December 2022
If you are the administrator of your school’s health insurance plan or in a leadership role at your school, now is the perfect time to send out reminders to encourage your faculty to use their health check-up benefits, sometimes referred to as wellness benefits.
With the holiday season just around the corner, it’s likely that many of us will be indulging in more than a few festive goodies in the coming weeks. Indulgence comes at a cost of course, and there is a point where indulgence turns into overindulgence and can begin to have harmful effects on your health. That’s why early January is the perfect time for people’s attention to turn from overindulging to staying healthy, and it’s why January is the ideal time to book an annual health check-up.
We have seen annual health check-ups save lives.
A leading school in Asia indirectly saved the life of one of their faculty by encouraging and promoting a wellness drive, and a participating faculty member uncovered a very serious catastrophic illness. Thankfully, it was early enough to be treated.
We all know that prevention is better than cure. And that the health and wellbeing of the faculty is the lifeblood of every school. Further, early treatment can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, and reduce the impact on your school’s ‘s health insurance loss ratio.
We have prepared below a few tips for your staff to follow so that they can stay healthy over the upcoming break – the most important and number 1 tip being to encourage your faculty to book their annual health check-up now, as part of a series of steps to improve their health in the new year. We have also prepared this handy annual health check-up reminder poster that you can distribute to your employees or print and put up in staff common areas – download here.
If you are concerned that your school’s plan doesn’t include a health check-up benefit or wellness benefit, please get in touch. Health check-ups can be added as an extension to your health insurance and including this benefit in your plan is proven to reduce the long-term health insurance costs of your group medical insurance plan.
Remember that prevention is better than cure and more cost effective in the long-term. Including health check-ups in your insurance plan will not only increase your staff morale but can help you protect yourself, your family and your staff from critical illnesses. Get in touch for advice on what other plan designs work best to help maintain sustainable medical insurance rates. Click here to contact us. Get in touch: [email protected]
Want to learn more?
Festive season healthy tips:
Book an annual health check-up for the new year – A comprehensive health check-up serves as a great preventative or early warning mechanism against illnesses and can help find problems before they start, when the chances for treatment and cure are better. Many people ignore this important part of living a healthy lifestyle. Getting a health check-up at the start of the new year is a great way to start the year off with a renewed sense of commitment to your health. If you need help finding a suitable health check-up package in your city or would like to know whether this wellness benefit is covered as part of your health insurance plan, please get in touch using the contact details at the bottom of this email.
Stay hydrated – The benefits of drinking plenty of water are well known. Water can help to take up space in the stomach, leading to a feeling of fullness and reducing hunger. Drinking a glass of water before reaching for something to eat can help to curb unnecessary snacking. You probably need more water than you think at this time of year too, as although it’s not hot outside (depending on where you are in the world!), central heating, alcohol and the stress that sometimes comes at this time of year can all contribute to dehydration. Aim for around two liters of non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic fluids a day.
Eat slowly – Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly is a great way to make sure you’re not over-eating. If you take your time and enjoy what’s on your plate, it’s also easier to tell when you’re starting to feel full. Eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied. This allows your digestive system to work efficiently, so you’re less likely to feel uncomfortable.
Protect and prep your gut – The excesses of holiday food and drink can wreak havoc on your gut health, resulting in digestive problems like bloating, diarrhea and even food poisoning. If you’ve got a big day of eating and drinking ahead, it’s important to start your day right with a good source of protein. Green vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli are loaded with fiber – a food of choice for supporting a healthy gut – so make sure you include some of these as an accompaniment to your meals.
Don’t feel guilty – You don’t have to shy away from indulgence completely in order to feel good over the festive period. As one renowned American nutritionist has said: “You must not add judgment to eating… you enjoyed yourself with a few mindful indulgences. No point feeling guilty.” Excessive levels of stress have been shown to reduce the diversity of gut flora, as well as impact beneficial bacterial species such as lactobacilli. Make a habit of taking some time for yourself each day.
Remember that prevention is better than cure and more cost effective in the long-term. Including health check-ups in your insurance plan will not only increase your staff morale but can help you protect yourself, your family and your staff from critical illnesses. Get in touch for advice on what other plan designs work best to help maintain sustainable medical insurance rates. Click here to contact us. Get in touch: [email protected].
