Recess 4 Grown-Ups, Wellness @ Work & Anti-Treadmill Diatribes

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Crimes of the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:29:00 +0000

And the heart attacked themed restuarants.

What was the sexiest thing you were hiding under your clothes this Valentine's Day? How about a healthy heart? We knew that's what you were thinking.

But customer service can be pretty sexy too, and nothing tells your patrons you love them like a) offering a monstrosity called the Quadruple Bypass Burger and b) suing another restaurant for offering heart-stopping food with a hospital theme that's too similar to your own.

Yeesh.

Remember, when it comes to your heart, exercise and Omega-3 fatty acids, good; Quadruple Bypass Burger and stress from lawsuit over the rights to the Quadruple Bypass Burger, bad.

But here's some news that will get the blood flowing again.

Two recent studies have shown meditation can play a role in lowering blood pressure and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. That's right. A consistent practice of sitting, breathing, and listening to the beat of your own heart could lead to it ticking away a few years longer.

One study, published by the American Heart Association, looked at the effects of meditation on high-risk people, many with already established coronary artery disease.

"After following about 200 patients for an average of five years, researchers said, the high-risk patients who meditated cut their risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from all causes roughly in half compared with a group of similar patients who were given more conventional education about healthy diet and lifestyle.

Among the roughly 100 patients who meditated, there were 20 heart attacks, strokes and deaths; in the comparison group, there were 32. The meditators tended to remain disease-free longer and also reduced their systolic blood pressure by five millimeters of mercury, on average."

The other study, published by the American Journal of Hypertension, was geared towards college students. The findings?

"Students who were at risk of hypertension and practiced meditation reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.3 millimeters of mercury and their diastolic pressure by 4 millimeters of mercury on average."

Dr. Theodore Kotchen, associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, thinks both of these studies go back to managing stress. "Hormones, neural hormones, cortisol, catecholamines - all tend to be elevated in stress," he explains. Kotchen is not alone in thinking these elevated chemical levels have a direct link to cardiovascular disease.

One more, slightly more provocative study, suggests that there might be a way to test your heart health right here and now.

Sit on the floor, extend your legs out, and try touching your toes. If you're flexible enough to touch your toes, your cardiac arteries are probably flexible as well.

What? Flexible arteries? Who cares?! The New York Times describes arterial flexibility this way: Supple arterial walls allow the blood to move freely through the body. Stiff arteries require the heart to work much harder to force blood through the unyielding vessels and over time could, according to Kenta Yamamoto, a researcher at North Texas and lead author of the study, contribute to a greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

What the researchers found in this study was a clear correlation between inflexible bodies and inflexible arteries in subjects older than 40. Adults with poor results on the sit-and-reach test also tended to have relatively high readings of arterial stiffness. In short, the study concluded that "a less flexible body indicates arterial stiffening, especially in middle-aged and older adults."

Some stiffening of the arteries happens naturally with age, and just because you've got tight hamstrings does not mean a heart attack is imminent. The good news is that even if your arteries have already started to harden, that stiffness may not be set in stone. A study at the University of Texas in Austin, also outlined in the New York Times article found that a group that stretched consistently over 13 weeks increased the pliability of their arteries by more than 20 percent.

So while time may be the only thing that can heal a broken heart, if your heart is merely stiff, try going to a yoga class!

Heart health lines up with the idea of whole person wellness. There's not just one pill you can pop, one veggie you can eat, one exercise you can do that'll guarantee a strong heart--it's the combination of lifestyle choices.

So from the bottom of our Recess lovin' hearts, we wish you a happy healthy, and stress free Valentine's Day weekend. And while you may want to consider going easy on the ooey gooey desserts, we're all about the red wine, for the sake of your heart's health, of course.

Find less stress and more flex with Recess! >>

Soda's Slippery Slope

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:30:00 +0000

It's not like it'll kill ya...right?

In a recent New York Times article, Mark Bittman, otherwise known as "The Minimalist," draws some scary parallels between the big guys pushing sugar-laden juices and sodas and the tobacco industry of several decades ago. Think marketing to children, making dubious health claims, lots of lobbying power in their corner...sound familiar?

The soda industry claims that moderate amounts of soda are fine, but moderation is not really America's strong point at the moment. Bittman cites the average soda consumption at 50 gallons per person, per year. 50!

While studies continue to link increased soda consumption to growing diabetes and childhood obesity rates, and while the industry continues to refute these studies, saying that other lifestyle factors are the main cause for disease, let's step back a sec and take off our scientist hats and put on our common sense caps:

Which body is going to be happier and healthier over a year? One that has to process 50 gallons of high fructose corn syrup-laden goop or one that gets 50 gallons of water?

The latter option is also, of course, cheaper. We love it when things work out that way.

Better than a sugar high, and without the crash! »

Don't Let the Summer Sneak Up on You!

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:22:00 +0000

Sign up for Recess Health Immersion Today!

We all know it's true. Portland summers are too short and too beautiful to spend inside.

Join us for eight weeks this summer to skip, stretch, cook, crunch, and karate chop your way to better health. Recess Health Immersion is open to anyone and everyone. All athletic abilities embraced!

Dates:
July 10 - September 4
Mon & Wed, 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sat 10:00-11:00 a.m.

The program includes:
* Pre and post body composition/fitness assessment
* All of our personalized reports
* Seminars on nutrition, cooking, exercise and integrative arts like yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Budokon, etc.
* A cool group of "campers" and Recess instructors
* Participant-only web portal access
* Goodie bags and prizes worth over $200

Cost:
$250 a month

Discounts?
Oh yeah! Have you heard about our early bird special? Sign up before April 1st and we'll take 20% off the cost of the entire program. That's a $50 savings!

More questions?
Email Alison at alison@recesswellness.com

Do You Think This Needs Salt?

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Maybe it's time to switch to pepper.

Here's a a health tip to take without a grain of salt: a recent study reports that a little less sodium could save a lot of lives.

