Simple Changes for Better Health

As we age, it becomes more and more apparent that we needed to take care of ourselves when we were younger.  While there are many who come to realize this early in life, some people only realize it as they get older and start to have problems with their health.  Since many of these problems were caused by lifestyle, it stands to reason then that changing this very lifestyle can have a beneficial effect on your health.

 

It is also fortunate that scientists and researchers have discovered that making lifestyle changes can be done at any age and they will still have benefit.  It has also been discovered recently that many of the diseases of aging, or the process of aging itself as a degenerative phase in life, is actually a disorder that can be prevented.  An article in 2010, based on research from scientists in London, was one of the first to state that aging is itself a disease.

Read more of this guest post by clicking here 

University Students Achieve Better With Chair Massage

University campuses have long sought ways to make their students better absorb the information presented to them in their classes. They have tried everything, from creating student lounges and quiet areas, to giving them fun parties to help them de-stress and forget their worries. Universities know that pressure is not conducive to learning in most cases, but the reality is that exams must be administered to evaluate knowledge. Thus a balance has been sought between helping students to learn and helping them to relax so that the learning can sink in.

This is where chair massage can help. At many universities around the country, a policy has been adopted. Offer the students chair massage in a central location. Some universities have tried this with great success, while others have been unable to afford to pay for this service for their students. A new idea has burgeoned in the industry: offer chair massage to students at their own expense, on campus. This is a perfect match for those universities who have a smaller student body but want to offer them something special.

Having chair massage in a campus lounge would actually be the perfect setting. The students are used to being quiet in that space, having the lights dimmed for napping or relaxing reading, and it is usually visited often enough that most students would know that chair massage was available to them. Most campuses will make an announcement on their website, allowing students to register and pay for their own massages with the massage company directly. This makes it easy for students to learn about and schedule massage sessions on the day that they are available. Email blasts often accompany such an event, since the university will want as many students as possible to take advantage of this opportunity for rest and relaxation.

What would be the best time to offer this type of service, you might ask? Some colleges offer it during finals week, or the week before. Perhaps midterms are more crucial at your school, so you can offer it then. At other colleges, the program is so popular that the school will offer it every month for their students.

If you expect that your student body would be receptive to this idea, the every month program is highly recommended. This way, every student that wants to have a chair massage is sure to be able to get one at least once in the semester. And since the school is simply providing the space, there is no difficulty in hosting this type of event every month. It would be occurring in a room the students use anyway, and little is required of the faculty aside from showing the massage therapists where they will be setting up. Everything else will be taken care of, including collecting the consent forms prior to each person’s session.

If you are the coordinator for student life at your campus, and looking for new and innovative ways to help your students feel that they made the right choice in coming to your college, this might be just what your school needs. The students feel appreciated and, more importantly, relaxed and better able to learn and retain what they have learned. (A successful chair massage event was held recently at Rutgers University - check out our blog by clicking here) Studies have shown that after chair massage, math and computation learning and retention is improved. This also undoubtedly applies to other subjects. This may well be just the worthwhile activity your school needs to bring everyone’s averages up and improve your school’s standing in the university community.

How To Turn Your Year End Health Fair Into A Success For Your Business

Nowadays, many companies have a health fair at the end of year. Many reasons exist for the popularity of the year end health fair. For many, it is a way to give their employees the opportunity to get their annual flu shot in advance of the cold winter season. For others, it is simply a way to give the employees something fun and relaxing to do at the end of the year.

Having been to many health fairs providing chair massage for employees, I can tell you that massage therapy is always the most popular offering among the members of the staff. Even when there are no lines for other providers, there is a long line for massage therapy. Thus if you will be having a health fair, the most important station for you to have is chair massage, and the more therapists the better.



The most popular offering after chair massage is, of course, the free flu shots for your staff. Flu shots have become very popular in recent years, as companies have begun to use them in an attempt to keep their employees’ sick time down. For some people, the flu shot works, while for others it does not work. Before you spend money bringing in a nurse to administer the flu shot (and paying for all the shots administered), a survey would be helpful to determine if most of your employees benefit from the flu shot, or if offering it would be a waste. Since every company and employee is different, the only way to know is to ask.

