Activate Your Health: impact of a real-life programme promoting healthy lifestyle habits in Canadian workers.

The workplace has been suggested as a good setting for the promotion of healthy lifestyles. This article examines the impact of Activate Your Health programme, provided over an average of 1.35 years, on employee health and lifestyle habits (actual and intention to improve). Companies selected one of the programme's four options (number of interventions in parentheses): Control (2), Light (8), Moderate (13) and High (14). Employees (n = 524) completed an online questionnaire at baseline and post-intervention. Mixed-effect models and generalized estimating equations models were used, where appropriate. There was an interaction effect of time by option for the number of employees intending to improve sleep habits (p = 0.030): +11.0% in Light (p = 0.013). No significant interaction effect of time by option was observed for body weight, body mass index, number of health problems or lifestyle habits (actual and intention to improve). When stratified by sex, there was an interaction effect of time by option for the number of women intending to improve sleep habits (p = 0.023): -26.1% in Moderate (p = 0.014). There was an interaction effect of time by option for body weight in men (p = 0.001): -0.58 kg in High (p = 0.031) and +2.58 kg in Control (p = 0.005). Other outcomes of interest were stable or improved post-intervention, regardless of option. The Activate Your Health programme allowed employees to maintain or improve outcomes related to health and lifestyle habits. A package like High may be beneficial for body weight regulation in men.

Activate Your Health, a 3-year, multi-site, workplace healthy lifestyle promotion program: study design.

BACKGROUND: Workplace Health Promotion Programs (WHPP) have been shown to be an efficient way of improving workers' health. These programs can be incorporated in the worker's daily schedule and improve their productivity at work. Improving employees' health also benefits the employers by increasing their return on investment and lowering healthcare costs. The Activate Your Health program, created by Capsana in 2015, is a WHPP targeting multiple lifestyle habits for a three-year period. This WHPP includes tailored web-based interventions and the support of different health professionals throughout the years. We hypothesize that this approach will yield long-term lifestyle changes. The objective of the current paper is to describe the Activate Your Health program's design. METHODS/DESIGN: Eleven companies are taking part in this WHPP and had to choose among five different options of this program and all their employees were encouraged to participate. Each option differs by the number and type of interventions included. The limited option, which is considered the control group, only consists in completing a questionnaire regarding their health status, lifestyle habits and behaviors. On the other end, the extensive option receives a combination of multiple interventions: online menus, health challenges, support in creating a healthy work environment, coaching by health professionals (nurse, nutritionist, and kinesiologist), health screening and flexibility assessment, online resources, social health platform, and activity tracking. The remaining options are in between these options and vary by the amount of intervention. Baseline data are already gathered; two other data collection periods will take place after one and 2 years into the program. The primary outcomes of the current program are physical activity and fitness measures, nutritional data, smoking habits, stress and intention to change. DISCUSSION: The Activate Your Health program will allow us to compare which combinations of interventions are the most effective. It is expected that the extensive option will be the most advantageous to improve lifestyle habits. The results will indicate the strength and weakness of each intervention and how it could be improved. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrails.gov, registration number: NCT02933385 (updated on the 26th of March 2019, initially registered on the 5th of October 2016).

Improvement Predictors in a Workplace Program Promoting Healthy Lifestyle Habits.

BACKGROUND: The baseline characteristics of employees to predict improvements in healthy lifestyle habits (LHs) following workplace health promotion programs are underexplored. This study sought to identify predictors of improvements in physical activity (PA), eating habits, sleep habits, and stress management, and health risk factors resulting from healthy LHs. METHODS: The Activate Your Health program included 3 packages of an increasing number of interventions: light, moderate, and high. Participating employees (n = 506) completed baseline and postintervention questionnaires that collected sociodemographic data, health- and LH-related variables, stress-related variables, and perceptions of general health and life satisfaction. Only those with the potential to improve were included in each improvement outcome analysis. RESULTS: Being in high and intending to reduce alcohol consumption increased the odds of improving PA. Very good/excellent perceived general health, poor sleep habits, high alcohol consumption, and intending to improve stress management increased the odds of improving stress levels at work. Depression and intending to improve sleep habits increased the odds of improving stress management. Reporting feelings of pleasure increased the odds of improving body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline characteristics predicting improvements differed for each LH. A targeted approach may be needed to help employees improve LHs and related outcomes.

