Stealth Health: Wellness Promotion at Work

Stealth Health: Wellness Promotion at Work Cindy Wolff, PhD, RD Executive Director, Center of Nutrition and Activity Promotion California State University, Chico WIC Annual Meeting, 2011

Workshop Expectations: I will • Have a greater appreciation for why I/we need to promote health at work. • Identify at least 2 changes I will make/recommend for my work place. • Identify at least 2 changes I will make in my personal work behavior. • Be an advocate by developing/ supporting a worksite policy. • Be aware of challenges and strategies to changes I’d like in my behavior/work place.

Benefits of a Health Promoting Work Place • We are happier • It’s the ethical thing to do • We feel better and are healthier • Health care costs are less • We perform better

April 4th – 8th is National Workplace Wellness Week • National Forum April 5th - Workplace Wellness: How Business is Part of the Solution • Forum will address: • how workplace programs are part of solution to national health and wellness challenges • the state of workplace wellness programs • trends, challenges, and opportunities

Overview 1. WIC Worksite Wellness Program 2. Beware your Chair 3. Physical Activity Boosts Brain Power 4. How to Take off Pounds that Work Puts On 5. Portion Distortion/Defensive Dining 6. Goals for New Behaviors at Work

1. WIC Worksite Wellness Program Commitment Form I, _____________, on behalf of Local Agency ____________, recognize the value of converting my Local Agency and its offices into Wellness Worksites. We will follow the guidelines and criteria to develop a culture where wellness is the norm. • The Agency will support employees in activities that foster and maintain health and create a well-being environment. We promise to use imagination to propose healthful activities, solicit ideas from our staff, and encourage a dialogue that will promote well-being among us. • I further promise to create and work toward my own set of wellness goals and to support my fellow-employees as they work toward theirs. Signed: ______________________ Date:__________

Core Strategies for Participation • Insert 10-min. PA breaks during long meetings • Support individual and group activity during routine “conduct of business,” e.g., walking meetings and scheduling sit-down meetings a short distance from workspace. • Include healthy food choices at meetings and conferences in which food is served.

Core Strategies for Participation, cont. • Post stair prompts and ask managers to take the lead in using stairs vs. elevators. • Include ≥50% healthy food choices in vending machines, cafeterias, & on-site food vendors. • Adopt written policies institutionalizing these practices and informal policies. • Include wellness policy implementation duties in job descriptions of mgmt staff.

2. Beware Your Chair • How many minutes have you been sitting without getting up? • How many minutes have you sat so far today?

56 hrs per week! Recent poll of 6,300 people conducted by the Institute for Medicine showed that on average, we spend 56 hours a week sitting behind a computer, driving, or in front of the TV.

Beware Your Chair • Whether or not you have a regular exercise program, sitting for long periods is bad for you. So what’s wrong with sitting? • Sitting   weight gain. • Sitting increases blood fats and glucose which increases risk of heart disease andn diabetes.

Stand More, Sit Less • Compared to sitting, standing is work. • To stand, you have to tense your leg muscles, and engage your back and shoulder muscles. • While standing, you often shift from leg to leg. • All of this burns energy.

Stand More, Sit Less • For many people, weight gain is a slow creep — 2 pounds this year, 3 pounds next year. • You can gain this much if, each day, you eat just 30 calories more than you burn. • 30 calories is hardly anything — it’s a couple of bits of banana or 3 potato chips.

Stand More, Sit Less • More time on your feet can be the difference between staying lean and getting fat. • You may think you have no choice about how much you sit. But this isn’t true. • Weight gain is the outcome of small changes: • Do you take the stairs or the elevator? • E-mail or get up and go see your colleague? • When you get home, do you sit in front of the TV?

Stand More, Sit Less • Evidence suggest that there’s a “physiology of inactivity” with sitting. • Rates of heart disease and diabetes and obesity are doubled or sometimes even tripled in people who sit a lot.

Stand Up For Your Health (1:52) http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0610-stand_up_for_your_health.htm

Lipase Activity Slows with Sitting • When lipase is active, muscles absorb fat. • When we sit down, lipase activity slows. • So, fat recirculates in blood and is either stored as fat or clogs arteries. • Plasma samples taken from the same person after eating the same meal are cloudy when they ate sitting and clear while standing. • Sitting can reduce HDL cholesterol levels by 22%!