One of the most interesting offerings that I have seen at other health fairs is an iridologist. An iridologist can actually provide a personalized report for each employee based upon their very own iris. This practitioner will bring a special camera to take a photo of each person’s eye, and then they will show that person what the condition of their iris can tell them about their health. For example they can see high blood pressure, cholesterol conditions, injuries both recent and old, as well as areas of good health. A good iridologist will always talk about the positive as well as the negative, rather than just the negative.

In addition to massage therapists, flu shots, and iridologists, there are an endless number of other businesses that can be hired for your health fair. However, many of these other health care providers are not nearly as popular among staff as are massage and flu shots. But if you are trying to create a well-rounded experience for your staff, other providers may be necessary depending on the size of your company.

To that end, you can bring in a chiropractor, a physical therapist, healthy food manufacturers, and any other health care providers that regularly attend health fairs. However, unlike massage therapists and iridologists, most of these other health care providers will not actually provide your staff with samples of what they do, but will offer them a free consultation or diagnostic appointment. Since you know your staff best, only you can decide if this will work for them.

As health fairs become more and more popular, and more employers offer them to their staff as a way to show their appreciation, you as the owner of a small or large business may wish to incorporate this type of event into your company’s regular staff perks. Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas for vendors to bring to your company’s health fair. Now you can create your own unique take on the health fair experience.

Do I Really Need A Wellness Program For My Small Business?

What possible need does my small business have for a wellness program, you might ask. My business is very small, and such programs are better suited to large corporations.

While it is true that wellness programs are popular among large businesses, there is good reason for their popularity. Research and experience have shown that corporate wellness programs can benefit the companies as much as or more than the employees receiving the services.

Such benefits include less sick time, more work output and productivity, and an ease in meeting deadlines that may never have been experienced at that company.

So it would seem that wellness programs are more than just a new fad that will pass with time. Perhaps you have noticed your staff has been taking sick leave more often, or that their attention in things has been lagging, or that they are simply unable to complete the work assigned to them.
As a small business owner, you are undoubtedly very busy. But you may find that the benefits are greater than the costs when it comes to implementing a corporate wellness program at your company.

A couple of ideas that can help get you going are:
-Weekly chair massage at your location
-A weekly yoga program taught by a local instructor
-Games such as basketball or baseball played either at your company’s outdoor area or at a community field
-Exercise programs such as Zumba classes weekly or monthly
-Access to an area outside for free play and community

Some of these ideas listed have costs associated with them, while others can be implemented at little to no cost. Keep in mind, though, that a complete wellness program that has the listed benefits needs to include at least one activity that is outside of free play, such as a yoga class or a massage therapist. Free time to play will help with such things as morale and employee teamwork, but is not likely to substantially effect sick time and overall employee wellness.

So while your company may be small, a wellness program will be a worthwhile investment in the overall health and well-being of your company by helping your staff’s overall health and well-being. You can implement changes that will help your small business to thrive, and a wellness program is one large step on that path.

Chair Massage Can Help Workers With Stress and Joint Flexibility

One of the most common complaints that we see as massage therapists is a restricted range of motion, along with pain, especially in the neck and shoulders. This applies to people in almost every profession, but especially those professions where primarily computer based work is performed. So, office workers, executives, managers, and designers are all sufferers from this problem, although even others who don’t do primarily computer work also have this issue. These would include people such as nurses, physical therapists, and other caregivers who almost invariably do not take proper care of themselves.

So, for such a universal problem, one ought to wonder if there is also an effective and almost universal solution. One such solution, according to a study published Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, is to offer individuals chair massage at work. Chair massage was demonstrated in the study to have a beneficial effect on joint range of motion and pain, especially in the neck area, which is where a great number of office workers complain of pain and restriction.

