Why to Create a Culture of Wellness within Your Company
Anyone who has had an ear to the wellness streets is well aware of the fact that our country does not move enough. The World Health Organization reported that Americans average about 7.7 hours a day engaging in sedentary behavior, thereby increasing their risk for heart disease, various cancers, inflammation, depression, psychological stress, and chronic pain.
What is no coincidence is that the average American workday is 8 hours, directly contributing to the daily hours employees spend being sedentary.
With the inclusion of exercise in the workday, leaders within the American workplace have the ability to change office culture by positively impacting their employees' health and quality of life.
By providing the opportunity for mid-day exercise an employer will be decreasing sick days, enhancing workplace productivity, and creating an environment that truly values the total body wellness of all personnel.
When the body doesn’t move, the stuff inside suffers.
A sedentary lifestyle negatively impacts the physiology of the human body in a number of ways.
The unmoving body decreases the activity demands of the heart, resulting in less efficient blood flow to the rest of the vital organs and muscles, and the potential for heart disease and deconditioning.
Changes to the way the body metabolizes food for energy are common with insufficient physical activity, resulting in weight gain from body fat, a decrease in insulin sensitivity, and increased risk for developing diabetes.
With a lack of exercise, hormones can become imbalanced, causing increased risk for cancer, chronic inflammation, depression, and anxiety.
The sedentary body can develop muscular and skeletal misalignment and chronic pain as a result of sitting in poor posture for prolonged periods of time. Pain can adversely affect an employee's ability to concentrate, much less work to their full and most efficient mental capacity.
Mid-day exercise is the answer to enhancing employees’ wellness and productivity.
All it takes is sitting in front of a computer for an extended period of time to realize that the midday slump is real.
When considering the health and productivity of their workforce, an important realization for the employer is, to move our bodies is to move our brains. Not only do employees benefit physiologically from a mid-day movement break, but their productivity improves as well. Studies have shown that mindful exercise focused on intentionally coordinating breath and movement increases stimulation to the frontal lobes of the brain — the region responsible for higher-level executive functions.
Higher level executive functions include cognitive skills such as planning, organizing, self control, and the ability to achieve a desired goal. This increase in brain activity can help employees stay focused, enhance their productivity, and renew the ability to remain goal oriented at work.
Mid-day exercise has been shown to positively alter psychological symptoms related to stress, anxiety, and depression. To step away from one’s desk and into exercise during the workday is to reduce cortisol levels and restore a mental and emotional sense of well being.
Weekly moderate to vigorous physical activity has shown a direct correlation with the reduction of health risks and diseases related to sitting too much. By exercising regularly, employees have fewer sick days and are less of a burden to their employer-provided health coverage.
Because of the undeniable science pointing to the many negative health risks of a sedentary lifestyle, a group of experts in the UK published guidelines for employers suggesting that employees engage in 2 hours of physical activity as a part of their workday.The average American workday is in need of an update — less sitting and more moving.
Leaders within the American workplace have the opportunity to positively shift work culture within their company by recognizing the health crisis that is the result of the sedentary work environment, and provide opportunities for physical activity to their personnel throughout the work day and week.
By valuing the physical and mental health of employees, leadership shows a sense of responsibility and consideration towards the individuals that run their businesses.
A workplace wellness initiative goes a long way, not only in providing resources and proactivity in keeping personnel healthy, but by showing individuals that they are worthy of being taken care of – this kind of employment benefit creates a culture of health and happiness that will benefit any companies’ bottom line.
For more information contact Lexy Rose of StretchWorks, who provides companies with wellness initiatives and services that will keep employers and their staff healthy, happy, and productive.
Hi, I’m Lexy — a personal trainer for women 40+
I help you feel strong, capable, and at home in your changing body through functional strength, mobility work, and breath-led movement that evolves with you through every stage of menopause and midlife.
