If a person smokes, they will have more calculus than non-smokers. Calculus means their dental plaque is hardened and causes more problems like cavities. When people smoke, they have decreased blood circulation. Your teeth and gums need proper circulation to stay healthy. When people smoke, the blood circulation is actually decreased by about 70 percent.

Even if you don't smoke, you are still at risk for developing gum disease because you are around people that smoke. Second-hand smoke is just as dangerous as smoking. Sadly, thousands of people die each year from exposure to second-hand smoke.

Smoking also impacts the body's ability to fight off infections. Your immune system will be weaker and it will be easier to get sick. Your oral health can suffer if you need to have major oral surgery done like an extraction or root canal. This is a shock to the body and it will take longer to heal if you are a smoker.

Another oral health problem you will be dealing with is an increase in cavities and tooth decay. Smoking causes the enamel on the teeth to soften and it is easier for cavities to develop. If you use chewing tobacco, you are literally destroying your teeth. Chewing tobacco contains sugar, which will be pushed into the enamel of the teeth as you chew on it.

Depending upon your dental insurance company, you may not even qualify for coverage if you are a smoker. People that smoke tend to visit the dentist frequently for teeth cleanings and to have their teeth whitened. Smoking causes the teeth to yellow and to stain and this looks horribly un-attractive. If you are trying to get a job promotion, you'd better take a look at your smile because it makes the first impression upon people. Most dentists will work on people that smoke, but they do have the right to refer you to a different provider.

Smoking really does do more damage to your body than you may think. The cost of a single root canal is about $800 plus $500-$700 for a crown. The sad part for many smokers is that they will need to have a couple root canals because they destroyed their teeth from smoking. Simply brushing and flossing won't be enough to save your teeth if you are smoking.

Most dentists will recommend using a stronger toothpaste like Prevident if you are a smoker. Prevident is only available with a prescription from your dentist. It contains fluoride and other ingredients that help to protect the teeth from dental caries and other problems. As far as the bad breath goes, you will need to use a stronger mouthwash. The mouthwash may not be enough to prevent your bad breath; the only thing you can do to fix it is to give up smoking.

With employees costing their companies billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, management teams have started looking for ways to keep their employees healthier. According to recent studies, the monthly cost for an insurance policy for a 44 year old non smoker is $292. That same policy for a smoker is $338 a month. This additional cost for employers who are already struggling to maintain a sound bottom line in an aching economy is difficult to swallow. Many companies have looked towards in-house wellness programs to help them cope with the changing societal tides.

Gradually, we have seen private businesses, and now even state governments begin to charge the employees extra for health insurance if they smoke, and many have joined the growing trend to eliminate those employees who are not willing to quit. As harsh as it seems, most of these companies also offer cessation programs and incentives for their employees to quit and give a decent amount of time for smokers to meet their goals. It's a tangible reason to intensify anti-smoking efforts in the office.

Cessation programs typically include one on one counseling, support groups, and nicotine replacement therapies. Businesses that have included some or all of these activities have seen a quick reduction in the amount of respiratory infections and lost time at work from employees who take advantage of the program.

Additional activities to keep employees healthy and happy, that may not be limited to smokers, but have a great positive effect on smokers working towards the goal of quitting may include:

1. Offering health advice. Simple screenings for blood pressure, weight and diabetes can be an effective way to encourage employees to take care of themselves without added costs to them. Vendors such as nutritionists, health food stores and gyms can talk to employees about programs and products.
2. Holding an employee event. Lunchtime runs, yoga classes or sporting tournaments encourage employees to participate. Many athletic clubs offer reduced rates to employers who have multiple contracts.
3. Serve healthy office snacks. If you provide snacks at company sponsored meetings, choose healthy alternatives and have water readily available for your employees. If work has a cafeteria, offer healthier choices and replace some of those sugary and salty snacks in the vending machines with nuts and dried fruit.
4. Healthy tips. Start posting healthy living tips on your intranet site, newsletter or bulletin board. Promote healthy activities such as taking the stairs in common areas. Keep resources for healthy living readily available in highly used areas.
5. Offer incentives. Free pedometers, water bottles, coupons and paid time off for participation in workplace activities is a great way to motivate your employees. Do weekly drawings of healthy gifts for employees who have gone above and beyond in the job. Smoking illnesses are some of the most preventable in the office with a little help from a committed staff, the right incentives and a little support.

