Kinetic Enterprise - eZine Article | 3 Steps to Increasing Health Capital

In This Issue:

Three Questions

If I Were a Gambler...

Re-engaging in Your Health

Three Steps to Building Health Capital

A "Change Your Life" Kind of Story

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KE in the News

KE Board of Advisor, Dr. Joe Quatrochi's Life-changing Story:

Battling Cancer: A Remarkable Story of Struggle and Survival >

Fueling Your Fire - September 11th, 2007

A Magic Pill

What if you found a pill that would:

Increase both the span and quality of your life
Cut in half your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and colon cancer
Alleviate mental anxiety and depression
Decrease your blood pressure
Increase your immunity
Increase your mental clarity (which, of course, makes you smarter)
Increase your stamina
Increase your body's ability to metabolize cell-damaging stress hormones
Increase overall productivity and decrease overall medical costs for you and your employees

How much would you be willing to invest in such a pill?

What if the investment was time and not money ?

The Cost of Physical Inactivity

$330 per year.

$330 per year is the estimated average cost in direct medical expenses per each inactive employee on your team (Pratt, 2000). That's a tad less than a dollar a day per employee (which, don't forget, includes you!).

Big deal, your daily latte costs more, right?

Not so fast. The $330 doesn't include:

Indirect medical costs (such as workers compensation claims)
This cost of a myriad of chronic diseases attributable to physical inactivity (heart disease, multiple cancers, diabetes, etc.)
The cost of lost productivity (including absenteeism--missing work due to illness or injury; and "presenteeism"--at work but less focused/productive due to illness or injury.)

Who would have guessed that rising from your desk to go for a walk at lunch--and encouraging your employees to do the same--might be one of your most fiscally responsible business decisions?

Physical Inactivity Calculator

The Physical Inactivity Cost Calculator uses the most current science available from the medical costs, workers' productivity and workers' compensation fields of research to help big and small businesses alike get a handle on the dollar amount physical inactivity is costing their organizations.

How much is it costing yours?

Activity and Your Brain

Now that you're chewing on the idea of implementing "walk and talk" meetings as company policy, stay tuned for the next edition of Fueling Your Fire as we dive into new research in the field of neuroscience that is demonstrating how exercise affects the short- and long-term power of your brain.

Let's just say, if you're as smart as I think you are, you're not going to want to miss the next issue...

Citation: Pratt, Michael, M.D., et al. "Higher Direct Medical Costs Associated With Physical Inactivity." The Physician and Sports Medicine 28(10). Oct 2000.

Enjoy your lunchtime walk,

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