get fit, lose excess fat, or have more energy?  Most people  would answer “yes” to this question. It is hard to imagine why anybody would not want to achieve fitness for become a healthier person.  

If you are overweight or obese, have a family history of heart disease or diabetes, have high cholesterol or blood pressure, or simply feel that you might be a healthier you, then you may benefit  from a fitness program.  

Regular exercise is an easy way to help prevent many diseases by eliminating the major risk factors like obesity and lack of movement.  A combination of aerobic exercise and weight training is the best way to achieve your fitness objectives while bettering your health.  

When picking  a fitness program, the most challenging aspect might  be finding an activity or exercise that is fun as opposed to one that does not motivate you.  

Person are motivated in different ways which is why there are so many fitness plans out there. If you try something that you do not like, you can always move on and try something different until you discover a certain activity that appeals to you.  

Many times, person develop their own plans for exercise but lose interest in the health promotion program and thus find themselves steering away from their good intentions.  This is why a health coach could  be exactly what a personal needs in order to keep them on the right track to achieve fitness for life.

Exactly how a Health Coach can make it Possible

Wellness coaches are trained experts that assist customers in achieving fitness for life in a selection of ways. a personal can hire a personal trainer to work with them at the fitness club and help them with their fitness goals; nevertheless, a wellness coach does a excellent deal more to help their customers reach success.  

A wellness coach uses a health risk assessment to determine the individual needs of the patron and uses this information to create a while action for their fitness plan.  Because everyone has unique fitness objectives, each fitness program is personalized to fit the needs of the patron.  

A wellness coach not only excites you to achieve your fitness goals but also teaches you to motivate yourself.  

Health coaches understand that people  have busy lives and require convenient ways to exercise.  That is why a health coach develops customized health promotion programs that will work with an individual’s busy schedule.  

They’re also available 24 hours a day through internet based communication and hold sessions as often or as little as the patron needs. Wellness coaches may assist their patrons by telephone, e-mail and instant messaging, or face-to-face meetings.  

Despite the fact that wellness Coaches focus on other aspects of a person’s wellness like nutrition, stress management, and sleep management, it’s vital that you understand that each of these aspects of a wellness program intertwine to assist a person in becoming the healthiest person they can be.

Before you call it quits and decide to give up on having a healthier lifestyle, you could want to consider what a wellness coach can do for you. Many people  get so frustrated working out on their own that they give up before they really have a chance to succeed.

Luckily, by hiring a health coach you can avoid this issue, and end up with the body that you have been dreaming of. But before you jump forward too far, you need to know what a health coach is in addition to what one can do for you.

Normally speaking, a health coach is a personal trainer, dietician, and much more all rolled into one. While this may sound like an impossible job on the surface, the fact of the matter is that health Coaches are very good at what they do.

These experts have many years of experience in the health industry, and have a knack for communicating what they know to others on a very personal level.

The primary goal of any health coach is to work with you so that you are able to reach the objectives that you’ve set forth for yourself.  And guess what?

When you do not know what you want to accomplish your wellness coach can help in that area as well. Simply put, they are there to make certain that you are on the right path to success.

Health coaches come from a selection of different backgrounds. Although most individuals don’t go through schooling thinking that they want to be a health Coach, over time they begin to transform into this career.

For  instance, many health Coaches have backgrounds in fitness training, bodybuilding, health and nutrition, exercise science, and much more.

After you hire a wellness Coach, he or she’ll be at your disposal day in and day out. Many individuals  rely on coaches to help them on a personal basis.  And although this is a good idea for some, internet based wellness Coaches are becoming more and more well-liked due to busy schedules.

So before you think that you don’t have time to work with a wellness Coach, you should really reconsider. They’ll be willing to work with you in the capacity that best suits your lifestyle.

While working with a wellness coach you’ll be able to get specialist advice on reaching your objectives. If you want to lose weight, you’ll be supplied with a workout plan  that’ll get you moving in the right direction.  The same thing holds true for those people  who want to eat healthier, get in better shape, etc.

As you can see, a health coach is more than just your average Joe. They are trained in multiple disciplines, and work with clients to help them reach their goals.