The study, conducted by scientists at University of California San Francisco, Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center, estimates that, "If everyone consumed half a teaspoon less salt per day, there would be between 54,000 and 99,000 fewer heart attacks each year and between 44,000 and 92,000 fewer deaths."

The biggest culprit for excess salt? Processed food.

In summary, if it's salt of the earth, score; if it's salt of the of the sauce made in a chemical processing plant; reconsider.

Add flavor to your wellness routine!>>

Don't Let Summer Sneak Up on You!

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Change is in the Air

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:32:00 +0000

In everything from food labels to thoughts on vitamins

Do you find yourself in need of a makeover this New Year? If you happen to be a food label, the answer is yes!

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling out the FDA on some of their tricky labeling antics. When Froot Loops are given a "Smart Choice " check of approval, you know something has got to be up. The CSPI thought so too. They imagine nutrition labels free of false claims and a clearer ingredient list: "For foods with several forms of sugar scattered around the ingredients list, those sugars would be combined so that they would show up higher on the list of ingredients. Percentages of key ingredients would be disclosed."

You can see a suggested version of the CSPI label at the New York Times Health Blog.

Still confused by all those numbers and strange chemical names? Eat more foods that eschew labels all together--fresh fruits and vegetables!

And speaking of looking at labels...

Do you ever find yourself deciphering the labels of vitamins, trying to decide which ones are best for you? You're not alone--but whether or not people understand what is in those daily tablets they take, sales of vitamins are going up by about 4% annually over the last decade. This New York Times article predicts that this year, with folks trying to save on medical bills and take their health into their own hands, vitamin sales will grow by 8%. That's a total of $9.2 billion. Spent in one year! On vitamins!

But are all these vitamins really working any wonders? Or forget medical miracles--are they doing anything at all? A slew of recent studies suggest that certain vitamins may not live up to all of their claims. Hmm, sound familiar?

An 8-year-long study by the Women's Heath Initiative, "provided convincing evidence that multivitamin use has little or no influence on the risk of common cancers or total mortality in postmenopausal women."

In another long-term study by JAMA, "neither vitamin E nor vitamin C supplementation reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events. The data provide no support for the use of these supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older men."

So what do the experts think you should do?

You're never going to believe what Eric Rimm, associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health says. "The evidence shows that a healthy diet and exercise are the best way to ward off disease; a vitamin cannot replace those benefits."

But doesn't healthy food contain some of the same components as in vitamins? Yes, but it may be that attempt to isolate the good stuff that's causing the vitamin-related shortcomings. The health aspect of health food comes from eating the whole fruit or vegetable.

As Dr. Peter H. Gann, professor and director of research in the department of pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago puts it:

"There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits. Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?"

All of this uncertainty surrounding vitamins and supplements is one reason you'll never find Recess hawking any kind of powder or pills. We're all about creating "happy, peppy people," but without the mysterious side effects...

Plus, with money you save by stepping away from the supplements, you could do something that actually makes you feel good. Massage, anyone?

Here's to a happy and bountiful new year filled with smart choices for you and your health. Froot Loops need not apply.

Feel better, no supplements necessary ! >>

How is Recess Like Your Dog?

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:31:00 +0000

We're always up for a walk!

A new study suggests that when it comes to walking partners, a canine companion may be the tops:

...research from the University of Missouri has found that people who walk dogs are more consistent about regular exercise and show more improvement in fitness than people who walk with a human companion.

The main reason humans were not each others best friends in this case? They kept discouraging each other!

Recess can bring a customized wellness program to your office that includes loads of encouragement and a strategically developed plan that works to fit the goals of your work place.

Find a walking partner that won't let you down. Request a Quote. >>

Oats of Steel

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:12:00 +0000

A rolling oat gathers no fiber.

On these cold winter mornings, try a bowl of steel cut oats. These oats are made by taking the whole inner oat kernel and cutting them into only two or three pieces, instead of rolling them flat.

Compared to pre-packaged, flavored oatmeal, steel cut oats have a lot less sugar, and a lot more fiber--they've got 8g per serving while the flat, rolled guys only have 3g!

While these oats take a little bit longer to cook, Martha Rose Shulman has a great suggestion on the New York Times health blog--make a batch in advance to keep in the fridge, and then heat up a portion each morning.

Add some oomph to your wellness routine>>

An Old Spice Shows New Promise

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:44:00 +0000

Forgive me Father, for I have cinned.

This season, consider adding an already festive spice to foods and drinks. According to a study done by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, cinnamon lowered LDL cholesterol (that's the bad one) in patients with type 2 diabetes. In healthy patients, the study found that the addition of 6g of cinnamon to rice pudding lowered the glucose response in the body and slowed the rate at which food left the stomach, meaning subjects felt fuller for a longer period of time.

And chances are, you've already got some sitting in your spice rack right now! Mix ground cinnamon in your oatmeal, include it in your next stir-fry, or add a stick to a cup of eggnog. I mean, tea.

Add some zip to your wellness routine>>

Give the Gift of Recess

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Warm up your wellness routine by bringing classes right to you!

US Workers put in the longest hours on the job in industrialized nations, clocking up nearly 2,000 hours per capita in 1997, the equivalent of almost two working weeks more than their counterparts in Japan, where annual hours worked have been declining since 1980.

Doesn't your office deserve a little Recess?

Bringing a weekly or bi-weekly office stretch or yoga class to work is safe, fun, and an extremely cost-effective way to help you and your co-workers stay healthy.

Magical, Multitasking Shoes? We're not buying it.

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Real change comes from within.

One of the core beliefs at Recess is that life-long wellness is affordable and accessible to everyone. Between the tough economy and pressure to find holiday gifts for others, you may be way down the line on your own shopping list. But when the time comes to splurge, and you're thinking about buying something health-related, a little research can go a long way.

