Posts from — July 2009

We all know that physical exercise is an valuable part of health and well-being. But occasionally it’s difficult to find time for physical exercise. Lack of time is the leading barrier that individuals say prevents them from participating in physical exercise on a regular basis.

The great news is that even short sessions of physical activity help your health. Research has established that ten-minute sessions that add up to between 30 and 60 minutes a day have the potential to produce significant health advantages.

Also, there are numerous ways busy people are able to use to be more active. These strategies include:

• multi-tasking
• being active at work
• being active with loved ones
• scheduling exercise into daily life

Different strategies work for different individuals. Being familiar with the different strategies is key to adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.

Read on to check out strategies you are able to try. With enough responsibility, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1: Multi-tasking

The first strategy you can try is multi-tasking. This means doing things you already do, but in a more physically active way. This way you get done what you need to get done and you get physical exercise at the same time.

By way of example, you’re already travelling to work and other places. Instead of taking the car or the bus every time, try using active methods of transportation like biking, rollerblading, walking and skateboarding.

If you can’t use active transportation for a whole trip, try to be active for at least part of the trip. If you’re taking the bus, for example, get off a few blocks early and walk the remainder of the way.

Active transportation benefits your body by expanding your exercise level, and it also benefits your neighborhood and the environment by decreasing the number of cars on the road.

You have the potential to also get physical activity while doing chores.

When you’re working around home, try to be creative and look for the active choice. For example, if you’re cleaning the crack between the fridge and the counter, why not move the fridge so you are able to clean the area better and build your strength at the same time?

For outdoor work, opt for the old-fashioned way of doing things, as they’re usually more active. For example, use a snow shovel rather than a snow blower.

Strategy #2: Be Active at Work

Many Americans spend eight hours a day or more working at a motionless job. Here are a few simple ways to keep your body moving during work. The physical exercise will revitalize you and help you be more advantageous.

When you’re working at your desk, try sitting on a stability ball or disk for part of your day (30 minutes to an hour). This gives your back and abdominals a workout.

Take active breaks at least once a day. During your coffee break, try doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk. You may find that walking up and down the stairs a few times does a better job of rejuvenating you than the java jolt.

Speaking of the stairs, take them instead of the elevator whenever you can. The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Create walking meetings at work. Getting outside and having meetings in a less formal setting is a great way to be active, makes work more fun and encourages creative ideas for work projects.

Strategy #3: Be Active With Your Loved Ones

Do physical activity with your family, friends, neighbours and pets. With this strategy, you and your loved ones are doing some great multi-tasking together: enjoying quality time with each other and getting some of the physical activity that you all need to be healthy.

Go for walks, swims or bike rides together. Play Frisbee, soccer and other games and sports together. When you take your little ones to the park, play with them rather than just watching them play.

Many community facilities offer classes that keep you and your little ones active at the same time. Research these classes and take one or two.

You are able to even be active when you’re watching your children do activities without you. By way of example, if your child plays hockey, take the opportunity to walk up and down the stairs in the stands a few times. If you feel self-conscious about doing it alone, why not gather a group of parents to do it together?

Strategy #4: Schedule Physical Activity into Your Day

Schedule your physical activity directly into your daytimer. Set a specific time and place for working out. Make your physical activity appointments a priority, just as important as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your physical activity appointments, you might want to make appointments that involve other individuals: such as by meeting with a personal trainer, taking exercise class or jogging with a friend.

If you’re not sure how many appointments to make or what you must be doing during your appointments, try consulting with a personal trainer. A personal trainer has the potential to help you advance a physical activity plan and schedule.

The bottom line: see what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to other people about how they keep active and what strategies they use. Be creative and patient while you figure out what strategies work best for you. And be aware that your “best strategy” may change from time to time.

