Wellness Programs – Focus on Fitness Programs.

Benefits of Fitness Programs

Exercise lowers weight, lowers risks of heart attack and stroke, helps to control blood pressure and diabetes, and improves mood. Studies increasingly show that exercise may also help reduce the occurrence of certain types of cancer.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance (CDC) recently 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 health care costs than inactive individuals .

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’d be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said.

In step with Dr. Moore’s prescription, almost one-third of USA  businesses help workers pay for gym memberships, according to an Associated Press report. Subsidizing gym memberships is just one way businesses encourage active lifestyles.

Well-liked fitness-forward initiatives –  

• Start 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 fitness facility memberships.

• Hold aerobics, karate, yoga or other types of fitness courses onsite.

• Give extended lunch hours for workers who commit to lunchtime fitness programs.

• Introduce an on-site exercise facility that is free, or available at a nominal cost, to workers and their families.

• Conduct on-site health fairs that include fitness demonstrations and promote fitness activities and resources.