Take for instance, the unassuming pedometer. The Journal of American Medicinal Association recently pooled the results of 26 studies that measured the effectiveness of pedometers in motivating physical activity. Among the observational studies, pedometer users significantly increased their physical activity by 2183 steps per day (!) over the baseline. An important predictor of increased physical activity was having a goal such as 10,000 steps per day. Pedometer users also decreased their body mass index and lowered their systolic blood pressure.

Pedometers come in many affordable varieties and can be a great way to kick off a new wellness routine by keeping track of a daily, tangible goal. Stocking stuffers anyone?

But maybe a pedometer just doesn't ooze the charm or high fashion appeal you're going for. What about those shoes that promise to tone your legs and backside? Several varieties exist, and maybe you've seen the ads for the new EasyTone shoes. In the commercial, the camera continually drifts to well, the model's best asset.

Do they work? Well, the jury's still out, but according to a recent New York Times article, trials done on the shoes and their toning efficiency involved a whopping five subjects walking on a treadmill.

Furthermore, "The shoes are designed only for walking, and because of the instability design, wearers are discouraged from running, jumping and engaging in other athletic activities while wearing them."

Wait, a sec, are these walking shoes or high heels we're talking about? Oh, they're walking shoes that promise to tone your booty, even though you can't participate in any naturally bootylicious-building activities while wearing them. Got it.

Hold on. Where have we heard this before? Something else that promises to burn more calories while you're doing something you do everyday, but ends up being a hindrance to just about everything. Oh yes, the Hawaii Chair.

Click the pic to see Ellen putting it to the test.

That's not to say the shoes don't make a difference for some people. But perhaps, like the increased awareness brought on by wearing a pedometer, you walk more in your souped up shoes because you're conscious that they're supposed to be making you look better. The only difference is about $80. That, and you can still jump while wearing a pedometer.

There's a lot out there you can buy for your health, but anything with the claim, "you just do what you normally do and you'll get thinner/faster/smarter/stronger" should be taken with a grain of salt (or cinnamon?).

Real change requires some kind, well, actual change, an awakening of mindfulness. If you can integrate wellness into your life in a meaningful, purposeful way, and the effects will deeper and longer lasting, rather than the by-product of a new health gimmick.

And you don't have to go it alone! You can even incorporate your holiday giving into bringing wellness to you and sharing it with others. Pack a picnic for you and a friend and head out on a hiking or snowshoeing adventure. Take your kids ice skating (but you've got to lace up your skates too!). Sign up you and your sweetie for a healthy cooking class. This way, you're sharing the goodness and creating memories--and those will last longer than even the most high-tech sneakers.

Better health, gimmick free! >>

No Mushy Carrot Pieces For YOU!

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Cook your carrots whole to maximize the benefit.

You always knew carrots were good for you, but did you know that if you chop them into little pieces you're losing valuable nutrients? A new study done by Newcastle University shows that by cooking carrots whole one maintains 25 percent more of their natural anti-cancer fighting nutrient, falcarinol.

"Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked," said lead researcher Dr Kirsten Brandt.

Keeping them whole also preserves their natural sugars, so they taste better. During a blind taste test the research team found that eight out of ten people favored the whole cooked carrots to those that had been chopped and boiled.

Even if you can't live without those little orange medallions then, go ahead, and chop them, but do it after they are cooked. Eat your carrots whole and, just like that apple a day, you won't have to say "Eh, what's up Doc?"

Learn To Love Carrots!

Glucose, Fructose, or Sucrose? Whoknose?

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:43:00 +0000

What are YOU spending on Wellness?

$200 per participant in incentives?
$40-50 per participant for biometrics screenings?
$6 per participant for a health risk assessment?
$4-15 pepm for health coaching?
$2 pepm for incentive management?
$200 per on site class?
Goodness knows how much on staff time and consultants and the like on program administration and measuring of your butt kicking wellness program.

BUT does it every worry you that the $.75 peps (yes, that's per employee per soda) that you spend on providing free pop that is corroding the value of what you have been spending on prevention?

Does a sugar by any other name taste as sweet?

Most of us forgot the difference between glucose, fructose and sucrose long ago while starring wistfully at our high school heartthrob during chemistry. It wasn't something we needed to know and, I mean come on, who can tell the difference right? All of them taste sugary.

So what's the difference? Well, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of California, Davis discovered that people consuming fructose-sweetened drinks showed an increase in a particular kind of fat that embeds itself between tissues in organs.

They were also less sensitive to insulin, showed elevated blood levels of lipids, increased fat production in the liver, and elevated LDL (so-called 'bad' cholesterol) and larger increases in blood triglycerides. Yikes!

According to the study, those drinking glucose-sweetened beverages showed none of these changes. Unfortunately for us, most of the sugars that are readily available in the store come in the form of high fructose corn syrup or sucrose (table sugar).

So, uh, skip the soda and maybe provide a fruit bowl instead?

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Perspiration Nation

Do you feel grody about breaking into a sweat? Always have a change of clothes and a stick of antiperspirant handy in case a brief lunch outing leads to unsightly sweat rings during a meeting? As much as you might feel awkward raising a sweaty arm mid-meeting, Recess wants to give you three good reasons to embrace your sweat this summer!

Reason # 1. Sweat Keeps You Alive.
It’s a hot day and you’re sitting on your porch drinking ice tea. You feel something wet on your brow, forming there into a bead, then rolling down your face. Your immediate reaction might be, “Eew,” but it’s actually your body’s way of keeping you the right temperature. Without it we’d die. Learn to love your sweat because it keeps you happier than you’ll ever know, and-because the average person sweats up to 8000 milliliters on hot a day-you’ll have to get used to it.

Sweating is controlled from a center in the hypothalamus, a part of your brain that, among other things, regulates body temperature. The hypothalamus is connected to temperature receptors in your skin and in your core, so when the skin gets hot it sends a message to your brain asking it to cool you off. However a rise in core heat causes more sweating than a rise in skin heat. Most people think sweating simply cools off the skin, and it does, but the actual process of sweating also regulates core temperature while the evaporation of sweat cools the skin.

