Biometrics 2.0: a new paradigm for employer-based health screenings.

Traditional biometric screenings only examine data from one source (blood), and in doing so miss 70% of those who will suffer a heart attack in the next 5 years by mistakenly mislabeling them as “low risk.” In other words, even our current screenings aren’t very effective at catching the most deadly and costly of all diseases, and they provide no personalized context and coaching after giving you your results. We have a better way!

We’ve brought biometric screenings into the 21st century by measuring multiple non-invasive, medical-grade biomarkers that deliver a more accurate risk assessment than traditional screenings, including the most important blood metric we can assess and monitor: HbA1c.

WHAT IS HbA1c, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?

HbA1c (or A1c) is short for Hemoglobin A1c. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to your body’s cells, and then shuttles carbon dioxide away from your cells. Through normal metabolic processes, we’d expect that 5-6% of your hemoglobin may be affected by a process called glycosylation, in which glucose or other sugars attach to it and negatively affect its ability to operate normally. Any more than this is a sign of metabolic dysfunction.

Metabolic dysfunction affects our weight and mood in the short-term, and is also at the root of the majority of major chronic diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular diseases in the long-term.

If your A1c percentage is higher than 5-6%, this is an early warning sign that metabolic dysfunction is occurring, affecting your most critical energy exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at the cellular level. According to the CDC, approximately 96 million American adults (more than 1 in 3) have prediabetes, indicated by elevated A1c. Of those individuals, more than 80% don’t know they have it.

At our Biometrics 2.0 events, not only will we give you the results of your A1c test within minutes, we will also offer individualized coaching about different behaviors and challenges that have been shown to positively impact this number:

Healthy Is Mind Your Gut

Healthy Is a Calm Morning

The best way to reduce health risks is to help every person in improving their health behaviors on a day-to-day basis to maintain or improve their health status. Healthy Is Wellness is doing our part to help every person we work with in doing this by providing screenings like our Biometrics 2.0, putting those results into immediate context, and working with you one-on-one to break down the barriers to your health goals.

Inflammation is a powerful immune response in the body when tissues are injured.

Inflammation helps infections and wounds to heal, and toxins to be eliminated. When it is acute and short term, inflammation is healing. But, like most good things in life, too much of it for too long is a bad thing. When it is continually activated, chronic inflammation is at the root of most chronic diseases. Join us this month as we highlight challenges proven to help you reduce inflammation.

HEALTHY IS LESS REFINED SUGAR

Sugar is naturally occurring in many healthy foods like fruits, but the added sugar in processed foods is the danger. Consuming too much added sugar negatively affects your mind and body, increasing disease risk. Because of the added sugar in processed foods, on average we consumer 5 to 10 times the normal amount of sugar we need.

In this challenge, we explore three rules to live by when it comes to sugar: eliminating all straight sugar, eating seven grams or less of sugar per serving, and avoiding white breads, cereals, and fried foods. We’ll help you identify the simplest strategies and alternatives to incorporate this practice into your life.

HEALTHY IS ELIMINATING INFLAMMATORY FATS

Maybe you’re already pretty good at avoiding refined sugar – that’s great! How about eliminating inflammatory fats and oils from your diet? Naturally occurring fats in whole foods give us energy, help us transport nutrients, assist in making hormones, and create healthy cell membranes. But, refined fats and oils can actually damage our cells, cause metabolic dysfunction, and wreak havoc on our immune system. We’ll show you exactly what to look for to eliminate these from your meal plan!

HEALTHY IS A COLD SHOWER

Here’s a different type of challenge to try: start or end your shower with 10 seconds of cold water, and gradually work your way up to 60 seconds. Not only does this help reduce inflammation, it also reduces muscle soreness and increases your metabolism.

All of these are simple changes that will lead to big impacts over time for your health. Sign up for your coaching session today to explore these challenges with our team of coaches. We can’t wait to see you there!

