A healthy heart is one of the key components of overall health and wellbeing—but year after year, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

And while cardiovascular disease can refer to a broad umbrella of conditions, the most prevalent is coronary artery disease, which impacts roughly 1 in 20 working adults and poses one of the greatest risks to a heart attack.

Beyond the serious health effects of heart disease, it can also be incredibly expensive for both employees and employers to treat and cover. The most recent data from the American Heart Association shows cardiovascular disease costs the U.S. nearly $318 billion per year in medical expenses, and up to $237 billion per year in lost productivity.

Improving and maintaining heart health is vital to overall employee wellbeing and organizational success, yet over half of working adults skip routine checkups and forgo common health screenings. So how can leaders encourage preventive care action and support their employees’ long-term health?

August is National Wellness Month—and with summer in full swing, there’s no better time to prioritize leading a healthy lifestyle. 

The amount—and the quality—of sleep a person gets each night is inextricably linked to their overall well-being.

Proper sleep health is essential for the body to rest and repair itself, helping to regulate hormones and brain chemicals that are important for alertness and concentration. People who sleep fewer hours than their body needs may experience fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty making decisions—all of which can affect their work performance.

That’s why employers need to ensure their workforces are educated about and able to receive a sufficient amount of sleep. Beyond fostering employee health and well-being, promoting sleep and encouraging adequate rest can boost business outcomes by:

• Enhancing productivity
• Optimizing revenue
• Building employee, team, and organizational morale

But how can employers support healthy sleep habits, and what does healthy sleep even look like for most working adults?

March is National Nutrition Month, which makes it the perfect time to amend nutritional education and programming in the workplace.

And since approximately half of Americans say they feel less healthy now than just a year ago, there’s an increasing urge to facilitate healthy food choices.

Nutrition is an essential piece of the employee well-being puzzle. Employers have a responsibility to keep their staff’s best interests in mind at all times, and that remains the case when talking about food in the workplace.

If the past two years have taught us anything, it's that companies need to make employee well-being a top priority. That goes double when talking about chronic illness, which impacts 60% of adults in the United States.

Employees with chronic illness face the demands of two jobs: their paying job … and the job of managing their illness.

Fortunately, employers who help fill the support gap can make a big difference. And it’s a win-win, for the employees and your company.

Editor's Note: We recently updated this previously published post with new insights.

The holidays are just around the corner, and in the past few years, this season of gratitude has taken on a whole new meaning for families and friends. Despite everything going on in the world, we can always find something to be thankful for, and as it turns out, gratitude can even be a powerful tool to address the mental health of your employees.

Making a habit of prioritizing physical fitness can be hard. Just when you’ve got yourself in a groove, life happens … and your schedule, motivation, or ability to stick with your habits are tossed out the window.

We’ve all been thrown a little off track lately. And for many of us, our physical fitness has suffered as a result.

This is where your wellness program and platform can really shine.

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month—the perfect time to make preventive screenings a priority again.

And this year, it’s more important than ever. An alarming number of women and femme+ people have skipped their breast cancer screenings over the past two years. Your employees might be among that number.

Here are six creative ways you can observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month and get everyone in your company on board with making breast health and breast cancer awareness a priority.

For people who rely on fitness classes, gyms, and other public settings to get their workouts in, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a vexing wellness challenge.

Without commutes to worry about, many of us found ourselves with more time to exercise. But with gyms closed, classes canceled, large gatherings discouraged, and winter weather making some outdoor activities dicey, the question has become where to exercise.

The most wonderful time of the year … is also among the most stressful.

This holiday season promises to be more stressful than any in recent memory. The average American is already experiencing record-high stress levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And now, the holidays are here.