Several employers have been cracking down on smoking since the American Lung Association reported that smoking causes about 3,400 deaths due to exposure from second-hand smoke. Sadly, co-workers are 17 percent more likely to develop lung disease or some type of cancer because of their exposure to second-hand smoke.

If employers want their employees to go smoke-free, they need to provide them with an incentive. Quitting smoking for the health benefit isn't always enough to inspire some people. Financial incentives are always beneficial for people that want to quit smoking. A lot of companies will reward them each month they remain smoke-free or they may reward them for a specific amount of time when they are smoke-free (like 6 months or a year).

Smoking will increase your healthcare costs and it will also cost you money in lost productivity. The American Lung Association has also found that second-hand smoke also costs employers around $5 billion in indirect costs. Workers can claim unemployment or disability due to smoking. Unemployment and disability costs will cost your company more money. If you have a policy on smoking and do everything in your power to prevent smoking, you won't need to worry about the additional costs you could have as a result of employees that smoke.

Companies that do not establish smoke-free environments will spend thousands of dollars to prevent their other staff member from exposure to second-hand smoke. They will also need to deal with other problems inside the office like cleaning and maintenance. Offices that have smoking employees spend more money to have proper ventilation so the smell of smoke doesn't bother other employees and customers. Employees with asthma are extremely susceptible to the smell of smoke because it can easily trigger an asthma attack.

Since cigarette smoke also sticks to fabrics, your company will spend more money cleaning carpets and upholstery. You may even need to replace some of the chairs and other things in the office that have been used by smoking employees.

If you have company cars, make sure your employees know they are not to be smoked in. Cigarette smoke will damage the interior of the car and make it difficult to sell, at least for a decent profit. If the employees know the rules about smoking before they are hired, they are less-likely to violate them.

Encourage your staff members to quit smoking by setting a good example. If you are a smoker, now is the time to quit and let your staff members see your success. You can then be a role model for them when they decide to quit smoking.

With the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and its integration into the United States, it is more important than ever to encourage your employees to start washing their hands often. Give them disinfectant lotion to carry around and use if they are in a situation where they cannot wash their hands. This way you can at least cut down on the spread of the flu in the office.

Tip # 2 - Offer Sick leave
Sick leave really doesn't cost your company as much money as you might think. It is important to offer sick leave to your employees, especially when they are really sick. The last thing you need is to have someone come into the office and spread their illness to everyone else and their families. Suggest employees stay home when they are sick, and support that policy. Studies have found that employees that feel like they will not face discipline for taking time off when they are sick are more willing to use it sparingly and appropriately.

Ask yourself if it is really worth having a sick employee come into the office and infect their coworkers, causing the entire office to become less productive. The risk of infecting coworkers with colds and flu viruses is not worth the limited work a sick employee will accomplish by coming in.

Tip # 3 - Encourage Exercise
A great way to prevent illness from spreading in the workplace is to encourage your employees to stay physically fit. When people exercise and take care of their bodies, their immune systems are stronger and they are able to resist getting sick. Exercise and a good diet will also improve their stamina and energy when they are at the office. If they do get sick, they will bounce back faster because they are healthier.

Although you can't stop the spread workplace illnesses, you can greatly reduce it from taking out every staff member you have. Keeping the office clean and healthy will increase the physical well-being of your employees, and the overall mental attitude of your employees. Employees will be able to perform their jobs easier because they are healthier and more productive. This in turn will lead to greater profits for the company and it will increase employee satisfaction and retention.

To combat obesity, companies have turned to wellness programs. For every $1 invested in a wellness program, employers have seen a $24 return. With such impressive results, it makes sense why several companies have turned to wellness programs to help their employees get healthy. Once you have an established wellness program at your firm, it is up to you to keep it going. If you don't constantly monitor it and motivate your employees, you will be throwing away money.