With sufficient effort, you will discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

• Commit to workplace physical activity in policy statements and commit funding to physical activity drives.
• Clearly communicating the benefits of being physically active during the workday reinforces the company’s responsibility to assisting all workers be active. Use meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters and e-mail to reach as many workers as possible at least once a year.
• Provide flex time for physical activity. Invite employees who actively commute to work or exercise at lunch to make up any missed time later in the day.
• Consider allowing staff members to work part time, so that they are able to take part in physical exercise.
• Include a physical exercise account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counselling or instruction.
• Offer interest-free loans for workers to buy bicycles or great walking shoes/runners.
• Conduct periodic employee interest surveys of employee physical activity preferences, and offer a variety of options to suit those interests and needs.
• Hire qualified people to lead stretch breaks or physical exercise programs or classes. For help in finding accredited fitness leaders, visit Alberta’s Provincial Fitness Unit.
• Recognize staff members who take part in physical activity. Survey staff members first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through organization newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.
• Provide child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.
• Avoid scheduling meetings over lunch.
• Encourage active breaks rather than coffee breaks.
• Have active fundraisers instead of bingos. For example, workers might climb the Calgary Tower stairs or take turns riding a stationary bike for 24 hours.
• Make birthday celebrations active times. Instead of a lunch, invite the birthday person to choose an activity. Options could include a session with a yoga instructor or an evening ski trip.
• Encourage a casual dress day. One study saw that workers who dress casually were more physically active.

• Make sure that your building’s stairways are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs encouraging staff members to use the stairs.
• Design a wellness newsletter or intranet.
• Promote the Activity Tracker and bolster workers to track their physical activity every week.
• Be creative, and make the most of the workspace you have. For example, mark off a safe walking path inside or around the building. You might also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the worksite such as stairs.
• Offer physical activity opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time workers.
• For employees in remote or satellite offices, offer equal access to key initiatives via the intranet. Adapt challenges to suit their environment and take advantage of local facilities and resources.
• Make physical exercise available to workers with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any employee who are visually impaired or physically disabled as well as for people who speak English as a second language.
• Educate workers about physical exercise using information from reputable sources such as the Alberta Centre for Active Living.
• Provide facilities that invite onsite physical exercise. Possibilities include bike racks, exercise room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.
• Hold walking gatherings.
• Promote staff members to walk to co-workers’ offices rather than e-mailing or phoning.
• Set up a stretching room. This low-cost initiative requires only a room, stretching mats, stability balls and medicine balls. Put up posters that show stretches and exercises.
• Give rewards and incentives such as shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward employee participation.
• Hand out pedometers for three months, so that employees have the potential to learn how many steps they usually take and how much activity they need to add to get basic health benefits.
• Create space for employees to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the workplace. Use any resulting produce for meetings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.
• Establish a workplace health fair.
• Hire a qualified fitness specialist to design and manage an onsite fitness facility.
• Supply workers with active wear that shows off the organization logo.

• Develop a launch event to foster excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.
• Develop and encourage monthly or bi-monthly employer programs that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, employee tournaments and dragon boat racing. Encourage families to join in by including all-ages programs such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.
• Launch a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of staff members to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward staff members who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between staff members and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.
• Post a sign-up board where employee can join a group or find a buddy to take part in activities of interest.
• Create a organization badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee playing once a week. Display the results as the tournament progresses.
• Create an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.
• Establish a point system in which one minute of exercise equals one point. Set a target, and post a chart where all workers can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.
• Design a stair climb challenge. Display a chart at the top of the stairwell, and encourage workers to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday. Set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.
• Post and encourage a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.
• Organize a walk “across America” Choose a route, learn how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge workers to do it. Give or loan pedometers to workers, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you cannot afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between workers and managers to see who can walk across America first.
• Create a walk to work club. Acknowledge employees who either walk to work or walk to public transit.
• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.
• Develop a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites might compete with each other and with senior staff.
• Challenge workers to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating workers or, if you can’t afford that, make pedometers available at a reduced rate. Provide tips for increasing daily steps, and reward workers who succeed.

There is no single right way to approach wellness programs but successful programs share common success factors. These include management support and commitment, employee involvement, adequate resources, and a policy on health that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Employee Health Promotion Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the goal is to eventually have a long-term, comprehensive wellness program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level. For example, the first steps could be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they could launch a pilot project to discover how interested staff members are to ensure staff members needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach supplies a chance to show the influence on staff members and the workplace so upper management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other companies plan a variety of initiatives to meet the needs of the different sorts of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to develop a sound corporation case, complete with a health strategy, before setting out on any sort of program. Companies want to be sure that a new program is totally integrated with their overall corporation vision and mission.

