Modern society, with its emphasis of looking well, eating well and being well, is all too aware of the connection between illness and disease and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It's fairly well understood there is a connection between smoking and cancer; obesity and diabetes; eating the wrong foods and cardiac disease, high blood pressure and lack of exercise. Most people make the connection between maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a healthy immune system. Worker-related injuries and illnesses heal faster the healthier the worker is overall.
In like manner, workplace injuries can be aggravated and recovery from them delayed by poor lifestyle habits. Much in the same way a pre-existing condition such as spinal stenosis, can delay and aggravate a back injury.
Employers constantly search for ways to reduce workers' compensation costs. Instituting a wellness program in the workplace benefits both the employer and employees.
Five Popular Wellness Areas
1. Smoking 2. Weight Control 3. Nasal Allergies 4. Depression Treatment 5. Migraine
Smoking Everyone knows for most people quitting smoking is very difficult. "Cold turkey" works for very few people. Having a formal quit smoking program in the workplace can provide the help and support smokers need to kick the habit. Let's look at some suggestions that may make smoking more aggravating than the pleasure derived from the nicotine.
First establish a smoking/non-smoking policy. Most workplaces ban smoking in the building and provide an outdoor smoking area.
Second, set specific times and length of smoking breaks. Nothing causes more workplace uproar than smokers freely running in and out on smoke breaks (workersxzcompxzkit) while non-smokers are limited to one or two coffer breaks.
Third establish a program aimed at helping smokers to quit, medically supervised and include self-help meetings to measure progress. Participants should have medical permission from their primary care physician before beginning a quit smoking program
. Author: Sandford S. Leffingwell, M.D., MPH is a board certified specialist in occupational medicine, with degrees from Harvard University, University of Colorado School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He can be reached at [email protected]. www.hlmconsultants.com works with the Amaxx team on file reviews, serving as medical advisors, evaluating clinic services, identifying causation in workers' compensation claims and other services related to workers compensation.
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