Offer preventative care check-ups. This may sound like a lot of money up-front but it will save you a ton of money. Paying for a flu shot for each of your employees will reduce the chances of the flu from infecting your office. The benefit of this means you won't have employees that miss workdays and they won't come to work when they aren't feeling 100 percent. A healthier staff is more productive, which means more money coming in and less money going out.

You can prevent sickness from spreading across the office by cleaning it often. Make sure the carpets are vacuumed daily and scrubbed at least once a month. Don't forget about disinfecting all the doorknobs and areas that are touched on a daily basis. Encourage your employees to use antibacterial hand wipes often and to keep their desks clean. If someone does come into work sick, make sure they wear a mask and everyone else wears a mask when they go into their office.

If your staff is getting healthier, and your healthcare costs are still out of sight, switch to a new plan. Cut back on your original coverage plan or start asking your employees to contribute more. A lot of people have found that switching to a high-deductible plan actually reduces the amount of times they visit the doctor so they don't end up spending as much money on medical expenses as they used to.

When it comes to saving money, you need to find out where every dollar you are spending is going. Are your employees truly taking advantage of the wellness program by eating healthier foods and exercising daily? If you have some staff members that can't seem to get off their chair and onto the treadmill, replace their chair with an exercise ball. Find ways to incorporate exercise into their workday. This may not help them drop 50 pounds but they will start to lose weight over time.

Get rid of the temptations in the office. The unhealthy snacks need to be replaced with healthier alternatives like juice, protein bars, soy snacks, nuts, and fruits. If people do not have access to unhealthy snacks, they won't have the temptation to eat them when they get the munchies at work.

Make sure you encourage weight loss at your company. Hold regular 6-week weight loss challenges and reward the people that participate in them and actually drop the pounds. If people stop participating in them, go back to the drawing board and start thinking of a new challenge you can offer that will help your employees drop some weight and get in shape.

If you aren't sure which employees are causing your health care costs to spike, here is a quick guide:

Obesity does lead to several health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, chronic knee pain, and other problems. Obesity is the reason for 70 percent of all health care visits, costing roughly $117 billion a year. Obesity also leads to 300,000 deaths per year.

If those numbers aren't enough to encourage employers to implement a wellness program, here are a few more:

• Obesity causes employers to lose about 39 million workdays a year


• Obesity is the reason for 63 million physician visits, which is paid mostly by employers


• Obesity causes an increase in workers comp claims and disability claims


• Obesity costs about $220 billion for lost productivity and medical care

Create weight loss teams at the office and encourage everyone to participate in them. The teams will have goals they need to meet like getting a certain number of workouts in per week, losing a set number of pounds, and eating healthier foods. When people have a support group to turn to, it will be easier for them to start exercising. You may even consider installing a bike rack and encourage your employees to start riding their bikes to work. Search for a walking trail close to the office and let your employees know about it. If people have places to go to exercise, it will be a lot easier for them to find the time to do it.

Another way you can reduce obesity in the office is to toss out all the unhealthy food. Get rid of the doughnuts during staff meetings and start serving fresh fruits, whole grains, and juice over coffee. The vending machines need to be stocked with granola bars, protein bars, fruit snacks, and juice.

A lot of employees are using their sick leave due to mental health problems. Roughly 13 million days of sick leave are used for employees that suffer from anxiety, stress, and depression. Stress has been uncovered as one of the biggest problems for employers, costing them to lose around $300 million in lost production and health care costs.