Employee Wellness Program: Success Factors

Whether your organization chooses to think big from the outset or to begin with something smaller, always keep in mind the following key success factors:

• backing and participation from senior staff;
• employee participation in organizing;
• programs that meet employee needs;
• a realistic budget; and
• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its objective of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Employers also need game plans, even if they don’t call them by that name.

Good planning will help to be sure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that costs have the potential to be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small concerns from becoming bigger.

Steps in Beginning a Corporate Health Promotion Program

Obtain senior staff backing. You may need to cultivate a company case to convince managers that the wellness program is a company strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction affects their productiveness. employees need to see evidence that senior staff believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from employee groups as well as from human resources(HR), health and safety, and communications.

Gather information. To prove that your Company Health Promotion Program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug expenditures or WCB costs. Review what workplace facilities are available to support workers to make healthy choices such as showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Review employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Design the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include program objectives, activities and how you are intend to measure whether your objectives were met. Keep the plan flexible. You may have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the company’s structure.

Obtain management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are required.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and offer social interaction. (Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Workplace Wellness Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that offer information about neighborhood resources.) Workplaces are able to also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by providing flextime to allow employees to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with neighborhood or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings has the potential to make sure that healthy foods are provided.

Review the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program doesn’t have to be complicated or a huge investment. Just do it. Obtain reinforcement from management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.

How does it feel to walk into your workplace? Do people look content? Is the place illuminated and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a gloom come over you, and count the hours until you can leave?
The influence of the workplace environment on the health & wellness of staff members is huge. First there is the physical look, feel, smell, and sounds of the place. Then you’re affected by the policies, like whether others are allowed to smoke around you. As time passes, more subtle factors start to affect you. Do your attempts to adopt a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being positive role models? Do you get regular opportunities to learn healthier behaviors?
In a supportive environment, employees feel that the company they work for supports them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Staff Members who feel cared are naturally more loyal and productive.
The following ideas will help you change your workplace environment into one that actually supports the wellness of your employees and employer.

Employee Health Promotion Program Ideas for Creating Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you enter a worksite, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there enough light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent food, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the staff members have enough space?
• Vending machines with healthy food choices like low-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities onsite or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods including a salad bar with low-fat dressing
• Natural light is used whenever possible; all lighting is appropriate and adequate
• Heating and ventilation is adjustable, comfortable and healthful
• No cigarette machines, ashtrays, or smoking areas onsite
• Noise levels are safe and conducive to concentration
• Work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards
• Safety risks have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for staff members who work out before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it tough to evaluate a worksite. People get used to stressful conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It might be useful to ask someone who is unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also prove helpful.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to impact behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t allowed to work more than twelve hours consecutively, there will be fewer medication errors. If parents are allowed flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If staff members are able to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up instead of calling in sick to utilize them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Seatbelt use necessitated in employer vehicles
• Drug and alcohol policies are relevant to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow workers to exercise, attend children’s school conferences, etc.
• Tobacco-free policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift workers are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Health Care Costs coverage rewards good health
• Rates of Absenteeism policy rewards workers who don’t use sick days
• Employee Assistance Program available to help employees with chemical dependencies, depression, family issues
• Meaningful consequences are used for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your organization may have a policy concerning alcohol use during work hours, but if everyone looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch reeking of beer, the culture is one that permits drinking at lunchtime-and one in which written policies have the potential to be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies become mere lip service rather than springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Rewards For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are provided for wellness achievements.
You are able to show you value the Employee Wellness Programs by celebrating your programs and those who’ve made lifestyle improvements in organization newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at annual banquets, meetings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to demonstrate appreciation, too.
Wellness mentors are sought and applauded, too. Workers who support others’ efforts to improve their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes have the potential to encourage those who enjoy helping others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing could say “We advocate you to exercise often” better than a manager going on a bike ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight management class. Wellness activities encourage relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different echelons in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.
Managers can also provide support for employees who are working on working on their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “great job” or “nice to see you at the fitness center” has the potential to put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers can also help by allowing employees the flexibility to go to wellness programs.

