Want to live to be 100?

It’s possible.

There are several “Blue Zones” around the world where longevity isn’t uncommon.

These areas prioritize healthy living, making it easier for residents to make healthy choices. This includes places like Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California.

What if you could do that for your own employees and workplace?

In this article, we share the nine Blue Zones “secrets” of living a long, healthy life, and how you can bring those elements right into your workplace.

May is the perfect month to develop your company’s wellness program if you haven’t already done so. 

If you have a wellness program, rev it up by celebrating Global Employee Health and Fitness Month (GEHFM). This month-long celebration is a national observance of fitness and health in the workplace. 

Join in with other workplaces around the country. Here’s a look at the numbers: 

• 28,575 participants 
• 38 states participating
• 72 cities participating
• 6,621 companies & organizations participating

Below, we share how you can get your employees involved with four different weekly activities, and a celebration at the end of the month to wrap it up. 

Without a doubt, walking is one of the easiest ways to start exercising.

Even if you hate working out, walking is a great way to get into cardio exercise. Plus, a little walking is better than no exercise at all. It gets your blood flowing, strengthens muscles, and helps your body burn fat.

One recent study found that walking just two hours per week can start reducing your risk of disease that may otherwise shorten your life. 

Still need some convincing to get moving?

Here’s a list of 20 benefits of walking daily to share with everyone you know:

Stress can change your life.

And while there’s no avoiding stress, there are ways to alleviate it.

This is especially important since leaving stress unmanaged for too long can have a powerful impact on health.

Studies show that chronic stress can lead to serious health issues such as accelerated aging, digestive issues, and heart disease. Stressed employees often dread work, procrastinate, and experience mood swings.

Yikes.

The good news is, you don’t have to let stress get the best of you.

Next time you feel stress levels rising, we encourage you to try one of these stress relief activities.

When you wake up each morning, do you start your day off in a rush?

If so, it might be time to consider creating a familiar morning routine to slow you down.

Morning routines can increase productivity, positivity, health, and reduce stress throughout the day.

Developing a morning routine can be difficult, but is worth the effort. For non-morning folks, giving yourself something to look forward to in the morning (coffee, anyone?) can make it easier to get going.

Starting off the day organized builds confidence that the rest of the day will go smoothly. When you have a productive morning routine, it’s guaranteed to make your morning that much more efficient.

Ready to get started?

Here are 5 easy ways to start the day off right:

Technology makes it easier than ever to learn about health issues and make healthy choices. 

Whether you’re looking to add more steps into your day or get your full 7 hours of sleep, there are apps for creating a healthier lifestyle.

There’s plenty of health apps out there, but the best ones are the apps you’ll actually use.  

If you’re looking for health and wellness ideas in the workplace, start with what your employees are already using — cell phones. You might as well make health and technology work together, right?

Here we share our top 5 apps for everything from meditation to weight loss.

When you consider the office space you work in, does it have a good feel to it? 

This may seem like an interior design or Feng shui question, but it actually has everything to do with employee health and a healthy workplace. 

Healthy work spaces = healthy employees. 

That converts to fewer sick days, higher morale, and a lower turnover rate. 

Below, we share seven easy ways to create a healthy workplace that won’t break the bank that could be implemented as soon as today.

The best part? 

Follow-through on these ideas will produce immediate results.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and the ideal opportunity to address employee cell-phone usage while driving.

By the end of today, at least nine Americans will die in a distracted driving crash.

100 will be seriously injured.

Unfortunately, employers can (and have been) held liable for employees who crash due to distractions. For employees doing frequent off-site work trips, this increases the chances of an employer getting pulled into crash liability issues.

Now is the time to start with employee safety talks about cell phone use — on and off the clock — before an accident occurs.

Below, we share why and how your company should implement a cell-phone policy to protect both employees and the organization.

Getting to know your employees shouldn’t be off limits.

In fact, good leaders regularly connect with employees to gain better company insight and develop personal relationships that drive productivity and engagement.

In a recent State of the American Workplace report, only 15% of employees strongly felt that leaders got them excited about the future of the company. How much higher could that percentage be if leaders took the time to connect with employees to share company growth and insight? 

It comes down to creating opportunities for meaningful exchanges that aren’t always about the bottom line.

Here are seven ways to make closer connections with employees:

National Public Health Week is here. 

The annual event focuses on creating “the healthiest nation” by supporting healthy communities and fair policies. 

This week is the perfect time to start conversations in your workplace and community about public health. Whether you want to follow along with this week’s agenda or save it for a later date, any time is a good time to consider public health. Plus, you can share public health facts year-round with employees.

In this post, we share public health points of discussion to engage employees.