Even though employers are unable to control all the different aspects of their employee's lives, they can help them reduce stress while they are at work. Here are a few things you can do to reduce stress in the office:

1. Recognize when the office is unhealthy. It is easy to spot signs of burn-out and stress in the office. If you have staff members that are regularly calling-in to take their sick leave, they are probably under a great deal of stress. If you start to see employees disinterested in their work and they tend to fall behind on work responsibilities, they are under stress. There are some other things that foster an unhealthy work environment like poor leadership, poor organization, bad customer service, low productivity, and high levels of absenteeism.
2. Offer flexible working schedules. If you really want to help your staff reduce their stress load, you need to give them a reason to come to work. You need to build their trust in the company by offering some things like paid time off and flexible hours. Getting up at 6:00 in the morning may not be the easiest thing for some of your employees and they may have a hard time getting into the office on time. What about your staff members that try to run to the gym in the morning to get in a nice workout? If you can offer flexible work hours, you will reduce the amount of stress and pressure on your employees. Flexible work hours also help the employees that get stuck in traffic or have unexpected family emergencies.
3. Offer counseling services. One of the best things you can do to remove stress from the office is to give your employees someone to talk to. A good counselor will be able to help them work through stressful times and can help them cope with personal matters that may be impacting their work performance. Counseling is great for any job and it can really help an employee get back on track before their employer is forced to use some type of disciplinary action. Counseling can help teach employees how to handle their daily stresses and they will even teach them deep breathing and other exercises they can do at their desk to reduce their stress.

To help your employees quit smoking, you need to educate them on the dangers of smoking. You can do this by handing out packets to them that talk about the health complications they will experience if they smoke. The packet should also contain information about how smoking impacts people around them like their co-workers and how it is detrimental to their health. Sysco, Inc., even provides nicotine patches to their employees that are enrolled in the smoking-cessation program. This small investment will go a long way to create a smoke-free office and create a healthier lifestyle for all your employees.

One of the driving reasons behind smoking-cessation programs is to lower medical costs. Employers are automatically placed in a high-risk pool if they have employees that smoke. This is because smokers are more susceptible to sickness, cancer, lung disease, high blood pressure, and other health complications. These individuals frequent the doctor more than their non-smoking co-workers.

Employers also need to shell out more money in sick leave and lost production costs when they have employees that smoke. Smokers are likely to take twice the amount of sick leave as their non-smoking co-workers and they are more susceptible to illness.

Following Sysco, Inc.'s program, companies can find a positive way to help their employees quit smoking. Create support groups for your staff so they have someone to talk to and support them on their journey. Giving up smoking is not an easy process and it will be even harder if you don't have a strong support system behind you.

Make time in the week for your employees to exercise. A lot of people start smoking to help them deal with the stress they are under at work. If you can give your employees an extra 15-20 minutes a day for exercise, they will be able to reduce their stress and spend some time building up their lung strength. Everyone should get at least 30 minutes of physical exercise each day. Walking for 30 minutes will increase your lifespan by 5 hours. Think of how much longer you will live if you actually spend some time on your physical body.

Deep breathing exercises are a great way to get through the craving to smoke. Hand out pamphlets that teach your employees how to practice deep breathing. You may even consider offering a yoga class 2-3 times during the week to help your employees practice breathing and to get a good workout in. Yoga is great for the entire body because it stretches and strengthens the muscles and it helps to calm the nervous system. It is also great for the mind because it allows you to escape the daily pressure and stress you may be under.

Some of the common medical conditions that are causing health care costs to spike include the following:

Sitting in the same position hour after hour will cause some people to have chronic pain. Normally this pain will be in the neck and back and the knees. They may have this pain because they are not sitting properly at their desks or they may get it because they do not spend time stretching their muscles. It is important to keep the body moving and the blood flowing. When people sit hour after hour, their metabolism starts to slow down and many of them will start gaining weight, especially if they like to snack while they work.

Everyone in your office needs to be at 100% when they are working. If someone doesn't feel good, send them home. You will actually lose more money if they sit in the office and do their job mundanely. Employee productivity is extremely important to companies. Obese employees are less-productive than fit employees. In fact, fit employees are about 2 times more productive than employees that are overweight.

Employees that smoke are more likely to take 7 more days of sick leave than their healthy co-workers. They are like the obese workers, costing their employers billions of dollars a year in health care costs and lost productivity.

