 |
| Look Familiar? |
If you are a business leader,
it's a question you should be asking yourself as you look around your workplace
this morning. I’m sure you realise that your people are your biggest asset, yet
they don’t have to be your largest asset. So, what are you doing to look after
their health and well-being, as well as their long-term future?
Over the past five years, it's
a question that Coleman Coaching has been developing an answer to by providing
a solution with our 'Average2Awesome' Programme. We’ve worked closely with business
leaders and their teams and, in addition to satisfying 'Corporate and Social
Responsibilities', we’ve transformed staff physically, mentally and
professionally. It has, however, highlighted some major areas of concern.
You see, 85% of the business
people we coach are 'overweight' when we first meet. It's a bleak statistic
isn't it? Okay, it could be said that we attract more 'overweight' people with
our ‘promise of well-being’ but even so, it’s a very high percentage.
I’m not being judgemental, this
is fact based on the initial weigh-ins of participants, classing anyone with a
Body Mass Index (BMI) in excess of 25.0 as ‘overweight’. Even though the BMI
calculation is seen by some as archaic and flawed, it still highlights the increased
levels of obesity in the professional people that we encounter on a daily basis
(the current average BMI of participants is, in fact, 30.7). I’m sure it wouldn’t
have been that high 20 years ago – today life is unbelievably complicated and
being ‘connected’ has only speeded up the process of immobility in the
workplace and exacerbated poor diets. Everyone we encounter wants to be fitter
and live longer, it seems they just don’t have the time, energy or knowhow to
go about it.
Things are changing and Sugar
is the new 'Hot-Topic'. It's a media story that as a nation we are slowly
becoming more aware of. In the seventies it was Cigarettes and later on in that
decade Salt was highlighted as being detrimental to everyday health. In that
era we were, however, much slimmer as a nation. Back then we cooked more from
fresh, ate real food and were far more active.
When, in this day and age, is
there any time for activity in a very busy business person's life?
The Public Health England
recommendation for health and well-being is to walk 10,000 steps-a-day. That's
about 5 miles or 75 minutes of walking - it has amazing health and well-being
benefits but is sadly seen as being time-inefficient and boring.
‘It's proven that taking at least 1 brisk 10 minute walk a day has been
shown to reduce the risk of early death by 15%. A 10 minute walk can contribute
to meeting the CMO’s physical activity guidance of 150 minutes of moderate to
vigorous exercise each week. This can lead to health benefits including a
lowered risk of type 2 diabetes (by 40%), cardiovascular disease (by 35%),
dementia (by 30%) and some cancers (by 20%). The severity of the current
physical inactivity epidemic amongst adults contributes to 1 in 6 deaths in the
UK and is costing the NHS over £0.9 billion per year.’ [Source: Public Health England]
Boring – it’s downright
frightening…
In the seventies, we didn’t
have the Microwaves and Convenience Food that we all find SO convenient
nowadays. Picking up a cheap bottle of wine and some chocolate to brighten up the
residual mood of a tough day driving a desk is becoming second nature to many.
Every major railway station has a major supermarket store cashing in on
frazzled commuters looking for some evening respite by using calorie
consumption to combat the stress of being… BUSY.
What’s it like in your workplace? Does the above sound
familiar and what are you doing to prevent obesity from weighing down and
burning out your Heavyweights?
During the past five years
we’ve helped to create countless success stories as we’ve facilitated change in
people’s attitudes towards a simple ‘Work-Life Balance’. The results from
people using our ‘Ultradiet’ as an extreme weight-loss programme are proving
that mind-set and accountability work wonders in losing life-changing amounts
of excess bodyweight. The ‘Ultradiet’ also injects a fresh dimension and
momentum into people’s desire to achieve. What you are doing
to protect your Heavyweights from themselves?
Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk - 24 Years' Alcohol Free
1,007 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records
No comments:
Post a Comment