What to do about Stress?

Stress is a fact of life in the American workplace. The same workplace that causes so much stress for its employees can also act as the agent of change in helping employees deal with it. The most successful stress-management programs teach employees how to relax, reflect, and recognize when they are stressed. Try

• inviting a reputable health coach from a wellness company to speak once per month on subjects that are stressing employees /http://michelewoodward.com/
• having an in service training for managers and supervisors to recognize the signs of depression and stress in employees
• set up an employee health promotion library stocked with the latest book and cd's on stress, exercise, nutrition, diet, fitness and more http://rebeccascritchfield.wordpress.com/
• Subscribe to science based health periodicals and have them available
• Subscribe to the National Health Observance Calendar http://www.healthfinder.gov/library/nho/nho.asp and create programs to match monthly events in the calendar

Get creative and use reliable online data, but make sure to take care of your employees stress!

Have your employees create a recycling program

Does your company have an interesting recycling program, a recycling committee, or a great way to manage energy consumption? Inspire your employees to recycle. Think Salmon!http://www.thinksalmon.com/participate Think Salmon
is a way of living and acting, on an individual level as well as on a corporate level. Resources include information on reducing energy consumption at work, conserving water,recycling,reusing,repairing and making healthy choices for cleaning supplies and products. Help educate your employees about saving the planet! Help them get their children involved http://www.epa.gov/kids/ is a great resource for kids. EPA also has a link http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/recycle.htm that reviews the recycling process, facts and figures and opportunities. Get your employees involved! Make a difference and get recognized in the community as an employer who is waste wise and cares!

More Messages for Employee Heart Health

In addition to holding seminars to educate employees about heart disease, it is a good idea to send messages or create posters that send the message for employees to take action to be healthier. One of the most powerful reminders can be to encourage employees to move! A person does not need to be an athlete to exercise. Increasing physical activity can come in many forms. Posters are an inexpensive way to keep the message going. Websites with great tips and ordering materials include: http://www.StayWell.com ,http://www.americanheart.org or http://www.acsm.org. If you make your own posters at work, here are some points to stress:

• You don't neeed to be an athlete to exercise
• Try to do something active at least 30 minutes per day
• Break it up into segments of 10 minutes three times per day if that makes it easier
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Sweep the floor, wash windows or vacuum at a brisk pace
• Make activity appointments with yourself or a buddy and write them into your daily planner or computer scheduler.
• Walk around the house, the neighborhood, the store, or around the building at work
• Remember to MOVE!

Keep Educating Your Employees about Healthy Heart Month

February is "Go Red" all month. It is a great idea to continue educating your employees about healthy hearts. Another seminar idea is "Understanding the Risks of Cardiovascular Disease". Many employees are clueless about their own personal risk factors. A place to begin:
Have a lunch and learn to review conditions or behaviors that increase employees chances of getting a certain disease. Here are some points to discuss:

• The risk factors for coronary heart disease which can be treated or controlled
• The more risk factors, the greater your risk of developing coronary heart disease.
• The higher your level of each risk factor, the greater your risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Review risk factors:

• Men 45 years or older
• Women 60 years or older
• Family history of heart disease
  

Review Controllable Risk Factors

• Blood Pressure
• Smoking
• Overweight
• Cholesterol Levels
• Activity Level
• Diabetes Control
• Stress!!!!!!

Use a black board, start an open discussion and create ideas on how to reasonably address each one of these issues http://www.americanheart.org, then reward the group with delicious smoothies or fruit salad. Enjoy!

Cardiac Trivia Seminar

WCS performed a super fun wellness activity for a worksite wellness program today. It was called Cardiac Trivia. In honor of Healthy Heart Month, we created a presentation intended for the general work age audience covering topics of fiber, sodium, food labels, heart healthy nutrition and the DASH diet. The participants learned the anatomy of the food label, how the food label fits into their daily plans, how to analyze and interpret packaging claims so they can make better choices in the grocery store. The lesson at a glance was a lecture on teaching employees the important facts about a healthy diet and heart disease.

The employees loved it! We divided the lesson materials into 4 sections:

• Show me the fiber
• Beware of sodium
• Look at Labels
• DASH DIET

It was a great review, there were tons of questions, and we gave out prizes to all who participated plus three special raffle prizes. A great hour of learning to help employees understand how to prepare, buy and cook foods that can positively impact their current and future health. A must for any busy company!