Medicare spends nearly $100 billion directly related to obesity-related health issues. With the staggering medical costs related to obesity, it is no wonder why employers are partnering with health insurance companies to find a way to reduce obesity. It also makes sense why health care companies are increasing their rates and why employers are passing on the higher costs to their employees. Some employers do not even offer health insurance to the employees that do not meet the BMI (body mass index) requirements and other health tests like blood pressure and cholesterol.

Employees that smoke are more likely to take 7 more days of sick leave than their healthy co-workers. They are like the obese workers, costing their employers billions of dollars a year in health care costs and lost productivity. Employers often refuse to hire smokers because of the additional costs they are charging the company. They may not say it to your face, but it is one of the things they will evaluate when they are looking for the right person to fit the job.

If employees want higher wages and lower healthcare costs, they need to step up and start taking care of their bodies. It is important for them to realize that they are 100 percent in control of these costs and they need to make an effort to live a healthier lifestyle.

The treatment of low back pain emphasizes the management of the pain and the accompanying dysfunction. Three broad categories of treatment exist: medical management, cognitive-behavioral treatments, and spiritual treatments.

Medical Management: Aspirin and other nonsteriodial anti-inflammatory drugs; i.e. Aleve, Advil, ibuprofen, Motrin; help to decrease the inflammation in the body. Muscle relaxants may aid in the reduction of muscle spasms. Trycyclic antidepressants have also been found to aid in the treatment of chronic pain and are prescribed by physicians to aid in pain management and assist in promoting sleep.

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment: Cognitive-behavioral treatments include biofeedback, relaxation, exercise, and diet. These techniques can be used to help decrease anxiety and muscle spasm. Exercise and weight loss are important components in reducing low back pain. Many people benefit from physical therapy where they can be taught appropriate exercises. Daily stretching and muscle toning exercises strengthen muscles and decrease pain. Losing weight, especially in the abdominally region, decreases the strain on the back.

Spiritual Treatment: Spiritual interventions include journaling, meditation therapy, music therapy and inspirational readings. Spiritual interventions provide a way for the one to accept the new limitations imposed by chronic pain.

Since low back pain is so prevalent, this disorder will in some way affect an employees' performance at work. Pain decreases ones ability to concentrate, reason, and work for extended periods of time. All of these are a negative for the workplace. Employers'' should look for ways to decrease current back pain suffers and prevent new back injuries from occurring. Employees that sit for long period of time should have a chair that is ergo dynamically fit. This would decrease the number of back pain related complaints due the physical work environment.

Employers' should also have employee educational opportunities where the employee could learn about low back pain. These opportunities could include information in the form of verbal and written education, which would educate employees about the number of low pain injuries annually, and how to prevent such injuries. They could also include a way in which employees' could offer suggestions to upper management for different ways to improve their company's policy for preventing low back injuries.

Life is sometimes in balance and sometimes not. During those parts in life where there is unbalance, people tend to be more vulnerable to feelings of anxiety. Anxiety, in normal proportions, is a trigger that is helpful to growth. Normal anxiety is short term and of low to moderate intensity. Anxiety disorders are characterized by symptoms of anxiety and by efforts to avoid those symptoms.

Because anxiety symptoms are vague, it is often more difficult to describe accurately. The physical symptoms of anxiety include an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Ones palms become sweaty and pupils dilate. The feelings that are involved during an anxiety attack are guilt, grief, and anger. Intellectual symptoms include an altered perception of events, inability to concentrate, indecisiveness, and inability to learn or reason, and worry. Social symptoms include talkativeness or extreme quietness, apprehension with groups of people, and fear of losing control of social situations. In addition, people with anxiety disorder may describe symptoms of fear of death, failure, feelings of hopelessness and despair, and inability to find meaning in life.

All of these symptoms are devastating and could negatively impact the way an employee functions at work. A negative impact upon ones work place thus leads to a negative effect for the employer. Thus, it would be in the best interest of employers'' to encourage and help cultivate the management of anxiety disorders among their employees'.