5 minutes per day of structured breathing can improve your mood and lower stress, even better than meditation.

WHY IT MATTERS

Using breathwork to reduce stress and improve overall well-being has been used by humans for centuries. Not only is it completely free to use your breath to help improve your health, it is also very powerful! Learning to control your breath is a direct path to control what is called your autonomic nervous system. In other words, it can help you control parts of the body that seem automatic or uncontrollable, including your heart rate, stress response, nervous system, thermoregulation, and more.

Although for most of the day your breath should be smooth and rhythmical (see our first Controlling Your Breath blog post), there are reasons to take control of your breath in a meaningful way. This is what we call “breathwork,” and science has proven that intentionally utilizing specific breathing patterns produces more benefit to mood than passive attention to one’s breath, as in mindfulness meditation practice. Just 5 minutes per day of breathwork has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce stress, improve mood, reduce frequency of sickness, and improve creativity, learning, and memory.

Improve your mood and reduce stress.

5 minutes per day of intentional breathwork not only has physiological effects while doing the breathing exercise, but research shows these mood boosting effects continue throughout the rest of the day. To get started, try these proven, powerful methods.

BOX BREATHING

Breathe in through your nose, hold, breathe out through your mouth, hold, and repeat. Use equal times for the inhale, both holds, and the exhale (i.e. 4 seconds each).

CYCLICAL PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGHING

Take two inhale breaths through your nose (breathe in through your nose, pause, and breathe in again) followed by a full exhale via your mouth to empty out your lungs. Hold your breath for 10-15 seconds with empty breath (longer if you can) then repeat.

Exhale through your mouth.

Try out these methods this month as a way to add rhythm into your everyday life!

Integrating movement with your current daily habits is one of the best ways to exercise without going to the gym, because it removes the barrier of time.

WHY IT MATTERS

Dr. BJ Fogg is founder of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab and the creator of the science behind Tiny Habits®. What he saw was that too many of us have been told that it takes drastic changes to make any real difference, but the science says just the opposite: small changes lead to the biggest impacts! So this month, we hone in on the power of using what Dr. Fogg has termed “tiny habits,” and our focus is to use this science to increase the amount of movement each day.

The “tiny habits” science says to take any new habit you want, and then scale it back so that it’s super tiny. In the case of wanting to read more, that might mean reading one paragraph. In the case of moving, it means doing movements so simple they seem almost too easy to fit into your day. The science says that more movement, even in small doses:

• Leads to better sleep, more energy, stronger muscles, less stress and a healthier heart
• Treats your brain to a bubble bath of neurochemicals, neurotransmitters, and endorphins, thus leaving you feeling better, more creative, and able to focus better
• Reduces anxiety and frustration while boosting your mood and improving your memory

Use tiny habits to make a big difference.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

STEP 1: IDENTIFY ROUTINE HABITS

This can be anything you frequently do throughout the day such as sending an email, brushing your teeth, or putting your shoes on to go to work.

STEP 2: IDENTIFY A SMALL MOVEMENT

This can be any movement that is appropriate for your environment (e.g. push up, squat, hamstring stretch).

STEP 3: COMBINE STEPS 1 AND 2

Every time you perform a daily activity from Step 1, perform a small movement from Step 2.

Keep the number of repetitions you do small (don’t increase over time) to ensure that you always do them. Over time, small changes make a big difference!

Scientific research has proven that the act of giving is a greater enhancer of mental wellbeing than any drug we’ve ever produced.

WHY IT MATTERS

A simple act of kindness completed regularly has been scientifically proven to produce more serotonin and dopamine throughout our bodies. Both of these are neurotransmitters – chemicals released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. And not only do they make us feel good, but they also enhance our ability to learn and absorb information. And it’s not just these two chemicals that kindness increases.

