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"Wellness"
is a lifestyle shaped by the everyday choices that directly
or indirectly affect one's personal health.
Choices made about the use of safety
belts or tobacco, fat consumption, and physical activity
either promote personal health, or raise a person's
health risk.
Chronic conditions like heart
disease and diabetes don’t happen overnight. Unhealthy
behaviors often take a progressive toll on an individual,
raising their risk for premature death and disability.
See other
definitions of "Wellness"
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Our choice
The choices we make daily impact
our risk for premature death or disability due to chronic
disease. Nationally, half of all deaths are linked
to smoking, diet, physical activity, alcohol, and other
personal behaviors.
In New York State, an overwhelming number
of residents demonstrate risky behaviors based
on the choices they make related to diet and physical
activity.
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Making Changes
Get five NY residents in a room, and
four of them are good candidates for making the kind
of lifestyle changes that can significantly lower
their risk for chronic disease, according to the
information above. Here's the logic:
Since...
- chronic disease (heart disease, diabetes,
cancer, etc.) lowers both quantity and quality
of life.
- diet and physical activity affect
risk for chronic disease.
- a majority of New Yorkers are
at increased risk for chronic disease due to poor
diet and physical activity habits.
Then...
- changing our behaviors to reduce
the risks of poor health, disability and premature
death associated with chronic disease seems like a
no-brainer.
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Magazine ad for
shoes: just who is expecting what?
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The vending machine:
what you're expected to eat
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So...
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- Things
to do today: eat more vegetables and get more
exercise.
- Simple, right?
But...
- Long-term behavioral changes are extremely
difficult to make.
- The social obstacles we face
are daunting.
- Our immediate environment is
often not conducive to lifestyle changes.
- Not everyone feels the same need for,
or desire to change (see Stages
of Change).
- People tend to resent it when others
tell them how to spend their leisure time, or what
they "should" eat.
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Why Worksites?
The worksite affords some key factors
for introducing individuals to behavioral change. These
include:
- People. In the US, more than 100 million
adults spend about a third of their life at work.
- Place. A worksite is a defined physical environment
within which changes can be introduced.
- Community and culture.
Change is less likely to stick without the support
of community and cultural "norms".
Bottomline
Benefits...
Research confirms the intuitive: healthier
employees signal lower costs. Click
here for details.
Challenges
for an increasingly overweight population: don't just
sit there, do something! US Surgeon General issues
a call to action.
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Comments
about this page / Top
of page
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- Background basics and other
good information
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