With the holidays and 2020 approaching fast, you may be noticing a nervous buzz in your office.

While this time of year can be joyous, it may also provoke a lot of stress and anxiety for your employees. End-of-year projects, financial stressors, family visits, and increased workloads may be impacting even your best workers.

But how do you know who is stressed and who is on the verge of a panic attack?

And as an employer, you may wonder if there’s a difference and how each impacts the workplace. Each year, anxiety, in particular, costs the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity. Chronic stress, on the other hand, can manifest itself in a variety of physical and emotional health problems.

Both are bad news, but both are also treatable and manageable.

Read on for a deeper understanding of the differences between anxiety vs. stress.

More than 34 million people smoke cigarettes.

Of those, over 16 million live with a smoking-related disease.

On November 21, the Great American Smokeout is set to help smokers to quit their nicotine habit. While quitting smoking isn’t easy, the immediate and long-term health benefits are worth the quitting struggle.

Encourage your employees who smoke to kick the unhealthy habit for good this month.

Unsure how to help?

This post will list the best tools and tips that will actually help employees quit smoking once and for all.

Are you always tired?

It may be time to take a look at your sleep patterns and practices.

Getting quality shut-eye is about more than sleeping in a dark room with a comfy bed. It’s all about what you do in the hours and minutes leading up to sleeping — even what you do as soon as you wake up can impact your sleep later.

Why does sleep matter so much?

Lack of it can deplete energy, minimize work productivity, and reduce the brain’s ability to retain information. It also costs employers big money when employees are exhausted or even falling asleep on the job.

So, we asked sleep experts: “What's the best way to get a restful night of sleep?”

Below, you’ll find their answers and advice on how to sleep better at night.

It’s American Diabetes Month.

And it’s time for employers to raise awareness. Why?

The cost to American employers when it comes to diabetes is about 57 million unplanned sick days and $20 billion each year. With those staggering numbers, it’s becoming clear diabetes is a health concern that must be addressed in workplaces.

There’s no better time than now to raise awareness about this disease and its health impacts when so many free resources are available.

Plus, awareness events can inspire unhealthy employees to make a change by encouraging healthier behaviors.

Ready to educate your employees about diabetes in a memorable way that doesn’t break the bank?

Read on to learn how to spread American Diabetes Month awareness.

Want your employees to feel the warm and fuzzies when they come into work?

Show them gratitude.

Since being shown gratitude is deeply linked to job satisfaction and retention rates, there’s no better time than the Thanksgiving season to step up your gratitude game.

The annual November “gratitude challenge” offers you the chance to show your employees — especially top performers — how much you value their efforts.

Below you’ll find a 30-day gratitude challenge idea list of ways to show your thanks to employees.

Ready to liven up your drab office space?

Indoor plants that clean air are the answer.

Studies show that spending time in nature has significant health benefits, improves mood and creativity. Mimicking the outdoors with green spaces can help bring those benefits inside the workplace.

Plants in the office may:

• Increase productivity
• Reduce stress
• Improve moods
• Create a better air quality

Need to give your office a breath of fresh air? Read on.

When employees are well, companies do well.

And considering that worker injuries and illnesses cost U.S. employers $225.8 billion each year — that’s about $1,685 per employee — keeping your workforce healthy is critical to a healthy business.

Luckily, there’s a way to stop that.

As a company, encouraging employee wellness through a variety of workplace initiatives can help employees feel and actually be healthier overall. Promoting lifestyle changes that are sustainable and feel doable is the key.

Employee wellness programs can include:

• Workshops
• Activities
• Health benefits
• Free printable resources

Knowledge is power, too. The more information you give your employees in an easy-to-digest format, the more likely they’ll retain it and use it. The first start, though, is encouraging them in the workplace to make healthier habits that they’ll hopefully bring home.

Here we share seven easy ways to promote employee wellness in your workplace:

Mmm, coffee.

If you can’t start your day without coffee, you’re not alone.

Last year, the National Coffee Association surveyed 3,000 Americans on their java drinking habits. The survey found that 64 percent of Americans drink at least one cup of coffee daily.

The amount of Americans downing this beverage is the highest it’s been in years. Thanks to its ability to wake us up quickly, it’s become the go-to beverage for working Americans for decades.

As a stimulant, coffee is known to:

• Improve memory
• Increase energy levels
• Shorten reaction times
• Boost productivity

As one of the best instant energizers, coffee is well-known for its stimulant effects, but it also has several surprising health benefits, too, like reducing pain.

Need another reason to keep up your daily coffee habit?

Read on to learn about all the positive benefits hiding in your favorite brew.

We've had years of experience holding flu shot clinics and have heard every excuse in the book for skipping out on your yearly vaccine. If you or your employees have reservations or have heard rumors about the flu shot, send this handy list to them to ensure they know the facts about getting protected from the flu. 

Excuse #1: I've heard you can get the flu from the flu shot. 

We hear this one all the time! It’s by far the most widely spread misconception about the vaccine. Flu shots are currently made in one of two ways: the vaccine is made either with flu viruses that have been ‘inactivated’ (killed) and are therefore not infectious, or with no flu viruses at all.

It's scientifically impossible to get the flu from a flu vaccine. In addition to this, the shot does not offer instantaneous protection, but rather takes a week or two to kick in. Therefore, anyone who comes down with an influenza virus right after getting the shot already had the virus in their system.  

Sugar.

Even though the word is short, the list of problems this ingredient can cause is long.

Too much sugar in your diet can cause a laundry list of issues including diabetes and obesity. Studies even show potential links to excessive added sugar consumption and Alzheimer’s disease.

But, there are also a few good things about sugar.

Confusing, right?

Here we break down all the sugary details you need to make healthier lifestyle choices when it comes to sugar, including how to pick the right sugars to fuel your body instead of fattening it.