There’s been lots of controversy about whether or not sweat releases toxins in the body, but there isn’t enough scientific evidence to prove this one way or the other. One thing is for certain: sweat does not, itself, contain toxins housed in the body. However, the act of exercising, and ergo sweating, can burn fat, which often stores up toxins that like to bind themselves to lipids. So don’t become a sauna rat just yet.

Reason # 2. The ladies love it!
Sweat is not pure water, which is why, in addition to the presence of underarm bacteria, it smells. It contains trace amounts of salt and urea, the same chemical found in urine. But did you know that it also contains a chemical called androstadienone, a strange substance has been shown to change the mood and physiological arousal in women. Ooh lala!

"Many people argue that human pheromones don't exist, because humans don't exhibit stereotyped behavior,” said Claire Wyart, a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley who lead a study on the smelly substance. “Nonetheless, this male chemical signal, androstadienone, does cause hormonal as well as physiological and psychological changes in women.”

Durring Wyart’s study the research team had women sniff samples of androstadienone, which smells vaguely musky, and then immediately had their blood tested for concentration of cortisol, a hormone commonly associated with alertness or stress. Upon getting a whiff of this chemical the level of cortisol rose in heterosexual women. Though Wyart’s findings don’t necessarily suggest the presence of pheromones in the human anatomy, "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat,” she said.

So this chemical might not attract a partner as readily as one might have hoped (Pepé le Pew comes to mind) but these results might provide scientists with a safer, more natural way of fighting diseases characterized by low cortisol, like Addison’s disease. Instead of giving the hormone in pill form, which has side effects such as ulcers and weight gain, doctors might be able to synthesize a therapeutic musk. Perhaps they’ll call it Eau d’Armpit.

Reason # 3. Letting it alone can help you fight cancer. Even though those notorious underarm circles may make you feel self-conscious, antiperspirants can have negative long term effects on your health. Some research has linked aluminum-based compounds, the active ingredient in most antiperspirants, to the onset of breast cancer. When you apply these compounds to your underarm (which happens to be only stones throw from your breast) the aluminum forms a kind of cork in the sweat duct. The cork stops the flow of sweat to the skin's surface and you kiss your pit stains goodbye. However, when applied frequently and left on the skin the aluminum can be absorbed and cause hormonal effects similar to those brought on by an excess of estrogen. And too much estrogen, as it were, promotes the growth of breast cancer cells.

Others believe that the chemical in question is paraben, another active ingredient in some antiperspirants. Parabens, unlike aluminums, directly mimic the effects of estrogen. Eek! Luckily, with ingredient names like methylparaben and propylparaben it’s pretty sinchy to tell whether or not an antiperspirant contains this dangerous substance. Just in case, the National Library of Medicine’s Household Products Database has provided information about the ingredients used in most major brands of deodorants and antiperspirants. That database is available here.

Try using alcohol or baking soda instead of antiperspirants. Alcohol kills the bacteria that causes odor to occur, allowing your sweat glands to live in peace without the mucky side effects. Baking soda, on the other hand, simply absorbs the odor because of its highly porous surface. Remember when mom used to put baking soda in the freezer to take out the smell of your uncle’s fish catch? It’s essentially the same mechanism. Just under your arms!

And if that's a little too free-love and sweat embracing for your tastes then try experimenting with the growing number of paraben free underarm tonics in your local mercantile.

Stress and the Elephant in the Middle of the Room

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Far be it from me to want to turn away work that could put food on the table for my staff, but as wellness consultants we are often asked by clients to address issues stemming from workplace stress. Probably no one is surprised to hear that many Americans find work stressful:

An NIOSH report from the early 1990s cites the following:

40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful;
25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives;
75% of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago;
29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work;
26% of workers said they were "often or very often burned out or stressed by their work."

The report goes on to quote an insurance company study that concluded "Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family problems." Yikes.

Here's the freaky part, though. It gets worse. According to the American Institute of Stress an average of 20 workers are murdered each week in the U. S. making homicide the second highest cause of workplace deaths and the leading one for females. Many employees cite their or their co-workers increased job stress and lack of ability to cope with such stress with an increase in physical or verbal hostility in the workplace. 2 reports in 2000 compiled by Gallup and Integra revealed that:

14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn't;
25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress;
29% had yelled at co-workers because of workplace stress;
14% said they work where machinery or equipment has been damaged because of workplace rage
19% or almost one in five respondents had quit a previous position because of job stress and nearly one in four have been driven to tears because of workplace stress;
62% routinely find that they end the day with work-related neck pain;
34% reported difficulty in sleeping because they were too stressed-out;
12% had called in sick because of job stress;

Over half said they often spend 12-hour days on work related duties and an equal number frequently skip lunch because of the stress of job demands.

If you can pick even three of these items and you feel they adequately describe your working environment, there is no amount of on-site yoga or wellness campaigns that can help. Your problem is systemic. That is not to say that yoga or corporate wellness can't help those employees who participate better cope with a stressful situation, but if you look around and see the signs of deteriorating health and humanity in your workplace chances are good you have bigger issues to address.

Where is this all coming from?
I reached out to professionals on facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and the blogosphere to ask what they saw as the biggest sources of workplace stress. Their answers seemed to echo two main themes:

Lack of clarity and discipline in work processes.

Typified by responses like this:

"This is related to employees who refuse to answer or even acknowledge emails. And, as a project manager, I'm held responsible for not having an answer. That's stressful for me."

"Process. Inefficient coordination that wastes time kills spirit. "

This includes: passive, unfocused or unclear communication or hierarchy among team members, lack of consensus or goals, poor accountability to project deadlines or deliverables, leading people to feel as though they were constantly firefighting rather than working effectively and productively.

- or -

Lack of empathy and understanding.

Typified by responses like this:

"Unreasonable expectations. Often of the, "I want an answer today!" type, when the standard timeline is several days."