When we consider the damaging effects of this type of restriction and pain, it can be realized that this would contribute a great deal to employee sick time and down time. When a person has restrictions in their neck and back, they are more likely to take more frequent sick days to try to restore their range of motion and to give the pain time to heal. More sick time means less productivity for the employer.

By institution of a simple chair massage program on site at the office, employers can head this problem off before it becomes more intense. Other studies have shown that massage at work enhances productivity and decreases the number of sick days employees take, and the current study explored in this article is describing some of the likely reasons for that reduction in sick time. When staff members are in less pain, they are more likely to come in to work. And when there is the promise or possibility of receiving chair massage on any given day, then it is less likely workers will take a sick day.

For these reasons, along with others that have been explored in prior articles, it would seem that Chair Massage is an excellent practice to institute at most businesses. Wellness programs are also a great place to bring in chair massage for the employees. Whatever is right for your business, chair massage can help your employees.

Corporate Chair Massage: Successful Companies Secret Productivity Booster

All managers seek to increase the productivity of their staff. This is usually accomplished by keeping strict deadlines, making sure lateness isn't an issue, and making certain everyone is doing what they're supposed to.

But there are also more positive means, such as making sure everyone on your team is communicating well, making certain that the best person for each task is doing that task, and making sure the staff is healthy, calm, and having a positive work experience.

Corporate Chair Massage falls into the latter, more positive, reinforcements for keeping an office at peak productivity. Not only are workers feeling calmer and less stressed after a corporate chair massage session, they are also more productive. Studies prove this fact.

A good manager or company owner uses both forms of incentive to keep the staff working at its best. But without a good set of positive reinforcements, the work environment will be tense and nervous. Some companies choose to maintain a more rigid and tense work environment.

But in most instances, companies and managers wish to have the staff feel calm and collected, so that they can work at a higher rate of productivity. After even ten minutes, it's been demonstrated that employees will be more focused and relaxed, ready to carry out their responsibilities with more clarity and presence of mind.

Corporate Chair Massage is inherently a productivity-booster, in that it can improve workers' focus and output. Additionally, workers begin to realize that management does care, and therefore a conscious effort to work harder may also come into play.

Employer need not worry about how employees perceive management; with Corporate Chair Massage, as well as other proven steps like a fitness program or on-site workout center, can help your employees to feel calmer, and is usually a sort of secret factor that many successful companies are now exploring to set their staff apart from the competition.

In reality, if both companies have hired the best in the field, with all else being equal, having a more motivated, more calm and poised staff would likely create a significant difference with implications that would be apparent after a short while.


And, Corporate Chair Massage can help achieve that aim for your company, along with sound business practice, creativity and flexibility in execution and thinking, as well as being mindful that your staff is your company's asset with a value that is difficult to calculate, but is often integral to functioning. Whether staff chooses to stay or leave says a lot about a company. Chair Massage is a good way of communicating concern to employees.
(C) Copyright 2013 H Miller, All Rights Reserved.

Chair Massage At Your Next Corporate Event

Trade shows, health fairs, product launches… there is no shortage of corporate events where bringing in chair massage would be appropriate. Chair massage has been shown in a number of studies to have beneficial effects, even when the massages are brief.

Studies done with nurses in a busy hospital showed that when they were given brief ten minute massages once a week, their stress levels decreased. Post traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans was also helped by a healthcare modality similar to massage and offered by some massage therapists called CranioSacral Therapy.

Perhaps you are planning your company’s annual health fair. Chair massage is always one of the most popular offerings at such fairs. Trade shows are an excellent place to have massage, since there are always so many things to see at these shows, and people can often become exhausted from walking around for so many hours.

Perhaps the very best place for corporate on site chair massage is at a product launch. This is because many of the people in attendance are potential purchasers, as well as members of the media. Think of what excellent PR your company will receive for having offered massage to clients at your product launch. It can even help to improve your company’s media image if such is necessary in your business.

Chair massage is an excellent offering for potential clients, for partners, and for employees, in every type of corporate event that there is. If you would like more information about chair massage at your next corporate or office event, please visit our chair massage page by clicking here.