FitSense Australia has just released our February 2010 Wellness Newsletter. This month’s newsletter focuses on the difficult topic of taking responsibility for your own health.
This newsletter can be viewed and downloaded here.
Continue reading FitSense Australia Wellness Newsletter - February 2010
The conclusion to another year is upon us again. As we all know the holiday period is a time where we generally eat too much and exercise too little.
The December edition of FitSense’s Wellness Newsletter will provide you with some tips on how to address this through holiday fitness and smart festive eating.
The Newsletter is available to be viewed and downloaded here. I hope you find it to be beneficial.
We will be back in 2010 after a short Christmas break.
Continue reading FitSense Australia Wellness Newsletter - December 2009
On October 22nd, the winners of the 2009 Safe Work ACT Awards were announced.
As part of these awards, there is a ‘Best Workplace Health and Wellbeing Program’ award. It is great to see that health and wellness is being recognised at this event.
FitSense Australia would like to congratulate the 2009 winner of this award, ActewAGL, for the implementation of such a comprehensive staff health program. It shows just how much the organisation values the health of their staff. FitSense Australia has assisted in the delivery of ActewAGL’s program since 2006 and we thoroughly enjoy working with an organisation who genuinely wants to assist their staff.
Details of the awards can be found here, while a copy of a Canberra Times articles on this ward can be viewed here.
Earlier this year, WorkSafe Victorian started rolling out their WorkHealth program. The program offers free worker health checks to organisations within Victoria. The health checks are a short (15-20 minutes) one-on-one assessment with a health professional and includes an assessment of:
The health checks will assist staff to improve their health which in turn assists the organisation to improve productivity. The health checks are delivered onsite meaning that both employers and employees can benefit from this program without even leaving the office.
FitSense Australia has been an Endorsed Service Provider of health checks since August and would like to invite Victorian organisations to participate.
For more information on the WorkHealth health checks click here, or to apply for your free health check download the application form.
Continue reading FitSense - Endorsed WorkHealth Service Provider
Last week, FitSense Australia launched the Online Wellness Centre (OWC). The OWC is an online tool aimed at assisting individuals to monitor and improve their health.
As with most IT projects, our OWC took a bit longer than originally planned, but the wait was worth it. It currently offers the following tools:
The OWC is an ideal way of targetting regional staff, complementing your current health program, or offering a cost effective method of improving the health in a large organisation.
The OWC is currently undergoing it’s first trial with approximately 400 users. Further features will then be added in 2010. This includes an online exercise coach, allowing users to get individually tailored exercise programs, and a series of interactive quizzes.
If you have any questions about the OWC, or would like a free trial or quote for your organisation, please contact us.
FitSense is about to release a new weight loss coaching service. The service is aimed to assist individuals loss weight as part of a workplace wellness program. The key to a successful program in this environment is offering something that works, but is budget friendly and can be done on a large scale if needed. Therefore, our program is based around regular coaching via phone.
Therefore we were happy to read a recent article (Digenio, Ann Antern Med, Feb 2009) that showed that weight loss program provided over the phone were equally effective as face to face programs. The few was to ensure regular contact in order to offer the participant support and motivation.
So keep your eyes open over the coming months as we release our new weight loss program.
A report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare earlier this year showed some positive signs for Australians. It was estimated that in 2006, less Australians died as a result of heart disease than in the 4 decades prior to that.
However, heart disease remains the leading cause of death for Australians with a large portion of the population at risk. Factors that increase the risk of heart disease include smoking, obesity, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure.
It is good to know we are on the improve, with death rates decreasing, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
A recent poll commissioned by Lifeline Australia showed that 87% of Australian workers were stressed. The major causes of stress were work (73%) and money (66%). However, health was also a prominent cause of stress.
Stress can also have numerous impacts on ones health, and 40% of respondents reported ‘unhealthy’ levels of stress. So workers are stressing about their health, which in turn leads to poorer health.
The ability to assist staff to improve their health can not only improve staff health, but lead to greater productivity and reduced absenteeism.
So it is a smart idea to have a corporate health program, as you can assist your staff to reduce their stress levels by improving their health!
We all know Australia is one of the fatest nations in the world, but the bad news is we continue to get fatter. A report released from the ABS in May shows that the population has become substantially fatter since the 1990’s. Specifically, the report showed 37% of Australian adults were overweight and 25% were obese.
This finding was supported by research into obesity rates at patients visiting GPs.
What this means is that over 60% of Australians are putting their lives at risk due to poor dietary, exercise and lifestyle habits. Unfortunately this is ‘normal’ now. A strong push is now required to reverse this trend by encouraging physical activity and improved nutritional practices; simple concepts but ones that most Australians have difficulty putting into practice.
Most workplace health and wellness programs focus on the less fit and the less healthy, and fair enough. However, staff who are currently of moderate or good health and fitness are also important as many have an interest in this area and are dedicated to improving their own health.
The reason I bring this is up is that I have just read an article on the health of firefighters. Now, most firefighters would be considered at least moderately fit due to their job demands, yet heart disease accounts for the death of 45% of firefighters each year. There is no doubt that the hot conditions they work in places them at increased risk due to stress this heat places on the body and specifically the heart.
The article also highlighted the high risk that volunteer firefighters are under. Many are of only poor-moderate fitness and they are working in dangerous and demanding conditions that places their health at risk.
The reason for this post is that health education is important for all types of individuals and staff, regardless of occupation, age, gender or your perception of their need for such programs. In the above mentioned research, fire fighters expressed a strong desire for fire departments to assist them further with improving their health.
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