We all have varying levels of health, and we all have varying motivation to maintain or improve our health. A recent study has shown that a health scare is one of the most effective means of motivating an individual to improve their health.

The study showed that after experiencing a health scare, smokers are three times more likely to quit. Unfortunately the same was not true for weight loss. Individuals who were overweight or obese and suffered a similar health scare, did not go on to have substantial weight loss.

The researchers determined that this was due to a lack of support. There are strong links between weight loss and emotional support at home and work.

From a practical point of view this has two interesting outcomes. Firstly, it highlights that if effective programs are implemented after any health scare, then the opportunity to make improvements is much greater. Secondly, it shows that in many cases people need such a scare to act as motivation to make change.

It also highlights that weight loss is a very difficult challenge, it can be long-term, require a lot of support, and be very demanding goal to achieve. It also shows that any effective weight management program needs ongoing support and assistance to maximise effectiveness.

For this post I have opted to include a short article that we recently published in our bi-monthly Wellness eNewsletter. It is a real life account of an individual who was motivated and determined to achieve their exercise goals.

Growing up, I did just about every sport available at school and on the weekends it was usually netball and Little Athletics. In my early 20s it was mixed netball and a bit of soccer. By the time I was 28, I had spent a number of years with very little activity when living and travelling overseas so my fitness levels & weight had been quite the yo-yo.

Two years ago, at the age of 28, I decided to start running in order to lose weight and build my general fitness. Initially, this was enough motivation to get me out the door. Starting out was hard and not only a struggle physically, but it was also quite tough mentally. My first couple of attempts began with a short run, until I was out of breath, and I would walk the rest of the way home. I remember quite clearly the first time I actually ran for 7 minutes continuously without stopping! To me, this was a huge achievement! Not long after this, I managed 11 minutes without stopping. For a couple of weeks I continued with jogging for as long as I could and then a combination of walking and jogging for the remainder of the way, never anything over about 3 or 4 km and mostly on flat ground.

I remember hearing a quote about exercise once that went something along the lines of “if you do something for 22 days in a row, it becomes routine”. For me, this meant getting up a bit earlier every morning and if I wasn’t going for a jog, I’d go for a walk. Sure, I may have stayed in bed a couple of those 22 mornings but when it came down to it, it was definitely all about consistency and not giving up.

The mental side of running was quite a struggle at times, and can still be today. I didn’t want to stop and walk and give up, but in reality I couldn’t physically keep running so walking was the only way I could get through it. Running is a very demanding activity on the body and therefore very difficult at the start. Some days were better than others and some days I whinged and moaned about being hopeless at running, before, during and after the run! At this stage I remember reading a magazine article about mental toughness and how just thinking more positively about the whole process can make you enjoy it a lot more. It’s funny how the right frame of mind can really make a difference (much to the relief of my partner)!

By consistently getting up in the mornings to go for a run (probably 3 times a week at the start) and a walk on the other days, I gradually started to improve. Improvement for me was running at the start for longer before having to walk, and also needing to walk less and less in each run. It was also around this time that I was beginning to actually enjoy being out there! Finally! I was enjoying the challenge of trying to reach my goal which was to run for 30mins (5km) without stopping. I also enjoyed how it made me feel each day with more energy, and I was also losing weight (in conjunction with eating better). I had definitely formed a new habit, in fact, I was close to being addicted.

Running for 30 minutes without stopping took me a number of months but if I hadn’t remained consistent with getting out there in the mornings, I’m quite sure I would have given up through frustration and not seeing instant results. The rewards from having stuck with it continue to come: I’m fitter then I’ve ever been in my life, I’m in a healthy weight range and I can now run comfortably for more than an hour. And the best thing, I love starting my day by going for a run and I never thought I’d ever say that!

We all know that being overweight or obese have a detrimental impact on health.

We all know that Australia is becoming one of the fattest nation in the world.

Obesity is defined as having a BMI greater than 30. This accounts for approximately one in five Australians. However an additional two in five Australians are classified as overweight, meaning they have a BMI that is greater than 25.

The cost of obesity in the workplace is continuing to become evident. Some recent data suggests:

• More employers are becoming concerned about the impact of obesity in their workplace;
• Workers with a BMI greater than 40 make twice as many workers comp with claims as their healthy weight colleagues;
• Obese workers have more absent days from work;
• Obese workers are less productive when they are at work.

Then there are the obvious impacts to the individual who suffers from obesity. These include a less active lifestyle, inability to undertake some functional activities, poor health, and the greater risk of injury, illness and disease.

With the obesity rate growing, it means more and more people are struggling to achieve a healthy weight status. It also means that more and more organisations will benefit from the implementation of weight management programs.

