May is Better Sleep Month. The Better Sleep Council kick-started the Better Sleep Month campaign to help adults understand the importance of a good night’s sleep. Quality sleep is an important factor in your everyday health. And unfortunately, it’s often overlooked. Without enough quality sleep, our physical, mental, and emotional health suffers. 

Sleep deprivation is such a common problem in the United States that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers insufficient sleep to be a public health epidemic. Experts recommend that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep per night. According to a Gallup study, Americans only sleep an average of 6.8 hours each night, with 40% of Americans getting less than the recommended amount of sleep. This means that many Americans are suffering from the health consequences of poor sleep habits. 

Inadequate sleep can lead to a variety of problems, including: 

Summertime is just around the corner! With longer days and beautiful weather, it’s no surprise that work might not always be your employees’ top priority throughout the season. In fact, 25% of people report feeling less productive in the office over the summer months. That’s why it’s crucial for employers to learn and implement some new strategies for successful summertime management.

While productivity and engagement are two critical factors for most employers, it’s important to realize that employees deserve a little fun during this lively season. Below, we share seven tips to help employers keep employees productive and engaged over the summer – without sacrificing the excitement the season has to bring.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors. 87% of that time is spent inside, while the other 6% is spent in automobiles. This means that only 7% of the average American’s life is spent outdoors. This is unfortunate considering that spending time outdoors is one of the easiest ways to improve your overall health and wellbeing. 

Research suggests that spending time outside can function as a natural medicine. It can help improve your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Spending more time outdoors is also linked to a lower risk of early death. Besides helping you live a longer, healthier life, spending time in nature can help you live a happier life, too.

We know that being a full-time employee can make it difficult to spend time outdoors. But even a few five-minute outdoor breaks a day can have a positive impact on your health. Keep reading to learn about some of the amazing health benefits of spending time outdoors. Plus, we include a few tips to help you get outside more often! 

A significant percentage of the U.S. workforce grapples with chronic pain. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1 in 6 (or 15%) of American workers live with long-term pain. This means that chronic pain most likely affects some of your employees – and you may not even know it. 

According to MedicineNet.com, chronic pain is described as an unpleasant sense of discomfort that persists or progresses over a long period. In contrast to acute pain – which arises suddenly in response to a specific injury and is usually treatable – chronic pain persists over time and is often resistant to medical treatments.

Chronic pain can start with or without an apparent cause. In most situations, chronic pain begins after an injury, surgery, or illness. But for others, there might not be an obvious cause. Chronic pain can range from mild to severe, and in a lot of cases, it can cause many unpleasant symptoms other than pain.

When you receive your annual health screening, one of the things that you get tested for is your cholesterol level. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that's found in all cells of your body. Your body needs cholesterol to help produce certain hormones, cell membranes, vitamin D, and bile acids that aid your digestive system.

Many adults are hard-wired to believe that cholesterol is bad for your health. This is only partly true. High levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the bad type of cholesterol) can lead to an increased risk of heart disease. However, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good kind of cholesterol) is great for your overall health and helps reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

According to WebMD, HDL cholesterol can help reduce your risk of heart disease by: 

• Removing LDL cholesterol
• Transporting LDL cholesterol it to the liver where it can be reprocessed
• Acting as the maintenance crew for the inner walls of your blood vessels – HDL scrubs the wall clean and keeps it healthy 

A lot of workplace wellness tips focus on the importance of physical health, but employees should know that mental health is just as important! Between long hours, built-up stress, and a heavy workload, being a full-time employee can take its toll on your mental wellbeing. In fact, one in four Americans identified work as being a source of anxiety.

Taking care of yourself mentally is one of the most important things you can do for your health and wellness. Maintaining a healthy mind helps you cope better with stress, relate with others, and make rational decisions. Good mental wellbeing can also help you feel more productive and accomplished at work.

Ignoring your mental health can lead to some serious health consequences. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately one in five American adults (or 43.8 million) experience mental illness in a given year. This is a sobering statistic that should remind both employees and employers why it’s so important to prioritize mental wellbeing. 

By simply adopting some healthy habits, you can stay mentally healthy at work. Below are 15 tips to help you prioritize your mental wellbeing at work.

Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22. Although Earth Day lands on a weekend this year, there’s no reason not to celebrate it all workweek long! Earth Day is an excellent time to learn about how environmental factors affect employee health and wellness.

Employers can utilize Earth Day to help employees appreciate nature and get more involved in their community. We think it’s a great idea for employers to start some earth-friendly wellness initiatives for the week of April 23^rd -27^th. Doing so will inspire employees to take better care of their surrounding environment and spend more time outdoors. 

Below are ten ideas to help you celebrate Earth Day at your company while also boosting employee wellness: 

Eating healthily can be difficult. Eating healthily while being a full-time employee with a hectic schedule can sometimes seem next to impossible. However, it’s so important to maintain a healthy diet – especially when you’re feeling overly stressed. A balanced diet will keep you energized, focused, and help reduce your risk of chronic disease.

Since we know you’re busy, we rounded up nine delicious, healthy recipes that are perfect for a busy workweek. With how quick and easy these recipes are, there’s no excuse to opt out for fast food! Try out some of these meals the next time you’re in a rush:

Breakfast

What’s deemed as the most important meal of the day can sometimes be the most inconvenient meal of the day. It’s hard enough getting to work on time, much less spending thirty minutes in the kitchen cooking a nutritious meal. You might be tempted to grab a greasy breakfast burrito on your way to the office, but all the fat, sugar, and calories of a fast food breakfast is one of the worst ways to start your workday! Check out these quick, healthy breakfasts that you can whip up in no time: 

When was the last time you evaluated how your workplace wellness program is running? If you haven’t dusted off the cobwebs in a while, there’s no better time than now to re-evaluate and do some major spring cleaning! There are a few ways you can tell if you have an ailing corporate wellness program on your hands.

First, if you have low participation, your program is most likely struggling. The most obvious way to evaluate your wellness program is to crunch the numbers. If there are only a few people that have even signed up for your program, it’s probably time to make a few changes. 

Second, if you have decent participation, but aren’t seeing any health behavior changes, your program might need some adjustments. High participation and low improvement can mean a few different things. Most likely, it means that your employees are just going through the motions – they aren’t truly engaged in your program. Engagement is what drives results, so it’s important to recognize when you’re missing the mark on that side of your program. 

TotalWellness has some exciting news! We added four new awesome features to our wellness program, Beata. Beata is a turnkey wellness solution powered through a user-friendly portal. Utilizing a wellness portal is an easy way for busy employers to manage an effective workplace wellness program. 

Beata was designed to engage employees, encourage healthy behavior, and boost participation levels. It also helps simplify the overall process of a wellness program for both the employer and the employee. That’s why we consider Beata your “no sweat” wellness portal. It takes out all the hassle and stress of a wellness program so that employers and employees can focus on what’s truly important: employee health and wellness.

We built Beata on the power of positivity. It was designed specifically to help employers empower their employees to live healthier, happier lives. We removed all of the nonsense, and focused solely on features that truly help employees transform into the healthiest version of themselves.