Anxiety disorders are amenable to therapy with both prescription medications and supportive psychotherapy. Reassurance or being available to listen, behavioral exercises for relaxation, group therapy and stress management classes are all beneficial in the treatment of anxiety. Prescription medications, like benzodiazepines, are also very beneficial in treating anxiety disorders. Both of these types of treatment modalities cost money. If an employee's health care coverage includes coverage for mental health illnesses then, it would make it easier for an employee to seek out psychotherapy help for the assistance in managing their anxiety disorder. A prescription drug plan would also allow the employee the option to use prescription medications to help control the symptoms of their anxiety disorder.

Employers could also incorporate a health wellness plan that includes mental health illnesses into their employee assistance plans. This would not have to be an elaborate production in order to be beneficial for employees. An informational presentation would allow employees the chance to gain insight and understanding into what exactly an anxiety disorder is and how this disorder can be treated. Also, information for employees on how to access help; like counseling centers, group therapy classes, would give employees the information needed to assist them in finding help for their mental health illness without feeling that something is wrong with them.

By assisting employees with their anxiety disorder, employers could increase the work production of their employees and also increase moral. Both of which are positive outcomes for a company.

If a person is 50 pounds overweight, the lost workdays jump by almost tenfold. This increase is about 117 days for 100 full-time employees. When an employee is healthy, there are only about 14 sick leave days claimed for every 100 full-time employees. If employees are 50 pounds overweight, the workers comp claims will double and their medical costs will triple. Even being 10 pounds overweight will increase the likelihood of claiming an extra 5-10 days of sick leave.

Since there is so much money being tossed out the window due to overweight employees, it is no wonder why companies are implementing wellness programs and encouraging their employees to shed a few pounds. The benefit of having overweight employees is that you can help them lose the weight. Obesity is 100 percent controllable and therefore the health insurance costs will decrease if you are able to get your employees to drop a few pounds.

Some employers have taken aggressive action against obesity and they are now charging their overweight employees more money for health insurance coverage. To be fair to the employee, you must give them notice before you implement a drastic plan like this. A softer approach is the wellness program.

Wellness programs can include weight counseling, buddy systems, and individual competition. It is easier for everyone to lose weight when the entire office is in on the weight loss challenge. The buddy system is a great way to lose weight because it is easier to stick to a diet and exercise program when you have someone else trying to do the same thing. They can help you avoid those salty and sugary snacks and opt for healthier foods like fruits and vegetables. They will also be your support group to help you through times that are challenging and they can help you work harder at exercising and truly shedding some pounds.

Team weight loss challenges are also fun for everyone at the office. It inspires a little healthy competition and it's a great way to get everyone on-board with weight loss instead of just one or two employees. The weight loss challenges will need to come with a reward for the team that loses the most weight. Normally the weight loss challenges will last for about 6 weeks to 3 months, giving your employees plenty of time to drop a lot of weight.

The programs need to encourage healthy lifestyle habits and they should never punish employees for being overweight. As people start the program, they will be initially excited but can get discouraged mid-way through it. This is why it is important to take steps to help keep your employees motivated so they can all achieve their goals.

One concept that has been increasingly popular in recent years is wellness programs. Employers used to balk at the thought of upfront costs for long-term savings, but as health care costs continue to rise to all-time highs and no one has seen the ceiling yet, over 80 percent of employers with more than 50 employees have added at least some form of wellness program into their workplace. Listed below are some of the more common offerings in wellness programs:

• Mental and emotional health care needs: Employers are extending their mental health services as research points to the increased costs associated with not dealing with common mood disorders such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression. It's easier to find employers who offer employee assistance programs that include on-call counselors, stress relief and grief recovery programs.
• Clean the office to prevent diseases. Provide employees with an effective and convenient means of disinfecting their workspace. Disinfect everything that is touched regularly. Clean telephones, light switches, doorknobs, filing cabinets, keyboard and break areas frequently. Encourage washing hands regularly and the use of hand antiseptics.
• Exercising at the office. A good exercise program at work can be an excellent source of cardiovascular health, as it promotes weight loss, increases circulation, reduces stress, boosts energy levels. If you can get your staff to start walking every day for 30 minutes, they will get an extra 2 hours added to their lifespan.
• Encourage participation from your employees. Leading by example is a great way to encourage healthy living among employees. Having a management team member lead the program is a perfect way to show employees that you "walk the walk" when it comes to protecting their health and the health of others.
• Health awareness in the workplace can be a great and relatively cheap way to boost morale and productivity in the office. Employers are realizing quickly that retaining healthy, happy employees is in itself a valuable commodity. More and more are working to offer creative benefits that will help retain quality employees without damaging the productivity bottom line.