Beware Your Chair Compared to people who sit for long periods, people who take frequent, small breaks — standing up to stretch or walk down the hall have: • smaller waists • better sugar and fat metabolism

Stand More, Sit Less Ideas • Replace your office chair with a therapy ball: • Use more muscles and more energy than a normal chair • You have to support your back and work to keep balanced • You also have the option of bouncing, if you like. • Fidget while you sit. • Watch television in a rocking chair: rocking takes energy and forces gentle flexing of the calf muscles.

The Desk Defying Workout • Chest/shoulder stretch: Do this to pull shoulders back and stretch a tight chest. • Neck stretch (extension): Focus on neck extension (look toward ceiling). Don't do flexion (chin to chest) since we sit with necks already forward. • Quad stretch: Stretch front of thigh. If pull your knee/thigh back, you'll stretch the hips, which tighten with sitting.

3. Physical Activity Boosts Brain Power • Researchers studied two elderly groups that had led different lifestyles: • one sedentary • one active • Cognitive scores were much better for the active group: • executive function • spatial tasks • reaction times • quantitative skills

Physical Activity Boosts Brain Power • The human brain evolved under conditions of almost constant motion. • We can predict that the optimal environment for processing information would include motion. • Indeed, the best business meeting would have everyone walking at about 1.8 miles per hour.

Walk More, Sit Less • You have a choice about how much you move • A study of doctors doing the same job, the same week, on identical wards found that some walked 4 times farther than others at work each day.

Three Ways Activity Improves Cognition • Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain. Oxygen  an uptick in mental sharpness. • Exercise increases blood flow to the brain which  increased glucose as fuel. • Exercise increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.

Walk More, Sit Less • The brain craves exercise. • But we have created our work cubicles around sitting for 8 hours/day. • It’s time for a change.

Your chair is your enemy. Standing doubles the number of calories burned.

Your Chair is Your Enemy • Get up from your desk as often as you can. • Walk to the restroom that's further away. • Walk to your co-worker's desk instead of emailing. • Stand up even if just to stretch for a minute every 30-60 minutes throughout the day. • Take short walking breaks. A few laps around the office or during lunch can do wonders.

Move More, Think Better: • Take frequent breaks to stand up and move around. • Focus on motion, not distance. Just standing up can help. • Start a trend, like stand up meetings for shorter discussions and for talking on the phone.

4. How to Take Off the Pounds that Work Puts On

I’ve been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet. Erma Bombeck (1927–1996)

Why Do Diets Typically Fail?

The solid line shows the typical results of weight-loss program participants in pounds. The dotted line would be ideal—lose weight and keep it off for years.

Healthy Eating + Activity Patterns = Success!

Activity Recommendations • National guidelines are: - ≥30 min/day, but should be ≥60 min. - ≥10,000 steps/day • Use a pedometer - ≥12,000 steps/day for weight loss

Build Activity into Your Work Day • Bike or walk to work • Park your car far away and walk • Stand when you talk on the phone • Standing burns twice the calories of sitting or about 120 calories per hour vs 60 calories/ • Walk while you talk and you can burn another 35 to 40 calories per hour

It Takes Practice and Time to Set New Patterns

Build Activity into Your Work Day Riding Bikes with the Dutch(2:41)

Make Healthier Food ChoicesDo You Eat Breakfast? • Skipping breakfast is associated with: • An increased rate of overweight • A decrease in dietary adequacy • Decreased performance on memory tests

Fruits and VeggiesHigher fruit and vegetable consumption associated with: - healthy weight - lower blood pressure - healthier blood values

Avoid Mindless OvereatingNeed to avoid portion distortion by reading food labels

Rethink Your Drink: Sweetened Beverages Add Pounds

National Weight Registry Tips1. No diet out performed any other2. Eat breakfast and don’t skip meals3. Avoid sweetened beverages4. Keep a food record5. Read labels and use smaller plates, bowls, and cups6. Partner with a friend or co-worker7. Use a pedometer

Prescription Pad • Prescription for a Healthy Lifestyle • Name:______________________ Date:_____________ • I am choosing the following goals to achieve a healthier lifestyle: • Eat breakfast every day • Sleep at least 7 hrs every night • Wear a pedometer and walk at least 10,000 steps per day • Increase physical activity by 20 minutes per day • Reduce screen time (TV, computer, etc.) by 20 min/day • Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables each day • Keep a healthy snack and water handy • Sign up for a sports team or active recreation class • Dine out less or make healthier choices • Eat smaller portions (measure if helpful) • Decrease sugary drinks(coffee drinks, soda, sports drinks) • Get up from desk and stretch at least once per hour • Keep food record • Signature: ___________________

Stealth Health: Wellness Promotion at Work