Health-Related and Lifestyle Factors as Predictors of Intentions to Improve Lifestyle Habits in Employees Participating in a Workplace Health Promotion Program.

OBJECTIVES: To explore employees' intentions to improve lifestyle habits, investigate the health and lifestyle-related predictors of these intentions, and how it translated into behavioral improvement. METHODS: Employees participating in the Activate Your Health WHPP completed a questionnaire of their demographics, health-related variables, as well as six lifestyle habits and intention to improve them. RESULTS: At baseline (n = 2729), most employees wanted to focus on physical activity and eating habits. Many predictors were identified for each intention. Majority of intentions were associated with behavioral improvement post-program (n = 525), especially in High. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of WHPPs, intention to improve may lead to actual behavioral improvement. Exploring employees' intentions to improve various lifestyle habits at the start of the program could improve the effectiveness of these programs.

Use of Active Workstations in Individuals with Overweight or Obesity: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to collect existing literature and summarize the impact of active workstations on the health and work outcomes of participants with overweight or obesity. METHODS: Five databases were examined (until March 2018), and the keywords "desk," "workstation," "work station," and "work stations" were used with any one of the following terms: "active," "bik*," "cycling," "height adjustable," "stepping," "stand up," "standing," "treadmill*," "walk*," "elliptical," "bicycl*," "pedaling," "stability ball," "stability balls," "exercise ball," "exercise balls," "swiss ball," "swiss balls," "sit-to-stand," and "sit stand." RESULTS: Nineteen studies (two with school-aged children) were included in this review. Nine studies used treadmill, three used cycling, one used stepping, and twelve used standing desks. A decrease in sedentary time and an increase in physical activity level and energy expenditure were observed for most of the active workstations. Both the treadmill and the cycle desk improved glycemic control, but the treadmill desk was the only workstation for which improved work performance and help in body-weight management (body fat percentage, body weight, waist and hip circumference) were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Active workstations are a promising solution for decreasing occupational sedentariness. Overall, active workstations have a positive impact on energy expenditure and physical activity in individuals with overweight and obesity.

Low Baseline Sympathetic Tone Correlates to a Greater Blood Pressure Change in the Cold Pressor Test.

BACKGROUND: The cold pressor test (CPT) involves acute hand or foot exposure to cold water. CPT hyper-responders have unique traits, including risk of hypertension and a greater vasoconstrictor reserve and g force tolerance compared to hypo-responders. The purpose of this study was to uncover differences in cardiovascular and sympathetic biomarkers between responder types. METHODS: Healthy volunteers (N = 30) submerged one hand into cold water (3.3 ± 0.8°C) for 5 min. Blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, and cardiac parameters were recorded using an automated monitor, impedance cardiography, and a beat-to-beat monitoring system. We analyzed for salivary α-amylase (SαA), which is a convenient biomarker of the sympathetic nervous system. Subjects were stratified post hoc into hyper-responders (≥ 22 mmHg) and hypo-responders (< 22 mmHg) based on change in systolic blood pressure during CPT. RESULTS: Hyper-responders had a significantly lower baseline heart rate (64 ± 7 bpm), cardiac output (5.6 ± 0.9 L · min-1), and SαA (60 ± 37 U · mL-1) compared to hypo-responders (73 ± 9 bpm, 6.9 ± 1.3 L · min-1, 165 ± 122 U · mL-1). During the cold immersion, hyper-responders had significantly higher systolic blood pressure (150 ± 14 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (91 ± 10 mmHg), mean arterial pressure (129 ± 17 mmHg), and systemic vascular resistance (1780 ± 640 dyn · s-1 · cm-5) than hypo-responders (130 ± 14 mmHg, 81 ± 10 mmHg, 110 ± 9 mmHg, 1290 ± 220 dyn · s-1 · cm-5). The change in systolic blood pressure correlated with baseline SαA (r = -0.455, P = 0.011) and baseline heart rate (r = -0.374, P = 0.042). DISCUSSION: Baseline characteristics influenced by sympathetic tone such as SαA, heart rate, and cardiac output are indicative of responses to CPT. Our data supports the use of baseline values to predict blood pressure response to acute cold exposure and indicates an intrinsic difference between CPT responder phenotypes.Youssef M, Ghassemi A, Carvajal Gonczi CM, Kugathasan TA, Kilgour RD, Darlington PJ. Low baseline sympathetic tone correlates to a greater blood pressure change in the cold pressor test. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018; 89(6):503-509.