Although this is not the only program available to businesses researching long-term changes to their health plans, it is a very cost effective and positive way to update the way your company views its employees and their needs. It does require some up front financial and time commitment and a good way to handle ongoing maintenance is to assign a committee comprised of the key people from various departments to handle new promotions and activities in the workplace.

Tip # 2 - Exercise
One way to kick the smoking addiction is to hit the gym. Every time you start to get a craving for a cigarette, go for a jog or lift some weights. Exercise can really help you out when you are overwhelmed and it is great for the body. Your entire body will feel rejuvenated after a workout and you will have more energy. Develop a good deep breathing habit. Deep breathing will be able to help you balance your emotions when you are trying to work through stressful situations or even daily life.

Tip # 3 - How addicted are you?
In order to successfully quit smoking, you need to determine how addicted you really are. The American Lung Association states that you are addicted to cigarettes if you smoke more than one pack a day or if you have to have it with a meal or during stressful situations. Count how many times you need to go outside for a smoke break during the workday. If you go out more than 2 times, you are addicted to smoking. If you really want to kick the smoking habit, you need to quit cold turkey. The programs that try to wean you off smoking don't always work and they make it harder for some people.

Tip # 4 - Watch out for food!
As people try to quit smoking, they often start snacking a lot because they have that need to put something in their mouth. If you catch yourself grabbing for some snacks, make sure they are healthy ones. Carrots and celery are excellent snack foods and they won't pack on the pounds like potato chips and candies. Get some gum and start chewing on it during stressful times. Hard candy can even help you when you have the need to smoke.

Since these employees are costing the company billions of dollars, it is important to talk to them about their lifestyle choices. Most employees are willing to improve their physical health, even if they move from the "obese" section to the "overweight" section. Even dropping 10 pounds will do wonders for your health. So how can employers inspire their employees to participate in wellness programs? There are a few routes you can take, the first route is to offer incentives to employees, and the second route is to threaten employees with higher insurance premiums and penalties for their lifestyle choices.

A lot of companies are taking route # 2 because this helps them to recoup some of the costs they are paying to the health and life insurance companies. Since these individuals are at an increased risk for so many health problems, insurance companies have found that they have a shorter lifespan. Many of the insurance companies may not even insure them due to their lifestyle choices. Other insurance companies will insure them, but they will charge them outlandish rates. The entire company will be placed into a high risk pool and everyone at the company will be forced to pay more money just to have insurance. This doesn't seem fair to the employees that are living active and healthy lifestyles. By telling your un-healthy employees that you plan to start taking more money from their paychecks, they may decide that it's not worth it to lose $100 or more a year because of their lifestyle choices. This may be the push someone needs to finally quit smoking or to drop 30 or more pounds.

Route # 1 is a great way to inspire employees to participate in wellness programs because everyone wants to get a reward for their efforts. Financial incentives are a great way to motivate people to start living a healthier lifestyle. You can even try offering time off work or increased responsibility with the company. Even giving employees an extra $25 a paycheck for living an active and healthy lifestyle will encourage their un-healthy co-workers to drop the weight or give up smoking.

Whatever route you take, you need to be a good support group for your employees. Changing your lifestyle is difficult, especially if you have lived this way for a long time. It takes a lot of dedication and motivation from your employees to quit smoking or to lose weight. By encouraging them and being there for them during frustrating times, you are showing them that you care about their physical and mental health. You might even consider offering free health checks once a year for your employees to show them your dedication to living a healthy lifestyle.