Ongoing Company Health Promotion Programs

It’s valuable to give staff members the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and valuable part of the business, not a business fad. That can start as soon as a new employee is hired.
New employees are oriented to the wellness program as one of the employee benefits. Information about the program must be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who invites the new employee to participate.
The workers are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are well known in the company. Opportunities to take part are abundant and it’s easy to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are available. There are subject matters of interest for everyone.

These are fun and easy activities that can be done within your corporation to arouse healthy behaviors during a contest or during other times. The intention is to promote employee participation. Some examples:
• Design a sub-committee of enthusiastic staff members who will help encourage the physical activity program by offering ideas, ideas and encouragement to fellow staff members.
• Designate monthly mailbox handouts to promote a contest or provide fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a weekly voicemail on each participant’s phone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Make available regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Offer low-fat or heart-healthy lunch selections on a weekly basis in your cafeteria or have workers bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled at the end of the contest or specified time period (such as a National Nutrition Month in March).
• Distribute employee gifts (pedometers or other novelty item related to some aspect of your contest theme) as registration kicks off.
• Allow workers “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” employer time to walk, physical activity, etc. If appropriate, you might use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some no cost weights and relaxing music.
• Hold a T-shirt design contest.
• Designate posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your goals and objectives:
   • Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to display in the office showing how they have progressed – employees can get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.
   • Use a bar graph to compare progress.
   • Use a “thermometer” type graphic and illustrate progress – consider a different, fitness-related graphic all together and color it in as you progress.
• Provide aerobic dance or physical activity videos in your conference or break rooms.
• Compile a list of organized events in the community that offer opportunities to get workers working out by participating as a team (below are just a few):
   • Race For The Cure
   • March of Dimes Walk America event
   • Juvenile Diabetes Research
   • Foundation Walk to Cure
   • American Heart Association’s Heart Walk
   • American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
   • American Lung Association’s Lung Run
   • Local marathons or special community walks or runs
• Create or go to a health-and-fitness retreat.
• Have a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!
• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.
• Establish “Move it Mondays” – allow staff members to take an extra 10 minutes at lunch for exercise.
• Create “Tasty Tuesdays” – offer workers with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Establish “Walking Wednesdays”- allow workers to take an extra ten minutes at lunchtime to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow workers to explore new exercises.
• Create “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for employees.
• Designate “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee – offer seasonal fruit treats.
• Send weekly physical activity tips to employees via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another organization representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Urge departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Medical Support).
• Designate walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, neighborhood groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area gyms and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for physical activity programs, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.
• Hold a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the facility including the number of laps needed for one mile.

These are brief informational “Health Tips” in an e-mail format on many different health-related topics. You are able to appoint someone within your employer to find specific topics on the Internet from sites that are in the public domain or topics can be purchased from businesses. Some qualified sources include:
• Hope Health
• Sound Ideas, Inc.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health

These e-mails have the potential to be sent daily, weekly or monthly. Our experience indicates weekly is the best frequency.

If the majority of your staff members do not have e-mail, consider providing the information to them through:
• Bulletin boards
• Check stuffers
• Mailbox stuffers
• Newsletters

SAMPLE #1 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Worksite Wellness Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Layering for Exercise

One way to help ensure enjoyment of a winter walk (or run) is to make sure you’re dressed properly for the weather. And the secret to that, for a winter workout, is to dress in layers.
Layer 1 — Avoid 100 percent cotton in the first layer, next to your skin. Cotton holds moisture. Wear underwear made from manmade fabrics to wick perspiration away from skin.
Layer 2 — A zippered sweatshirt and sweatpants will keep you warm. Just open the zipper if you get too warm.
Layer 3 — If needed, over the sweatsuit, you are able to add a waterproof and windproof jacket. If it’s very cold, you may want to wear a jacket made with goose down.
Hands — Mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves.
Feet — Wear socks made from wool or manmade fabrics that keep your feet dry and warm. Avoid 100 percent cotton socks. Don’t wear sneakers or boots that fit too tightly … this will restrict blood flow and your feet will end up feeling colder.
Head — About 40 percent of your body heat is lost through your head. Wear a hat and cover your ears.
Lips — Don’t forget lip balm with sunscreen … even in winter!