Blood Pressure Screenings -- A Must!

It has become imperative that employees learn about blood pressure numbers. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for high blood pressure in adults aged 18 and older http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/nhbpep_kit/screen.htm#screen. One out of three adults has high blood pressure and doesn't even know it! That's nearly 50 million Americans! Those who are at the most risk:

• Women over 60
• African Americans
• overweight persons, those with a family history of high blood pressure
• those people with a high-normal blood pressure.

One of the ways to help employees achieve wellness is to hire a health professional to come office, take blood pressures and discuss blood pressure risks. People with borderline high numbers are much more likely to develop high blood pressure in the future http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspshype.htm. Although the consequences can be great, the disease itself often has no symptoms. A person can feel nothing and have high blood pressure! The only way to find out specific numbers is through a screening. Screenings are inexpensive. Lowering blood pressure can the reduce the risk for vascular disease, the number one health problem for all adult americans today. A carefully planned and implemented follow-up program may help some people make an appointment with their doctor and stay in treatment. Save health care costs down the road! It's a must for all companies today!

Teach Your Employees About Real Food

What is real food? Send out a memo asking your employees what they think is the definition of real food? Hold a seminar on the findings.

• Real food is the opposite of industrial food
• Real food is old and traditional while industrial food is recent and synthetic.

People everywhere love traditional foods. How about offering a farmer's market at work with local vegetables, fruits, breads, eggs, and cheeses, jams, jellies, yogurt, fresh fish, grass fed chicken and meats, and fresh olive oil, nuts and seeds, fermented soy, whole grains and legumes and fresh herbs. Have a personal chef there to show employees how to cook these traditional foods. Local food is sold in all kinds of venues. These two national sites cover all the options from farmers markets to farm stands: www.localharvest.org, www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets

Try it! What a great experience for everyone to be involved in to learn the most valuable lesson in natural eating.

Nutrition Education for Employees Pays Off

A recent 2006 study fom EFNEP http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/efnep/pdf/2006_impact.pdf showed 91.5 percent of adults reported improving dietary intake when educated about healthy eating. Education about the importance of eating a well balanced diet has become a major tool in preventative health care. Conducting seminars and healthy cooking demonstrations are a great way to help employees learn about this issue. It is estimated that dietary factors are associated with at least four of the top 10 causes of death in the US: coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, stroke and type 2 diabetes. In addition, unhealthy nutrition is linked to high cholesterol, hypertension, osteoporosis overweight and obesity, all of which are critical issues that will effect your health care costs http://www.healthypeople.gov/. The time is now. Support a health and nutrition campaign at your workplace. Select and plan activities with incentives for participating. Share your ideas and experiences with other companies and executives around the country. Be a leader in preventative health!

Teach Your Employees to Understand the Warning Signs of Heart Attack

A few heart attacks come on suddenly and intense but most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often employees aren't sure what is wrong and wait too long before getting help. This is especially true for women. Here are some signs that can mean a heart attack is happening to you or someone you know:

• chest discomfort
• discomfort in other areas of the upper body
• shortness of breath
• other signs like cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

If these symptoms are happening to your employee, don't wait! Call 911. Get to a hospital right away. Emergency medical service staff in an ambulance can begin treating when they arrive - often sooner then if someone goes to the hospital by car.

To learn more about heart disease have employees talk to their doctor and use get reliable information from http://www.americanheart.org/ or call 1-888-MY-HEART.

Teach Your Employees About their Risks for Heart Disease

February is heart healthy month. Why not post information on your intranet or have a cardiac trivia contest at your office? Employers, counties, and states are taking action to help employees know their risk factors and take steps to reduce their chances of developing heart disease http://www.hmrc.umich.edu/research/studies.html. The American Heart Association http://www.americanheart.org/ recognizes six modifiable health conditions that have been identified as increasing risk of heart disease. These are:

• high cholesterol
• high blood pressure
• tobacco smoke
• physical inactivity
• obesity or overweight
• diabetes

Employees can reduce their risk of heart disease by first becoming aware of their personal risk factors. Knowledge is power! Start helping your employees to better heart health today.