Science shows that simple acts of kindness:

• Increase oxytocin and induce a feeling of kindness
• Reduce cortisol and adrenal stress
• Eliminate signs of depression and anxiety
• Decrease pain through the release of endorphins
• Lower blood pressure
• Improve social relationships
• Reduce stress (which, by the way, also slows down our aging process)

Not only have acts of kindness been shown to improve heart health…

People who volunteer regularly – an excellent manifestation of kindness – had a “44% lower likelihood of dying early. This is a stronger effect than exercising four times a week!” (Carter, 2011)

Practice kindness.

PERFORM A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS FOR ONE PERSON PER DAY!

A “simple act of kindness” is a simple, free, or inexpensive act that you do to spread a little kindness or brighten someone’s day. It can be a colleague, friend, family member, or stranger – the point is, it’s a selfless act.

Here are some of our favorites: when parking your car, leave a note on the car next to you saying that they did an amazing job at parking. Compliment the first two people you interact with today, or send a teacher a note saying how thankful you are for them. Post a positive review, smile genuinely at 5 strangers throughout your day, or pay for the next person in line. Donate old items or volunteer. It doesn’t have to take lots of time and money, the point is seeking out an opportunity to intentionally be kind…then doing it!

NOW DO THE SAME FOR YOURSELF!

Did you know that people are better at filling and properly administering prescription medication for their pets than themselves? In other words, we’re great at taking care of others, but often at the price of neglecting ourselves. Not even your pet thinks this is a good idea. So, extend the “simple act of kindness” to YOU by choosing to intentionally do something kind for yourself every day for the next 30 days.

This can be as simple as buying yourself that coffee you want…just because. It can also be high fiving yourself in the mirror first thing in the morning, sending yourself the same supportive message you’d send to a friend, or opening up time every day for yourself in the same way that you would for a friend who needed you. It also means finding ways to give yourself grace and a smile as you go throughout your daily life.

The happiness advantage from practicing gratitude.

There is something called the Tetris Effect (yes, named after the video game) that occurs when we consistently devote our time and attention to something, and then we start seeing that thing over and over again. You’ve experienced this if you’ve ever been shopping for a car. Maybe you’ve decided that you’re going to get a red vehicle, then suddenly you see red vehicles everywhere you go. What happened? Did everybody else have the same idea as you and beat you to the punch?

The answer is no; because of the time and attention you’ve focused on that attribute, your brain is now primed to be looking for those things, even at the subconscious level, and you’re suddenly spotting them everywhere So, what does all this have to do with happiness and gratitude? In its default state your brain is hardwired to constantly be looking for threats to your survival, and will constantly be doing so unless you prime it to do otherwise.

Happiness is at the peak of psychological health.

When our brains get stuck in a pattern that focuses on stress, negativity, and failure (as is our default) we set ourselves up to fail. The positive side of the Tetris Effect, though, actually teaches us how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility, so we can see—and seize—opportunity wherever we look. The way we can do this is by taking time to intentionally train our brains to start scanning the world for good things everyday. And the most amazing part? It only takes a couple of minutes each day to train our brains to do this!

WHY IT MATTERS

One of the best ways to kick start a positive Tetris Effect is to simply take time each day to write down 3 things you’re grateful for. In this two-minute span, if you continue this for 30 days in a row, research has shown benefits like:

• 31% increase in productivity and creativity;
• Stronger immune system and less sick days;
• Reduction in blood pressure;
• Improved cardiovascular health;
• Reduction in perceived stress and pain; and
• Enhanced mood and mental wellbeing!

Practice gratitude daily.

Rewire your brain in just 2 minutes per day with this gratitude exercise to become happier, healthier, and more efficient in all of your tasks. Each day write down 3 things you’re grateful for. They don’t have to be profound – it could be a good cup of coffee, the warmth of a sunny day, or listening to your favorite song. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as you write it down somewhere, whether in a notebook, on a napkin, or typed into your phone.

“We’re finding it’s not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality.  And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change every single educational l and business outcome at the same time.” – Shawn Achor, happiness expert, international best-selling author, & Harvard professor