America’s relationship with work is both unhealthy and unsustainable.
We work long hours, often at sedentary jobs, and report some of the highest levels of job stress in the world. And although we spend more on healthcare than any other nation, our employees are far sicker than those in other high-income nations.
It’s clear that work is taking a toll on our metabolic health. Not only is this bad for our longevity, it’s bad for business as well. Poor health is associated with more than $575 billion in lost potential, and 1.5 billion days of missed productivity for US businesses.
Current events are only partially to blame for this. Remote work, rising inflation, and longer work hours are leading to chronic stress, which prevents millions of Americans from pursuing heart healthy activities.
Regardless of your job, position, or current level of health, it’s critical to understand the role that work plays in our metabolic wellness.
By supporting heart-healthy programs and partnering with trained professionals, businesses can ensure their employees are productive, engaged, and happy — both at work and at home.
The true cost of employee heart health
Science shows a clear link between job stress and metabolic health. High stress often leads to the symptoms of metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions that may include:
- Increased weight gain
- High blood sugar
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Abnormal triglyceride levels
Metabolic syndrome can also lead to life-threatening illnesses. Coronary heart disease is one of the most common, followed by type 2 diabetes and strokes.
There are a number of reasons why high-stress jobs lead to such dramatic impacts on metabolic health. For example, stressed employees may be less likely to take sick days or mental health days to recover from chronic cortisol. They may eat at their desks or rely on fast food while meeting short deadlines or time crunches. Worse, they may sleep less, move less, and ultimately find less time to practice self-care.
The true cost of employee heart health is greater than we can afford. No matter your age or job title, it will be vital to invest in prevention today to avoid poor metabolic health tomorrow.
Promoting heart health for in-house and remote employees
It’s not possible to force health improvements on your workers. Frankly, workers must choose to seek health on their own accord. But when you foster a metabolically friendly environment both inside and outside the workplace, employees will be far more likely to embrace heart healthy practices.
Here are some practical ways to promote metabolic wellness while fighting back against unhealthy workplace habits.
Offering health and wellness retreats
Corporate wellness retreats give employees an opportunity to learn about their health, connect with others who have similar goals, and find new ways to relax or reduce stress.
Sign up for retreats that focus on healthy de-stressing, gentle activity, and relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation. These will support better metabolic health in the long run, and provide employees with a much-needed break as well.
Encouraging by example
When a company’s leaders espouse corporate wellness, their employees are far more likely to do the same. In other words, you can promote heart-healthy habits just by walking the talk.
If you’re an employee, encourage your coworkers to make one heart-healthy change per week.
If you’re an employer, support the adoption of healthy habits with walking meetings, stretch breaks, and paid time off for mental health.
Establishing a wellness community
One of the best things you could do for your employees’ metabolic health is create a supportive community.
This might be as simple as a weekly newsletter with health tips or articles. It could also be an online forum where workers can connect with one another, share tips, and ask questions.
In either case, use the fellowship of your wellness community to encourage activities such as company-wide 5Ks, group hikes, or healthy community potlucks.
Providing wellness stipends
A subsidized gym membership, mindfulness app, or personal training stipend is a wonderful way to show employees you care — and encourage them to take charge of their metabolic health as well.
Be sure that your employees are aware of their benefits, and make it easy for them to use their wellness stipends both quickly and conveniently.
Managing workplace stress with cardiovascular training
A generalized approach to corporate wellness is not enough to fight the core of poor metabolic health. It will be critical for your company to consider the most damaging elements first, starting with a lack of cardiovascular training.
This means providing employees with information related to heart-healthy exercises and, if possible, on-site facilities or equipment. Personal training may be a great place to start, as well as group fitness classes.
As you can see, there are quite a few moving parts needed to create workplace metabolic wellness. Frankly, it’s more than a single in-house team can manage alone.
So for thousands of businesses around the country, the best way to address metabolic health at scale is with an employee heart health program.
How employee health programs improve cardiovascular health
It will take all of us — and not just some — to break the cycle of poor workplace health. This begins by promoting wellness through sustainable heart health programs, notably with a trained metabolic expert.
Metabolic optimization programs look more deeply at cardiovascular wellness than traditional health plans. By addressing the seven principles of metabolic health, your business can give employees critical tools to reduce their stress, improve their productivity, and make heart-healthy choices throughout the day.
If you’re curious to learn more, I would be happy to talk you through the basics of my employee heart health optimization program. In our free call, I’ll detail each of my six modules, my preferred approach, and any opportunities where I can be of service.