SAMPLE #2 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Corporate Wellness Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Energy Boosts

Need an energy boost? Here are some ideas for tapping into your own energy sources — and most require little effort.
• Get an extra hour of sleep. No surprise here — it can make a large difference in your energy level the following day.
• Eat less more frequently. Have small, balanced meals or snacks throughout your day for a steady supply of fuel and energy. Make note of which foods seem to boost your energy level.
• Drink sufficient amounts of water. Dehydration leads to to fatigue, which you can offset by drinking water throughout the day.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Both can contribute to dehydration and fatigue. They also tend to disrupt sleep patterns.

Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are learning sessions planned and organized by you to meet specific objectives. Come up with a topic and find a speaker. Select a site for the “Lunch and Learn” session, usually a lunchroom or break room. Depending upon your budget and objectives, staff members have the potential to brown bag the lunch or you might support the meal. Meetings have the potential to be mandatory or elective, your choice.
Experience tells us the most success will be achieved if these Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are elective and if the business supports lunch.
Goals for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Sessions

Education on a specific health issue. You may want to choose one of your group’s top diagnoses. Examples are:
• Diabetes – diabetes prevention and care by a certified diabetic educator
• Heart disease – cardiovascular health (individual counseling sessions with a nutritionist)
• Hypertension
• Hyperlipidemia
• Flu and pneumonia
• Breast cancer – breast health or breast self-exam sessions can be taught by a trained instructor

Education on medical insurance benefits:
• Diabetes – what are the covered benefits, where to purchase diabetic supplies, support groups for employees with diabetes.
• Company Health Promotion Program Benefits
• Well baby/child care.

Education on the significance of enrolling in your health plan or local health department’s health education programs or disease management programs. Example programs:
• Diabetes
• Respiratory
• Low-Back Pain
• Cardiovascular
• Tobacco use

Community Resource Speakers for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs
• Local health plan office
• Local heart association
• Local cancer society
• Pharmacies – many pharmacists are available to speak on pharmacy-related issues.
• Pharmaceutical Employers – many corporations have standard presentations developed for employers that are given free of charge to use at your own direction. Some examples are:
   • Know Your Numbers (elevated blood lipids) – Pfizer
   • Respiratory Wellness (flu and pneumonia) – Pfizer
   • Men’s and Women’s Health – Pfizer
• Local gyms/personal trainers/YMCA – can discuss walking safety, advantages of walking, swimming and aerobics.
• Yoga and/or Pilates instructors
• Running, cycling club representatives
• Local hospital nutritionists
• Stamp Out Smoking – Tobacco Coalition representatives

Topics for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

• Cycling – benefits and opportunities for cycling
• Nutrition and health (Heart Healthy lunch for all attendees)
• Heart health
• Women’s health concerns
• How to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke
• National Employee Fitness Day within the office setting – Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness representatives can promote event
• Exercise tolerance and healthy heart issues
• Beginning an exercise program – include the significance of seeing the doctor before beginning of any new exercise program
• Self-defense
• Domestic violence
• Safety in general
• Exercise safety
• Walking/running benefits and safety tips Tobacco dangers and avoidance

Conducting an Employee Fitness Challenge at your workplace is a fun and exciting way to raise awareness among employees about the effect of beginning and sustaining an exercise program. It is a concentrated effort in which to engage them in physical exercise for a specific time period that, hopefully, will help them start a healthy habit that will last a lifetime.
Nonetheless, it is important to practice wellness year-round. This section supports a all-inclusive list of Company Health Promotion Program ideas that have been implemented within wellness programs.
All ideas presented in this section have been efficacious for one or both of the entities. Each activity/idea is able to be used as a stand-alone event, even if you do not conduct a fitness contest, or is able to be held in conjunction with your Employee Fitness Contest.
You may want to choose some of the ideas you believe will work for your staff members or come up with others and begin your program to establish a better state of health.