"When everyone needs everything RIGHT NOW. Clients don't care that you have other projects or other clients."

"Treating everything as an emergency, as a top priority, while less urgent items are ignored to become tomorrows' emergencies. "

When coworkers or clients not taking time to define their own goals and understand project and time constraints, the ensuing lack of clarity in communication seems to drive people nuts. We can probably all recall a project fraught with: interrupting, introduction of scope creep, lack of respect for other organizational priorities, dropped balls which result in blaming and deviceiveness among team members, leading to micromanagement and disrespect for co-workers' expertise.

How do we stop this train wreck from happening?
So here is the interesting part for me. Nope, wellness alone won't fix the underlying problems. This is something that even we have to grapple with as a wellness company. Perhaps the best advice we've had to offer in this arena is our own example. There is a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that is displayed prominently in our office and included in every employee orientation at Recess.

"Our own life has to be our message."

Easier said than done. Especially if everyone at your company is communicating a different message. Getting everyone on the same page, unifying around a vision, mission, set of values and ways of doing business is hard work. It means that at every level of the organization people need to be given time to work on the business as well as in the business and that all new hires, client acquisitions and business decisions must be constantly evaluated through this lens.

Cameron Herold was COO at 1-800-GOT-JUNK? His leadership helped build a presence in 46 states, 9 provinces, and 4 countries while being ranked the “2nd Best Company to Work for in Canada” by Canadian Business Magazine and “the #1 Company in BC to Work for” twice by BC Business Magazine. During his tenure the company was studied by numerous MBA programs including Queen’s University in Canada & Harvard. Here's Cameron (please note, no subtitles provided for his Canadian accent):

He articulates in his talks the need for a broad and all encompassing vision that is then executed through a series of well orchestrated and disciplined internal processes and plans. Take a look at how that vision trickles down on a daily basis:

Even before starting Recess, I worked as a management consultant. When I showed up on client site I'd see everyone running around frantically, firing off emails after email, powering through lunch, working long days on projects that still never seemed to be done "right" or on time. The company that I worked for advocated a long painful process whereby clients aligned their work habits with long range planning and resource allocation and right sized their organizations rather than simply grabbing anyone breathing (only to leave a firing bloodbath once sales dried up).

I saw over and over that trying to implement suggestions like Cameron's can be difficult once organizational problems are endemic; however, doing so is probably the best way for an organization to achieve rapid business growth without churning and burning the exceptional employees and clients it worked so hard to find.

If you really want to eliminate workplace stress then:

Define long term, mid term and short term goals based on vision.
Create systems that balance the skills, talents and availability of your workforce with a realistic plan for achieving your goals. This provides a basis for communicating your vision in a meaningful way to every person in your organization.
Manage the process. Track. Measure. Create structured and regular opportunities for employees to report on milestones, then get out of their way.
Of course the last bullet requires that you hire capable people who value your mission. Weed out employees, managers and clients who don't get it. Bad apples are like entropy inducing kryptonite for even the best run companies.

So while I don't want to discount the benefit that yoga and good health have on well being (after all I would be out of a job if that were the case), companies that wish to lessen the impact of stress should start by doing the difficult systemic work necessary to create a humane work culture. Culture isn't something you can get through a workplace personalysis or a ropes course. Best management practices improve your company's bottom line and make work a more predictable, reliable and sane place for the people that keep your organization afloat.

Biking. In heels. 8 months pregnant.

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Every summer I usually take part in Recess' Health Immersion Program, which is a total blast and the highlight of my summer. I always make new friends and really enjoy the companionship and commitment the group inspires. Oh, and did I mention my arms always look totally cut by the time camp is done?

I also learned how to surf one year when all of the campers did a surf camp at the end of the program. As proof see one of my buddies to the left there. Well this year camp starts on July 1 and I could be giving birth at any time, so I am missing camp this year. WAAHHHHHHHHHH!

So, how have I managed to at least keep my heart rate up and my body feeling healthy under the strange pressures of pregnancy? My bike. That's right. My number one form of transportation is still a reliable standby and allows me to get out, get fresh air and move my body in a low impact way. So far so good. I have continued to enjoy the summer in Portland and in the meantime my primary mode of transportation is also keeping me fit.

True, it's more cardio vascular than muscular (no cut arms for me this summer) and I might not look like a runway model but my pregnancy has been really healthy and I feel I have regular exercise to thank for it!

Recess 2009 Portland Health Immersion (Formerly Boot Camp)

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Enroll in the Next Two Weeks for a Chance to Win!

Free classes galore, and a yoga mat to boot

A big hello and a giant thank you to those of you who have gotten in touch with us about this year's Health Immersion.

If you've been thinking about signing up, the time to act is now! Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, we've got a killer package of free classes and goodies to give to one fun lovin', wellness-embracin', future Recess Health Immersion participant. If you sign up in the next two weeks, that's by Tuesday, June 9th, you'll be automatically entered in a drawing to win...

One month of free membership at Alameda Fitness Center

Two weeks of free classes at Studio Nia

One free class at NW Pilates

One free class at Yoga Pearl

A yoga mat

A lucy activewear water bottle

A Bob's Red Mill cookie

Scroll down to sign up, and have a chance to check out some of Portland's coolest wellness studios!

The Essential Info

Dates, Times, Location, Workouts, and Goodie Bags!

For this year's health immersion (formerly boot camp), we'll have two groups--one that meets Mon/Wed and one that meets Tues/Thurs. The groups will meet together on Saturdays.

Dates:
2009 Health Immersion runs from 7/1-8/29.
Mon & Wed, 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sat 10-11 a.m.
or
Tues & Thurs, 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sat 10-11 a.m.

*Must enroll by June 24th*

Location:
Duniway Park - SW Portland - easily accessible by bike and close to every major roadway (26, 405, 5).

Certain activities may meet at other easy-to-reach locations.

