High Level Wellness Continuum

As an Exercise Physiology and Nutrition major, I plan on using my degree to promote wellness in the school system. America is facing an obesity epidemic and I intend to make a difference by tackling childhood obesity.

The three sections of the Wellness Triangle are, first, the Physical section -- which refers to the physical health of a person, including things such as the frequency of one’s exercise, their eating habits and diet, the percentage of one’s body mass which consists of fat/muscle, the amount of sleep they typically get, and personal hygiene -- second, the Mental/Emotional section -- which refers to the mental and emotional health and/or stability of a person, including things such as if one does or does not have mental illnesses such as depression, severe anxiety, and/or any disorders

Being one of the largest cities Houston’s population relies heavily on your energy company to provide energy. Your energy company is a large, successful company, and we believe your high employee retention rate plays a key role in your company’s success. However, an office setting does not always allow your employees to get their daily amounts of exercise. Along with not receiving their daily amounts of exercise, poor nutrition habits and strain due to work, your employees are facing major health problems like high cholesterol and hypertension. My co-workers and I believe having a worksite wellness program will help improve your employee’s health status and lower their need for medication, which can lead to lower fees your company has to

SHRM reported that “82% of organizations with a wellness program rated their initiatives as somewhat or very effective in improving employee health. Three-quarters (77%) indicated their wellness program was somewhat or very effective in reducing health care costs”. Thus, wellness benefits have increased over the past 20 years. SHRM’s report also indicated that the “most common wellness benefits were wellness tips and information sent to employees at least quarterly (63%), a wellness program (61%), and on-site seasonal flu vaccinations (54%). Additionally, more organizations offered rewards or bonuses for completing certain health and wellness programs, a standing desk, an on-site fitness center and an on-site nap room”. By having an effective wellness program, health care costs can be reduced for both the employer and employees. As a result, employees are depending on their employer to provide them with different money saving alternatives to reduce their health

Now there are new ideas that health programs should be expanded and possibly include the idea of “wellness” programs. Taking care of wellness includes mental and social health which were aspects that were not necessarily involved with health programs in the beginning. The positive impacts in taking care of wellness benefits the employee through empowerment of knowledge and support while improving where the common worker spends most of their time. Employers have a vested interest because of improvement in employee performance and attitude, the financial return, and making their company a well-known place to work. There is an open opportunity for companies to improve their wellness programs through company changes and better health programs. So the real question is how can the improvement of overall health and wellness of the employee impact the business and what kind of program should be implemented to encourage employees to take advantage of it?

Despite the variety of health and safety programs, and the efforts to provide ergonomically correct work environments, many employees continue to suffer MSDs and work-related injuries. Drennan and Richey consider “the efforts to persuade employees to adopt healthier lifestyles have largely failed due to great societal pressure. Long commutes, long work hours, convenience of fast food, single parents trying to make ends meet, living alone and lack of social support all contribute to poor eating and exercise habits.” (Drennan & Richey 2003). Indeed, many employees suffer excessive weight, and lack of flexibility and strength, while employers continue to suffer the losses, either in workers compensation or healthcare costs. Therefore, while employees must ultimately take responsible for their own physical condition, employers also obligated to step up strategies that improve health and safety so they can remain competitive in today's global environment. Employers need to provide every opportunity to promote employees safety in order to avoid financial consequences and create a culture supportive of world-class safety

Poor health and wellness can contribute to high absenteeism, negatively affected outputs along with high staff turnover rate. Workplace wellness programs are a combination of educational, organizational and environmental activities designed to support behavior conducive to the health of a business’s employees and their families (Owens, 2006). There does not appear to be a standard set of initiatives that a wellness program must include, by definition, instead each company creates its own program with components it selects.

HRAs for all employees is a method that benefits employees and insurance cost, and focuses on risks for illness and injuries, safety behaviors, and lifestyle (Grooten et al., 2016). Along with the HRA, employees’ biometrics should be obtained to include blood pressure and weight, and lab testing for glucose and cholesterol. Once the results are in, a health coach can go over the results with each employee (Grooten et al., 2016). Stress and fatigue is a major cause of injury and illness in the workplace (Grooten, el al., 2016). Three modalities to decrease risks for injury and illness and improve work health are weekly chair massages at lunch time, daily humorous television shows during lunch, and exercise classes three times per week for 30 minutes per class (Lindquist, Witt, & Crane, 2014). These modalities will decrease muscle tension and stress, and improve mood and energy, which results in a healthier work population and decrease in work injuries (Grooten,

Wellness programs can cover a widespread variety of health linked issues. Establishments profit from having fit organizations. My employers have benefited from having their employees address and continue personal wellness. Although my company does not have monetary incentives, our results are the rewards. My coworkers and I have shown reduction in weight and better physical fitness and resilience through our organization fit program. My results have shown increase in self-image,

The first dimension of wellness is social wellness. Social wellness is the process of creating and maintaining healthy relationships through the choices we make. My personal social wellness score was a 23/30. A SMART goal that I would make for social wellness is to resolve conflict in healthy and positive ways by maybe involving an adult or to see the overall good that could come of this conflict. I would do this by any time or day of the week I need help I will make sure to ask an adult.

My personal definition of wellness is, being healthy and contributing safely to our society. My health definition would be, working hard to keep oneself fit by working out and eating healthy. Along with taking supplements and vitamins. The greatest factors that influence you would have to be, family, friends and media. I picked those three because we hear them the most and we listen to our family and friends because we trust them. They would try to hurt us and always want the best for yourself. Even with our family and friends wanting the best, sometimes they can be wrong. Media influences us by hearing the same things many times a day. So we tend to think that is right or okay in our society. What are we always on, social media, along with

Facilitating a Health and Wellness Program in the workplace is the greatest assessment an employer can make because it would be an investment in their most valuable asset, the employees. With there being more urgency today than ever before, America is under pressure to be productive even as healthcare costs proceed to rise and bombard the most important resource, the employees. Research and data show:

The Air Force’s most important asset is its people. At all times, Airmen of all ranks must have complete balance in their lives. Without control and balance, Airmen will not be completely effective in completing their duties on the job, as well as having stability in their lives outside of work. In the Air Force, there has been emphasis placed on total human wellness, which encompasses four dimensions. These dimensions include physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellness.

These are some reasons why we need to take care of our body’s. One reason is that Physical health include knowing how your body functions. Maintaining a physically health is very important in achieving overall good health. Physical health is what gives you your energy throughout the day. Physical health is determines the condition of your body. Good physical health is when your body is working the way it has to. Physical activity can help you to manage stress can help you by reducing the changes of the stress in your life having a negative effect on your existing relationships. Another reason mental/ emotional health is important because if you are not mental health it can

It is average for an increasing number of Americans to eat improperly, not exercise or