Wellness

Obese older adults may be more likely than their thinner peers to suffer a potentially disabling fall — though the most severely overweight may be somewhat protected from injury, according to a U.S. study.

About one out of every four parents with small children responds to interventions to help them quit smoking, which is slightly better than the one in five parents who would quit without any special help, according to a new study.

In the harsh realities of today's economy, employees are expected to do more with less. While controlling workloads may be beyond an HR/benefit manager's control, there are tools for helping employees cope with the increased stress that may result. However, experts disagree about which tactics to alleviate stress are most successful. Stress management programs, stress resilience programs and even performance programs all aim to turn negative employee stress into positive motivation, but each model features conflicting philosophies and tools.

U.S. health care reforms have enabled 2.5 million young adults to obtain insurance coverage, the U.S. government said on Wednesday, up from 1 million earlier this year.

One in five workers suffer from a mental illness such as depression or anxiety and these conditions increasingly affect productivity in the workplace as many struggle to cope, a report by the OECD said on Monday.

Self-insured companies across America have implemented employee wellness programs to control rising health care costs and address major health issues like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Telecom giant Sprint estimates it saved approximately $1.1 million through a social media wellness challenge it launched last summer. Fourteen thousand of the company’s 40,000 United States employees participated in the 12-week challenge, which ran on a social media platform.

As the effects of the recent financial crisis continue to spread across the globe, financial stress is an issue for both women and men.

Obese adults in the United States use a number of prescription drug types more frequently than normal-weight adults, says a new study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2009, the Civil Service Employees Association Employee Benefit Fund was at a crossroads. The benefit fund, which provides dental and vision benefits for more than 300,000 public employee union members and their dependents in New York State, was facing a double-digit spike in its health insurance costs and seemed resigned to renewing a policy with an insurer that was not meeting the needs of the fund's 60 employees.

Just one generation ago, HIV/AIDS was regarded as a relentless and indiscriminate killer. In the early 1980s, when the federal government first started tracking the disease, a newly diagnosed patient had a maximum two-year life expectancy, and HIV/AIDS related illness was the second-leading cause of death in American men. Today, it's not even in the top 10.

What is it? No, not your vending machine/cafeteria options. Not employee engagement (or lack thereof).

Diane Carruba hasn't been in the same car with her husband in a very long time. She doesn't want them to die together. She doesn't know what would happen to her son. A member of the sandwich generation, Carruba is the primary caregiver to her son - who suffers from ADHD, as well as a seizure disorder that has led to a developmental disability - and also cares for her mother, who is newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

What do your clients want from their corporate wellness programs? If the first response is lower health care costs, they might be in for a rude awakening. While prescribing a long-term solution, you offer your clients a healthy dose of reality and set the expectation that there is no instant cure.

Athletic trainers may have had their roots on the playing field, but the profession has branched out. Large employers such as Toyota, General Motors, Delta Air Lines and Boeing have used athletic trainers for years to prevent and treat injuries on the production line and manufacturing floor.

Historically, wellness has been associated primarily with weight loss, and since many of us slip right into a food coma come Thanksgiving and don't emerge until multiple holiday parties have left us loosening a belt notch or two, it's no coincidence that EBA features our annual Wellness Challenge issue on the eve of resolution season

When Emily Wert decided to undertake EBA's 2011Wellness Challenge, a 12-week personal health coaching program, she didn't have the usual expectations about what she would learn or accomplish.

As U.S. companies continue to ask workers to shoulder a greater burden of the cost of health care consumers want their employers to do more to help them improve their health and get the most from their employer-provided health and wellness plans, according to a new survey from Aon Hewitt, The Futures Company and the National Business Group on Health.

Access to paid sick days could save $1 billion in medical costs annually, according to a report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Currently, more than 44 million American workers do not have access to paid sick days, and more are unable to use time off to take care of sick children or other family members.

A series of interactive computer exercises designed to encourage healthy eating and physical activity didn't help keep middle school students from gaining extra weight, according to a study in the Netherlands.