The camp includes:
* Pre and post body composition/fitness assessment
* All of our personalized reports
* Seminars on nutrition, cooking, exercise and integrative arts like yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, Budokon, etc.
* A cool group of "campers" and Recess instructors
* Participant-only web portal access
* Goodie bags and prizes worth over $200

Cost:
$250 a month

More questions?
Email Kaitlin at kaitlin@recesswellness.com

SIGN UP ONLINE TODAY>>

Jack of All Trades & Master of None

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Poor focus hampers wellness implementation

Are you updating your facebook status via Twitter from your iPhone as you apply your make-up or eat your burger on the drive to your next open enrollment meeting? Many Americans feel as though they are good at multitasking and engaging in multiple activities simultaneously leads them to believe they are accomplishing more.

In her book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention And The Coming Dark Age, author Maggie Jackson points to a growing body of research studies that seem to suggest the opposite. A flood of stimulation, interruption and fleeting human contact have created a culture of "diffusion, fragmentation."

She points out the consequences of what most of us consider par for the course in our lives and working environments:

Interruption and the knowledge worker:

Knowledge workers switch tasks every three minutes. And once interrupted, a worker takes an average 25 minutes to return to their original task, according to informatics scientist Gloria Mark.

How often are we interrupted? The average worker gets 156 emails a day, according to the Radicati research group. And that's just the beginning; instant-messages, phone calls, faxes and snail mail add to the influx.

Making a national habit of multitasking:

Sixty-five percent of people eat while they drive.

Sixty percent of kids age eight to 18 multitask some or most of the time they're doing homework.

Twenty-five percent of restaurant meals are ordered from the car, up from 15 percent from 1988.

American kids are exposed on average to nearly six hours a day of non-print media.

Two-thirds of children under six live in homes that keep the tv on half or more of the time, an environment linked to attention-deficiencies.

Time and time again in the world of wellness we see this habitual tendency toward mindless overcommitment, interruption, and multitasking lead to programs that are too diffuse to do much good if the desired outcome is a healthier workforce and reduced health care costs.

Why wellness fragmentation does not equal results

How does ROI for wellness work? It is more of a cost avoidance than an actual savings in most cases. Here is a simple (and maybe a little too simplistic) example to help walk you through the "savings."

Half of your workforce participates in a risk based population health strategy (wellness program) and the other half does not.

For the participating half of the population, whose risk is known, you are able to offer outbound (active) and passive programs that directly impact and address the risks you've identified as prevalent to this group.

Let's say the programs you've implemented are effective, engagement in them is high, and you retain these employees. Over a series of years you should see something happen that is counter to what will have happened with no intervention.

That is to say, this group will not get sick as often as non-participants because your interventions were effective and employees stuck around long enough for you to see results.

The non-participants at your company, as an aggregate, are an unknown entity to you. You have very little data on their risks and, as a group, they will most likely continue to use health care at the same rate as before.

Yet, if your company-wide wellness communications are effective and appealing, your participant group is vocal and influential, and your non-participants stay at your company without developing any major illness then some studies indicate that your wellness program might actually have a halo effect.

That is to say, even non-participants will learn a little more about self care whether they participate or not. Sure, that could slow the rate of health care cost growth in that group, though probably not by a lot.

Both groups' cost trends together is your overall trend. Both may continue to rise, but your participant group's trend over several years will rise more slowly - making your overall costs appear to grow more slowly.

UNLESS. Yes, there is an unless. Unless, your participant group is so small and the growth in the cost of health care is so large that your non-participants' health care usage effectively nullifies any impact you had on participants.

Wellness is not Wii Fit. You need to focus.

As much as we know that on an individual level good health is as simple as: sleep well, eat right, and move more, achieving a successful organizational wellness strategy is as much an art as it is a science. It takes focus, discipline and rigorous measurement to impact behavior, motivate and sustain participation, and to quantify results.

If your program is to be successful then you will need to engage a large chunk of your workforce, stratify their risks, and follow a disciplined series of steps over several years in order to see return on investment. Oh, and do all of this while simultaneously carrying out the core work of your company.

Fight the urge to multi-task

While multi-tasking may be transitioning out of vogue when it comes to work effectiveness, its cousin - work sequencing - can help break large and complex tasks into more manageable pieces.

Plan to succeed by drafting a multi-year strategy with a realistic timeline. Schedule monthly (core team), quarterly (key shareholders and decision makers) and annual reviews (company wide) of a the wellness program before you even begin work. This will hold you accountable for reporting progress toward implementing your strategy and plan.

Build up to maximum efficiency by starting with only a few key program components that will get you the most bang for your buck. Gradually add complexity as your initial program begins to show results.

More often than not, companies initially underestimate how much time it takes to implement a strategic wellness program. They allocate too few resources and take on too many program components to ever really get much traction. As a result, their programs suffer from poor participation due to fragmented management and the overall program shows high attrition. Plan intelligently and sidestep this common trap.

Have the will but lacking the way? Recess can help. »

Will restricting HSAs and FSAs and tax credits help cut health costs?

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:03:00 +0000

So what do you think?

Workforce.com reported today that:

"The Senate Finance Committee will discuss controversial options that include curbing the tax-favored status of employer-provided health care coverage, wiping out health care flexible spending accounts and placing new restrictions on health spending accounts when it meets Wednesday, May 20."

How will this effect your company and its employees?
Will this change the kind of benefits you currently offer?
How will this impact your company's willingness to offer wellness and health benefits to your covered employees and dependents?

The Bun In The Oven & The State of Preventative Health

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Here are some snippets from an email I received from the US Department of Health and Human Services today:

"We know that the health care crisis impacts every American, but our mothers, daughters and sisters are paying a particularly heavy price. Today, 21 million women and girls are uninsured. Women who try to purchase insurance find that the private market is often stacked against them. Premiums in the private market for young women are often higher than they are for men. In some states, insurance companies can legally discriminate against women, and leave them with higher health care bills or inadequate coverage.

