When it comes to staying active, there’s probably a lot more you could do in the office to keep active. If you wanted to turn your office into a healthy office, you can help in preventing chronic disease on the job. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a chronic disease is a condition that lasts for at least one year, requires regular medical attention, and may limit daily activities. When you aim to prevent chronic disease in your employees, not only are you taking an interest in their health and wellness, you’re also improving the health of your overall organization.
Take a Walk
You and your employees probably do a lot of sitting throughout the day. If you’re looking for ways to get everyone in the office more active, taking walks throughout the day is a great way to do that. Walking is a great way to get exercise. When you take a walk, you can help to prevent certain chronic conditions, including heart disease, which is one of the most common chronic conditions in America. It’s also easy to incorporate into the day. For instance, instead of having everyone sit around for a team meeting, take it outside and walk around the property. Just make sure everyone keeps a steady pace so it counts as exercise.
Have Healthy Foods Available
Once you’ve established good exercise habits for the workplace, you’ll want to move on to the foods available in the workplace. A healthy diet is another component in preventing chronic conditions. While you can’t control the lunches individuals bring into the office, you can control the foods you have around the office for people to snack on. Having easy to eat fruits and vegetables, like apple slices and carrot sticks, available to give your employees something to snack on throughout the day. And instead of having sugary drinks available to drink throughout the day, have water as a drink option as well.
Establish Smoke-Free Areas
Smoking and other tobacco products harm the lives of more than the person using the products. Second-hand smoke also presents health risks to your employees. To cut down on the amount of smoke and protect your non-smoking employees, try to implement smoke-free and smoking zones. To take it a step farther, you’ll want to have some kind of incentive available so people stop smoking altogether. When you partner with Sterling Wellness Solutions, one of the aspects of our health coaching programs is addressing health challenges. Some of these health challenges can include smoking. We’ll work with your employees who want to stop smoking but may not know how to go about it.
Preventing chronic disease on the job doesn’t have to be a big undertaking. With a few changes to certain things in your office, you can start to make it an active office. At Sterling Wellness Solutions we work with you to build a workplace culture built on health and wellness. We offer comprehensive health screenings, health coaching, chronic condition management services, and wellbeing management services. We are ready to introduce those services to your organization. Success begins with a healthy team. Contact us today.
