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Is your workplace an obstacle to your good health and fitness?
Do you have cake for colleagues’ birthdays? Vending machines in your break room? Cookies at staff meetings? Did you know that between one-third and one-half of Americans working today are in jobs where they are sitting for most of the day? With unhealthy foods and lack of activity, your workplace may be an unexpected obstacle to your health and fitness.
When I started teaching at Rutgers University in 1995 there were three options for lunch within a 5-minute walk from my office on campus: Pizza Hut, Dunkin’ Donuts, and a vending machine. To compensate for my pizza and doughnut diet in those early years, I started working-out at the gym on campus. My workplace gym ritual didn’t last long. All too frequently (usually at the very moment I was struggling under an embarrassingly-light bench press), a student from one of my classes would say “hey professor -- is that you?” with a smirk. The day I heard “hey Prof, do you need a spot?” marked the end of my workplace work-outs.
What are your challenges to healthy behaviors at work?
Nationwide Better Health, a subsidiary of Nationwide, conducted a survey of American workers on their workplace eating habits and physical activity. Their study revealed that 72% report eating an unhealthy snack more than once per week at work (13% snacking on unhealthy food at work 5 or more times each week). Only 42% of those surveyed reported that their company offered healthy food options. (I am happy to report that my workplace did add a deli with healthy food options next to the pizza and doughnuts.)
Are you searching for ways to improve your workplace eating habits and level of physical activity? If you would like to read more about the steps you can take toward better health and fitness at work, I’d recommend reading the two-page article from Nationwide Better Health Survey entitled “Source or solution?: The workplace’s role in an unhealthy lifestyle”.
I wish you great health.
Paula
I concur with your conclusions and look forward to your upcoming updates. I will immediately grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. I wish you great success in your business efforts!
I would say that your workplace can be an obstacle when you commit to losing weight. I personally think offices should be equipped with the state of the art gyms a long with an instructor. Employers should encourage healthy lifestyle and should promote working out at gyms made within office premises.
Fitness Boot Camp
It seems that in today's common work environment we all find ourselves struggling with some aspect of poor health from immobility to nutritional deficiency. My employer has recently taken a proactive approach to combat poor health in the workplace by developing a Wellness Committee. It's an excellent way for co-workers to design office friendly workouts and share health ideas. Not a bad employee moral booster either. The club puts together healthy cookbooks; exercise plans, promotes healthy and organic commercial products and even schedules off-site excursions such as hiking and swimming. A wonderful alternate to the hum-drum routine.
It seems that in today's common work environment we all find ourselves struggling with some aspect of poor health from immobility to nutritional deficiency. My employer has recently taken a proactive approach to combat poor health in the workplace by developing a Wellness Committee. It's an excellent way for co-workers to design office friendly workouts and share health ideas. Not a bad employee moral booster either. The club puts together healthy cookbooks; exercise plans, promotes healthy and organic commercial products and even schedules off-site excursions such as hiking and swimming. A wonderful alternate to the hum-drum routine.
I work as a medical record coder where I sit all day reading peoples medical charts and physician's diagnosis and input clinical data. While my job allows a 15 minute break in the am and a 30 minute lunch and another 15 minute break on the second half of the day, I have to leave my office and go to another office to punch out. By the time I punch out and try to walk anywhere it is actually time to punch back in. I wish more companies would recognize the benefit of an hour lunch where a person could have enough time to walk and instead of wolfing down some unhealthy snack one would have time to also eat something fulfilling and nutritious
I my opinion, good health and fitness is soley determined by the individual. Some people should work out before work, or work out after work. In a business sense; a company is not ultimately responsible for you to work out and eat well everyday, and person was hired to do a job and get paid for it. Some businesses are seeing that healthy food choices and time off to excersise does improve productivity, but this exspensive to execute. I think that if you are determined enough to get in shape, then you would bring the healthly food with you to work and take your employer out of the equation.
Potlucks, potlucks, potlucks....it seems like every week, it's a co-worker's birthday, retirement, or promotions. I have to say that I truly enjoy our potlucks! Yes I know they are bad for us, but I enjoy them because of the morale in our office. We all get along very well and enjoy the company. Luckily for myself and the girls in our office we are able to get up and go for a walk around our facility. Even though we do spend much time in our office, we do take breaks to stand up and stretch.
My workplace contributes, but more than anything, my bad habits contribute. When I am at work, I get in a groove and do not want to leave for lunch. Many times lunch is sitting at my desk and eating poptarts. When I do remember lunch in the craziness of the morning, I bring a lean cuisine to heat up in the microwave. The most exercise I have is getting up to heat it up (with is just a few paces away). I sit down all day at the computer and I can feel the spread happening.
Often, we have potlucks at my workplace. While I enjoy potlucks, and I believe they are a positive thing to have on occassion, because they can improve employee morale; however, potlucks can become a problem when they occur excessively.
First, people have a tendancy to overeat, and potlucks can encourage this behavior.
Second, we all know that overeating can lead to weight gain.
It seems that in today's common work environment we all find ourselves struggling with some aspect of poor health from immobility to nutritional deficiency. My employer has recently taken a proactive approach to combat poor health in the workplace by developing a Wellness Committee. It's an excellent way for co-workers to design office friendly workouts and share health ideas. Not a bad employee moral booster either. The club puts together healthy cookbooks; exercise plans, promotes healthy and organic commercial products and even schedules off-site excursions such as hiking and swimming. A wonderful alternate to the hum-drum routine.
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