Posted in: MayMay is national physical fitness and sports monthWhat better time to implement a wellness program?
May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This year, Total Well-Being joins the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in challenging Americans to get moving for health and to get active and fit during the month of May.
According to Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which started National Physical Activity and Sports Month in 1983, “Americans of all ages need to incorporate more movement into their daily lives. Adults need at least 30 minutes of activity 5 days each week. This can be done by choosing to bike or walk instead of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators, or pushing a lawnmower instead of riding one.
According to many research studies, more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese—putting these individuals at a higher risk for developing high blood pressure and diabetes, dying prematurely from heart disease, developing cancer, damaging joints and bones and suffering from depression and anxiety. In many cases, these health issues lead to higher health costs, resulting in decreased profits for business owners. Research conducted by the Mayo Clinic suggests that even modest weight reduction with physical activity can reduce or prevent complications associated with being overweight or obese. In addition to reducing direct healthcare costs, several business studies have supported the finding that healthier, physically active employees are more productive than their non-active counterparts.
An individual's body mass index (BMI) is highly correlated with medical and pharmaceutical claims costs. Even a slight decrease in an employee’s BMI (one point) is associated with a $202.30 decrease in medical and pharmaceutical claims costs over one-year 1. A decrease of 598.6 BMI points in an employee population over one year would result in a decrease in medical claims and pharmaceutical costs of $121,097. This does not include cost-savings associated with decreased absenteeism and worker’s compensation claims and increases in productivity, morale and retention. As part of their initiative to help small and mid sized businesses lower their health care costs, Total Well Being has partnered with Shape Up the Nation to implement the premiere 12-week exercise and walking campaign with several of our clients.
Employees enjoy the program, finding it fun, motivating and easy to use—but best of all, they achieve results. Employers like the program because metrics are provided for easy ROI analysis. Last year Nelnet—a Total Well-Being client—was thrilled to see that on average, their employees lost 7.9 pounds, reduced BMI by 1.2 points, exercised 44 minutes daily, and walked 8,005 steps per day. More than 86% of the employees in the weight loss division lost weight, over 100 people lost 10 or more pounds and the overall population lost nearly 4,000 pounds over the twelve-week program. In addition to improving employee health, this program also created a sense of achievement and unity among individuals of all health and fitness levels within the organization. Happy with the results, the CEO even called Total Well-Being the first week of January asking when Shape Up the Nation was coming back.
For more information about implementing a wellness program for your organization today, contact Total Well-Being. For information about the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, go to www.fitness.gov.
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