We know America's women can't afford to wait for comprehensive health reform. Roadblocks to Health Care reports:

In the individual insurance market, women are often charged higher premiums than men during their reproductive years. Holding other factors constant, a 22 year old woman can be charged one and a half times the premium of a 22 year old man.
In a recent national survey, more than half of women (52%) reported delaying or avoiding needed care because of cost, compared with 39% of men. "

Why are women charged more?
Among other things, because we can get pregnant and pregnancy in the US is very expensive. We therefore use more health care and are charged more or denied insurance coverage. But here is the crazy part, folks: women cannot self-impregnate!

Not long ago, I received a very personal lesson on the wacky state of preventative health care for maternity. As an otherwise extremely healthy person with a good track record for taking care of myself and little in the way of worrisome health risks, I'd gone the way of financial prudence. I purchased a health plan with a high deductible, but with inexpensive co-pays on doctor's visits and alternative medicine as well as discounts on pharmaceuticals should I need them.

This was all working out very well. I continued to do my part for the team by taking good care of myself, paying my insurance company dutifully and not using any medical care! I was mentally prepared should a catastrophe befall me. I figured, should that happen, my piddly $5k deductible would seem like chump change in comparison to what I would otherwise have had to spend out of pocket for catastrophic care. All those years of paying unused premiums to my carrier would have been put to good use!

Then, about 6 months ago I developed a small "medical" problem. That's right. I got pregnant. Ok so this is no catastrophic illness or disease condition, right? I mean, there are more than 6 billion people on earth and unless I am mistaken pregnancy is the way we all got here. As a scientist I will grudgingly agree that pregnancy looks suspiciously like a highly evolved parasitic infection. Yet, unlike malaria - for instance - my health plan wasn't ponying up any cash for pregnancy vaccines or other preventative measures against this "disease."

So it was one $20 co pay with my primary care doc, the cost of a pregnancy confirmation test and then I was on my own. At that point my options were to start clocking maternity care against my catastrophic deductible. After meeting that limit I'd pay 30-70%. After doing the math I realized that if I ended up in a hospital for a routine, healthy birth with no serious complications that I would most likely end up paying $7,500+ out of pocket for my "disease."

Compare this to a $2000-2500 bill if I pay cash for a home birth with a certified nurse midwife including all prenatal scans and labs and two months of well baby care and it left me scratching my head. Now if there were complications (need for surgery, premature birth, gestational diabetes, preclampsia, etc.) that led to a need for emergency medical intervention then, as I said, there is not much room to gripe over the deductible when so many dollars and someone's life is on the line. Yet when all signs in my case (and in the case of nearly 75% of pregnancies that come full term) point to a completely normal, healthy pregnancy and birth I am perplexed about how this situation serves any sort of greater good.

In my case I simply opted to pay the midwife out of pocket and should an emergency arise, well, it's an emergency - deductible be damned. Yet I think about all of the women whose partners may have left them; women whose partners lost their jobs; women who have lost their own job and are not sure how to afford COBRA, but would be denied individual coverage due to their "pre-existing condition"; women who are short on the cash to be able to afford the relatively less expensive but still cost prohibitive bill for good prenatal care and who end up with very costly bills later on down the line due to having delayed or avoided care.

And these mothers who were impregnated by partners who - in most cases - will not be denied coverage or see rate increases due to their partners' "disease," are left unable to pay and to pass on the costs to the remaining payers in the current insurance system - thus becoming contributors to the astronomical rise is insurance rates. These are not some handful of bad people "out there." If you are reading this blog, breathing and have a pulse right now then you have a pregnant woman to thank.

People are not going to stop making more people, people. It just isn't going to happen. So what are our options when it comes to taking pregnant women off of the bad apple list with regards to health care costs?

Provide safe, effective and affordable contraception and family planning services to women of reproductive age (yes, this means after menarche) .
Ensure that pre-natal care is covered as preventative care under health plans.
Stratify pregnancies by risk and ensure that health plans cover lower cost but safe and effective birth options such as licensed birthing centers and midwife assisted home births for low risk pregnancies.
Ensure that health plans rapidly identify and direct high risk pregnancies to maternity care and coaching programs that help manage behavioral risk factors and more closely monitor pregnancy through birth.
If you are en employer providing maternity benefits and health insurance for your employees and spouses, make sure you emphasize prental care and maternity benefits offered by your health plan. Consider setting aside lactation rooms to encourage breastfeeding mothers to pump so that they can continue to feed their babies breastmilk (which has health benefits for the mother and child).
Support legislation that accomplishes all of the above and funds community health education centers that provide outreach, education and services to uninsured populations - eliminating a cost barrier which might keep pregnant women from seeking care until it is too late.

If altruism isn't your bag, then consider that early prenatal care helps all payers in the health insurance game by lowering costs shared by the pool. And if you are still feeling the glow from that gift that had your mom in tears last weekend, then - hey - do it for the lady who loved you enough to endure nausea, swollen feet, ill-fitting clothes and a whole lot more to bring you into this world.

An Apple A Day or A Bad Apple?

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:38:00 +0000

I was recently listening to an episode of This American Life titled, "Ruining It For The Rest of Us" where they featured stories about how easily one person's behavior can have a contaminating effect on others. One particularly haunting story covered the research of Will Felps, a professor at Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, who placed a confederate in a group and observed the impact that this "bad apple" had on the rest of the group. In nearly every case the influence of even one spoiler tarnished the productivity and the morale of the group.
One thing that the researchers in Phelp's study didn't look at, however, is that poor health can impact mood. Could an apple a day and a brief jaunt outdoors help the bad apple get his mood back on track? Or could workplace health and wellness be a protective means of coping for those who might otherwise be affected by a bad apple?

How do health and mood interact in your workplace? Have you seen an instance where a bad apple lowered the productivity of a work group and subsequently led to more sick days or a reluctance of team members to show up for work?

Food Or Thought: continued

noreply@blogger.com (rubdub) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Several blog posts ago we discussed some of the key issues facing us as eaters and as citizens in what has come to be known as the 'industrial food complex'--our current food system.

