Posted by Employer Wellness | Posted in Employer Wellness | Posted on 22-07-2010
Benefits of Fitness Programs
Exercise lowers weight, lowers risks of heart attack and stroke, helps to control blood pressure (BP) and diabetes, and improves mood. Studies increasingly show that exercise might also help reduce the occurrence of certain types of cancer.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance (CDC) lately documented another major advantage – exercise improves the health of the nation’s medical care expenditures.3 As reported by the CDC, physically active person incur $865 less per year in medical costs than inactive people .
Dr. Michael Moore, vice president and chief medical director at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, maintains that exercise is the most effective tool in health maintenance. “When you could prescribe exercise in a pill, it would be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said.
In step with Dr. Moore’s prescription, nearly one-third of U.S. corporations help employees pay for fitness club memberships, as reported by an Associated Press report. Subsidizing fitness club memberships is just one way corporations encourage active lifestyles.
Well-liked fitness-forward initiatives –
• Begin a corporation softball or volleyball league.
• Compile and distribute information about opportunities to join athletic groups in your community.
• Offer partial or complete reimbursement for exercise facility memberships.
• Hold aerobics, karate, yoga or other kinds of fitness courses on-site.
• Give extended lunch hours for employees who commit to lunchtime fitness plans.
• Introduce an on-site fitness facility that is free, or available at a nominal cost, to staff members and their families.
• Conduct on-site health fairs that include fitness demonstrations and promote fitness activities and resources.