It is a given, you will die at some point – till that time comes, how do you want to feel: sad, depressed, and in constant pain or feeling strong, energetic and happy? In order to achieve that good feeling state, I put forth the following Wellness Guidelines for individuals and companies.
Healthy Habits
- Addressing healthy habits will change disease markers faster rather than focusing on specific health outcomes (e.g. Get more daily exercise rather than focusing only on changing the cholesterol number).
- All health problems can be traced back to not following the 4 Pillars of Healthy Habits: Exercise/movement, nutrition, sleep, and avoiding health risks (Tobacco, illegal and prescription drugs, alcohol, and stress).
- Human interaction is needed to support behavior change through care, compassion, and inspiration.
- Financial incentives do not change health habits in the long run as employees will revert to old habits when the prize is removed from the equation.
- Changing behaviors takes time and everyone moves at different speeds.
- Having fun should be at the heart of making all behavior changes as people are more likely to make these changes second nature when they can associate positive feelings with the activities.
- Wellness happens on a continuous basis and has no end.
Wellness Programs
- Corporate wellness programs are a 50/50 partnership between employer and employee.
- We live in an information age where outside the box thinking is more valued than widget productivity.
- Stimulating the brain with exercise during work hours will provide a greater payoff through increased creativity than forcing an employee to sit at a desk all day.
- “Sitting is the new smoking”. Adding more movement into one’s day is crucial for improving the health of employees.
- Thirty minute runs are more productive in generating ideas than a 30 minute brainstorm meeting with multiple people.
- To change employee behaviors for the long run; wellness programs need to focus on awareness, the environment, education, engagement, and motivation.
- Biometric screenings are a good first step in creating awareness, but only the tip of the iceberg when looking at one’s overall health status as there are more tests which will give a deeper health profile than is currently being utilized by most doctors.
- All or nothing exercise plans fail because being active means something different to everyone and wellness plans need to be inclusive of everyone.
- Meeting employees where they are at with their health and taking baby steps to make changes will create trust and help to instill the new behaviors intrinsically rather than using outside carrots.
- Requiring employees to achieve specific health outcomes (e.g. lowering their BMI) to reduce their insurance premiums is wrong and will back fire in the long run as employees are less likely to make changes in the future when these numbers are not achieved.
- Technology is a tool to support behavior change rather than the end all be all answer to solving everyone’s health woes.
Health Care
- Wellness is not the same as health insurance. One is proactive and a daily habit, while the other is reactive and how doctors are paid after you visit them when you become sick or injured.
- Focus on changing employees behaviors and creating a supportive environment for sustaining these habits will have a greater effect on company health insurance premiums than manipulating the individual co-insurance rates for the individual.
When you put your health first, everything else will fall into place. Good luck with Wellness 2.0!