Now that spring has begun to work its reliable magic on US agricultural and wild land and thoughts of early spring berries replace those of wintertime squash, it's the perfect time to bring this conversation 'home.'

Why local matters

Problem: The most prolific ingredients in the processed foods that Americans consume--wheat, soy, rice, or corn---are highly caloric, long lasting, cheap food products often shipped thousands of miles (oil, oil, oil).

Next time you're standing in front of your pantry, examine a box of pasta, a bag of chips, or a jar of tomato sauce.

How many ingredients does the product contain?
Do you know what these ingredients are?
Where does the product come from?
How far has it traveled to get to you?
How were these commodity crops raised?

By now many of us are familiar with the impact that industrialized and large scale commercial farming and monoculture can have on the environment and our health. In growing, the key element to producing quality food is soil richness. Building rich soils (as nature has done for millennia) is a slow process.

Soils don't seem to understand the pressures that the business cycle places on farming for profit, and many agricultural practices used to accelerate crop growth can contaminate ground water, erode the soil, leach nutrients into water bodies - disrupting the ecology and fisheries that we rely upon. A picture of the Dust Bowl (below) shows just how badly things can get when natural wind systems interact with environments that have been stripped of their protective layer of top soil.

Solution: Eat close to home

You, like many people, are probably looking for ways to answers some of the nagging questions above, without having to find a personal solution that means you quit your job to become a full time food systems researcher. One easy way to make this thoughtful transition without having to research every item on your shelves is to build a relationship with a local grower and have your produce freshly delivered through a CSA.

A summary from LocalHarvest.org:
"Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

Advantages for consumers:

Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – even veggies they've never been known to eat
Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown
Directly support their local agricultural economy

Advantages for farmers:

Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Recess wants to point out a few advantages of promoting local food for employers:

Be an advocate for health behavior change---many CSAs will deliver weekly shares to a business with enough season 'share-holders'
Chronic diseases are costly and correlated to poor diet and lack of physical activity---help your employees discover real food and reduce their risk
Foster a culture of health with an employee-family day at your local farm or farmers market

If you live in Portland, Oregon for example, purchasing a season share at a local CSA farm, or regularly visiting a farmers market gives you access to the freshest most local food that you could possibly buy. By investing your money locally, supporting a small business while helping preserve important agricultural land, as the Oregon Environmental Council puts it, you will 'vote with your fork.'

So the question is: Do you want to cast your vote for food shipped from thousands of miles away, or is it worth the wait for those amazing, fresh April strawberries to suddenly appear in your weekly basket or local market---followed by tomatoes, squash, and beets still smelling of the soil from which they emerged just hours before? Shrink the food system, and watch our landscape explode with real food!

Sending Your Employees to Fat Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:49:00 +0000

Every kid can probably remember a schoolmate who was sent away to fat camp and forced to endure not only the mockery of fellow children, but also bland, paltry portions of undressed salad and other "diet" foods. Losing weight was never cool, but with the mercurial rise of reality shows, even fat camp has been buffed to a high gloss. Shows like The Biggest Loser and other reality diet shows feature die hard trainers who effectively supplant the participants' "lack of will" with their own shrill and uberfit war cries. They harass participants through bootcamp-like workouts (4-6 hours worth at a pop) and analyze their every bite. The results are - well - dramatic enough to capture the attention of a rapt television audience.

Corporate wellness programs seem to be picking up on the trend. Home grown Biggest Loser competitions are popping up all over in America's offices. Sure, this approach can work. Particularly when on someone else's dime and exercising 4-6 hours a day, but for the average working Joe or Josephine, dramatic weight loss can be a setup for disappointment.

And for the ambitious wellness program director? For starters your program might not actually be reaching the least healthy among your workers. A skinny pack a day smoker who does not exercise (unless you count lifting beer to mouth) and has a family history of illness may not have a lot to lose when it comes to shedding pounds.

While it may be tempting to assume that we can look at someone who is obese or overweight and judge their level of health, studies show that a moderately active obese or overweight worker is at less risk of disease than a thin co-worker with high stress, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep habits, and a lousy diet. Some of the more serious risk factors for cardiac conditions and stroke (think cholesterol and high blood pressure) are not necessarily something you can determine by looking at a scale.

On top of that, if there are big prizes on the line there are actually plenty of unhealthy ways to show dramatic weight loss (think: dehydration, binging, diuretics, stimulants). About 65% of the human body is made of water. Do the math on that. Ask any amateur wrestler (you know the guys who basically wear garbage bags as they run around the block prior to being weighed in) and they can give you a few easy hints for ways to manipulate scale weight. Such tactics can dramatically alter scale weight; however, they put unnecessary stress on the body (dehydration and muscle loss) and the results are typically temporary at best.

Additionally, men have an advantage in the weight loss game. Men's hormonal makeup allows their bodies to rev up the fat burning engines. Women, and particularly those undergoing hormonal changes such as menopause, can still see tremendous benefits from exercise, but thanks to their hormones and body composition will see more gradual weight loss than most men.

So to recap:

'Skinny smokers' have little incentive to get healthy - there's not much to lose and have you ever tried running a mile after a cig? It's not fun.
Weight Loss competitions unnecessarily shame larger people. Health and its relationship to weight is complex. You could be singling out otherwise healthy people based mainly on their appearance, which is not exactly a textbook team building approach.
The fix is in. Offering prizes can emphasize unhealthy weight loss methods and put men at an advantage over women.
The graph below shows average excess medical cost per employee of various health risks. Do you think the Biggest Loser is going to do much to reduce the first two?

If your wellness goal is to improve the health of your workforce, emphasize friendly competition and team spirit, and improve productivity then is fat camp really for you?

Campaign for a Healthier America

noreply@blogger.com (Recess) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Tanya Barham spoke at IHRSA this year and took a moment to ask legislators to consider how better health for Americans could go a long way toward improving our economy.