We all know that exercise can transform your body and physical appearance. It lowers blood pressure, melts off excessive pounds, and builds muscle. But did you know that regular exercise also improves your brain function and mental health? 

As we get older, our brains begin losing neurons and eventually our brain tissue starts shrinking. Physical activity can help combat the effects of an aging brain and keep it sharper longer. As for mental and emotional health, exercise releases certain chemicals in your brain that help boost feelings of happiness and wellbeing.

While there are many reasons to regularly exercise and live an active lifestyle, the positive effects that exercise has on the brain and mental health might just be enough reason to get up and get moving today. Read on to learn just how beneficial exercise is to your brain and mental health:

We’ll admit, it’s tough to be active in an office. Traditional office spaces don’t provide employees with many opportunities for movement and physical activity. Most adults spend the majority of the weekdays slumped over in a chair staring at a computer screen. The negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle are shocking – it’s even known to be more dangerous than smoking.

As an employer, you have the power and resources to help your employees get moving. One of the easiest ways to do this is by encouraging them to walk more. Walking is an effective and simple way to get back into shape and stay in shape. Research has shown that regular walks help reduce the risk of chronic disease, control weight, and increase energy and productivity – just to name a few!

If you want your employees to be healthier, you want them to move more. But how can you promote walking in a traditional office space? Here are a few ideas for you:

You should never, ever feel afraid to exercise. If you have made it a goal to become more fit, healthier, or just exercise more, the gym can be your best friend–and it should be! Unfortunately, for a lot of people, simply entering the gym is harder and scarier than the workout itself.

Gym intimidation is common, and it affects many people regardless of age, fitness level, gender, or size. The feeling of judgement can hold people back from becoming healthier, more confident, and happier.

Whether you’ve never been to a gym before or you just started at a new gym, you may find yourself nervous, overwhelmed, or even dreadful. Gym intimidation takes the fun and rewarding feeling out of exercising–but please don’t let it stop you!

Here are five reminders that will help you conquer gym intimidation and get you focused back on what’s really important, your health and wellness:

Healthy employees provide companies with a wide array of benefits. They tend to be more productive, less stressed, and take less sick days. A key factor in employee health is nutrition – which is why you want your employees to eat well.

We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat," and this saying might be especially true in the workplace. What your employees eat fuels and powers their days at the office. If you want your employees to feel energized, focused, and productive, you’ll want them to eat a nutritious, balanced diet that supplies them with the nourishment their bodies need to succeed.

When your employees eat healthily and practice healthy eating habits, they are helping their brains and bodies function better. Read on to learn how good nutrition will positively affect your employees and their work performance:

Switching to healthier eating habits may involve re-stocking your kitchen, and it may be difficult to know where to start. By focusing on healthy food staples, you can keep your grocery list simple and feel confident that healthy nutritional choices will always be readily available.

Keeping your kitchen stocked with healthy food staples will encourage you to choose nutritious foods throughout the week and help you steer clear of any poor nutritional choices.

There are a lot of diet trends that promise to slim you down, give you energy, and positively change your life forever. Unfortunately, that’s usually just not the case. Whether it’s juicing or eliminating carbs, a diet simply will not yield long-term, healthy results. They are unsuccessful for many reasons, and they’re not beneficial for someone who is looking to lead a heathy lifestyle.

Dieting is a craze that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. In fact, more and more fad diets and “weight-loss” supplements pop up every year. For someone who is trying to lose some weight or just get in better shape, it can be hard to know what really is healthy and how to safely achieve nutritional goals.

We want to help you understand why dieting isn’t the best answer to your health goals. Here are four main reasons why you should never diet again:

Eating on a tight budget is hard. Eating healthily on a tight budget is even harder. However, with a little bit of planning and some clever tricks up your sleeve, eating well on a budget is definitely achievable.

Here are 16 tricks to help you eat well without breaking the bank:

You might have noticed that we’ve brought up “mindful eating” a few times in our latest blog posts about eating healthily. That’s because how you eat is just as important as what you eat! Developing healthy eating habits will help you achieve a nutritious, balanced diet. But what exactly is mindful eating?

It may be easier to start by identifying what “mindless eating” is first. Have you ever sat down on the couch to watch some Netflix and then realized you accidentally ate an entire bag of chips in one sitting? That’s mindless eating. It’s a bad habit that a lot of us are guilty of.

Mindful eating is the polar opposite. Simply put, it’s the practice of eating with intention and paying attention while eating. It’s not a diet, nor does it require you to restrict certain foods. It’s about learning to pay attention while eating and enjoying the experience of eating. Mindful eating will keep you from overeating, teach you to recognize when you’re full, and make eating more satisfying.

Are you curious about how your company compares to the health status of America’s workforce? If so, we have a great resource for you! Each year, we perform biometric screenings at companies all across the country. We work with all types of companies to screen employees in all walks of business and demographics.