If this is something that your organisation is concerned about them now is the perfct time to look at implementing a weight management focused wellness program. This will have obvious benefits from a financial point of view.

One of the key goals of most health and wellness programs is to maximise the participation rate across the organisation. This is such a priority that in many programs a high level of participation is actually set as a key performance indicator.

There are many different ways to maximise program participation, with one of the popular methods being to make the program compulsory or penalise those staff who don’t participate. While this may be an effective way of achieving program participation, it does not create a positive workplace health culture, nor does it assist employees to improve their health and wellness. For an employee to improve their own individual health and wellness, they need to be committed to making a change and determined to change their lifestyle habits. This cannot be forced upon them.

This means the best way of maximising participation is to make the program fun and beneficial for those participants. The structure of the program must be well thought through and designed, and it must then be promoted to all staff within the organisation. The more staff that register for the program voluntarily then the more successful program is going to be.

Implementing a successful wellness program with a high level of participation is not an easy task, but it is one that will reward both the organisation and the participants when done correctly.

While all corporate wellness programs are aimed at improving the health of an organisation’s employees, the underlying goal for the organisation is to get a financial benefit from the program. A recent post from the HR Benefits Alert focused on how long it takes for a wellness program to pay off.

While this is an American perspective, some of the key points were:

• It takes approximately 18 months from the start of the program to see a financial benefit. It is at this point that the improved health of the employee outweighs the cost of implementing the program;
• The long-term cost saving from wellness program is largely driven by how much of the organisation spends on the program. Generally organisations that spend more get a greater return. Basically this means if you are going to implement a program, you are best implementing a comprehensive program;
• A program which cost approximately AUD$100 per year per employee will take about three years and kill significant financial savings are seen.

In summary, this means that if you are looking to implement an effective health and wellness program for your organisation, it is recommended that you implement a comprehensive and thorough program over the long term.

FitSense Australia is currently preparing to run their 4th Corporate Health and Wellness Showcase. This is an annual on the FitSense calendar and is aimed at providing participants with the latest information and research in the area of corporate health and wellness, while also offering ideas on how to successfully implement an effective health and wellness program in the workplace.

The showcase is a free event and will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Canberra on May 5, with all attending organisations receiving 3 free health and fitness assessments to be conducted on size at their offices.

Whether you are looking to implement your first workplace health program or you already conduct an annual program, then this event is bound to be beneficial by providing new with a wealth of up-to-date and informative information.

For more information or to register with the showcase please click here.

Health expos are a common component of many organisation’s health and wellness programs. Health expos can include any variety of activities:

• health screenings
• educational and motivational seminars
• health stands
• massage
• healthy food samples
• exercise sessions

The main benefit of the health expo is that they offer organisations a cost-effective means of running health activities in the workplace for a large number of employees. A health expo does two main things: it provides accurate and easy to understand health information from employees, and get employees excited about improving their long term health.

The one concern with the health expo is that it is short lived. Such activities generally only last for a day or up to a week. This is obviously not enough time to make a substantial change to the employees health and wellness. Therefore a good health expo will simply be the entree for a longer term organisation-wide wellness program.

A summary of the types of activities you might include in your health Expo, please click here.

In 2008, the Rudd government worked hard on creating some new nationwide health initiatives. These initiatives are multifaceted, with the Commonwealth government working with their State and Territory counterparts to implement a variety of health programs.

One of the key recommendations from the Commonwealth was relating to workplace health programs. The Rudd government obviously sees this as a major area of improving the health of our nation. This is not surprising given that the majority of us spend approximately half of our waking day at work.

This program will involve the Commonwealth supplying funds to State and Territory governments to assist in the implementation of a variety of health initiatives. Although details are not yet available, it would appear that the program is to kick off on 1 July 2009.

It will be interesting to see the impact that such programs have on the health of Australians. At FitSense, we feel this is a great initiative by the government and look forward to seeing you rolled out.

For many years it has been concluded that there has been a link between depression and heart disease. Research has actually shown the depression raises the risk of heart attack by more than 50%.

However, some recent research has actually pinpointed why this relationship exists. The research suggests that people who are depressed are simply less likely to exercise, and in turn this reduced frequency of exercise results in having a dramatically higher risk of heart problems.

Additionally, there is plenty of research pointing to the benefits of exercise for those who suffer from depression. A lot of this research indicates that exercise can be equally beneficial in treating depression as medication.

Combining these two findings creates an overwhelming body of evidence that highlights the importance of exercise for those suffering from depression. So the focus really needs to be on assisting those who suffer from depression and struggle to exercise on a regular basis, to get out there and undertake exercise.