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: 

Spring is finally in the air! Warmer weather and blooming flowers are awesome motivators for getting more active and boosting your health. Plus, summer is just around the corner! Many of us lose a bit of motivation to lead healthy lifestyles during the winter months – mainly due to the holidays, cold weather, and less daylight. Picking things back up during the springtime will help you get back on track before the summer months take over!

One of the best ways to get back into the swing of things is to challenge yourself to some mini wellness challenges. Wellness challenges are a fun way to pick up on new healthy habits. From now until June 21^st (the first day of summer), we challenge you to boost your health and happiness this spring with some of these mini wellness challenges:

If a hot cup of coffee is the first thing you think about after waking up in the morning, you’re not alone! According to research from Villanova University, about 90% of Americans consume caffeine in one form or another every single day. With more than half of American adults consuming more than 300 milligrams of caffeine each day, caffeine consumption isn't dying down anytime soon. 

For many full-time employees, consuming caffeine is an easy way to get a quick jolt of energy and feel more productive in the office. However, choosing unhealthy caffeinated beverages or going overboard with caffeine can lead to some negative health consequences – which is why it’s important to make healthy choices when getting your caffeine fix. Below are five tips to help you enjoy caffeine without it disrupting your health:

Stress is inevitable. It’s a part of life and, unfortunately, a part of office culture. Most employees deal with stressful situations or obligations on a regular basis. According to a 2017 survey by Paychex, over 60% of employees said that they felt stressed three or more workdays per week. This stress can lead to chronic stress or eventual burnout, which can both negatively impact physical and mental health.

Since stress can’t necessarily be avoided, it’s important to learn how to handle and cope with stress in a healthy way. Some employees might turn to alcohol, smoking cigarettes, gambling, or other risky behaviors to cope with stress, but these unhealthy habits only make things worse. To truly manage work-related stress, employees need to prioritize their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

If you are starting to feel the signs of chronic stress, it’s urgent to learn coping skills before it’s too late. Chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems, digestive issues, chronic aches and pains, and much more. There are many healthy habits that employees can practice to better deal with stress. Below are 12 habits of employees who handle stress like a boss that you can try out for yourself!

Being happy is an important aspect of health and wellness.

When you’re not happy, your body feels it. It’s challenging to stay productive and focused, and you’re a lot less likely to make healthy choices when you’re feeling unhappy.

Because happiness is so vital to wellbeing, the United Nations declared March 20^th the International Day of Happiness. It’s a day to recognize and celebrate the importance of happiness in lives of all different people around the globe. 

The International Day of Happiness should remind employers of the value of a happy workplace. Since many Americans spend a good portion of their time in the office, it’s important that they work at a company that prioritizes employee happiness. A principal responsibility of an employer is to create and promote a happy work environment. A happy work environment is not only good for a workforce, but it’s good for the bottom line, too. According to LiveHappy.com, unhappy employees cost employers $300 billion each year in lost productivity.

Wellness coordinators don’t always get the recognition they deserve. They are responsible for a variety of tasks, as well as the preparation and evaluation of wellness initiatives. As a wellness coordinator, your attitude can not only make or break employee participation but can impact how well an employee does throughout the wellness program. Taking a positive, proactive approach to your wellness program can make wellness initiatives more popular and effective.

Being a proactive wellness coordinator means taking action when it comes to your wellness program. A proactive wellness coordinator will reach out to employees, encourage them, and empower them to make healthy changes in their lives. Taking a proactive approach to employee wellness is more effective than a reactive approach for many different reasons:

• Health and wellness is an ongoing process – there is always action to be taken.
• Activity is contagious, so the more effort you put into employee wellness, the more your co-workers will, too.
• A positive, proactive approach sets employees up for success by providing a strong foundation that helps employees develop motivation, excitement, and momentum.