Wellness Programs - Focus on Fitness Plans.

Advantages of Fitness Plans

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

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (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 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 would be the number-one prescribed treatment in the world,” he said.

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

Popular fitness-forward initiatives -  

• Start a company softball or volleyball league.

• Compile and distribute information about opportunities to join athletic groups in your community.

• Offer partial or complete reimbursement for workout facility memberships.

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

• Provide extended lunch hours for staff members who commit to lunchtime fitness plans.

• Introduce an onsite workout facility that is free, or available at a nominal cost, to employees and their families.

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