Your Health & Wellness Program Should Include Luxe Pillow®

In the midst of increasing healthcare costs, high stress, and overworked employees, promoting health and wellness in the workplace should be a main priority for employers. However, finding cost-effective solutions that increase employee productivity, boost creativity, and reduce absenteeism can be a major challenge to overcome. If you’re losing sleep over figuring out how you can improve your employees’ health, the answer is actually right in front of you! By helping your employees get a better night’s sleep, you can dramatically improve their overall wellness.

Why Wellness Plans Lack Engagement

Wellness plans typically have two main goals: lowering healthcare costs for employers and improving the overall health of their employees. These plans may involve checking in with a health coach, taking a variety of tests, logging into multiple systems, and even entering in daily goals. While these plans have good intentions and seem to be hopeful solutions, research has shown mixed results on their effectiveness.

University of Pennsylvania professor of medicine Shreya Kangovi said in an interview, “We just assume that people are going to see their weight is going up or their blood pressure is high, and they’re going to do something about it.” However, making changes in your personal health isn’t that simple. Wellness plans don’t address a multitude of factors that can impact employee participation or health, such as:

• You're Asking the Wrong Question. Wellness plans tend to be over-generalized and don’t take existing health issues of employees into consideration. For example, if an employee struggles with depression, would having them weigh in every week be discouraging if they don’t reach their goals? Could encouraging someone with chronic pain to walk thousands of steps a day worsen their condition? Sleep, however, is always in fashion and will always have a positive impact regardless of an employees condition.

• Little motivation. Many employees already have enough on their plate without dedicating time to a wellness program, or they might already be satisfied with their personal health. Studies have shown that offering money to participants doesn’t have much of an effect on enrollment. Those who do take employers up on these bribes were typically completing these actions before the program began. Why not gift your employees with something they'll use every night. You'll increase loyalty, improve their sleep which affects their mood, creativity, and productivity.

• Too Much Effort. Wellness programs do a good job of educating people about the risks of being overweight or not exercising, but they don’t offer a solution that can be accomplished without a lot of extra work. Adding more tasks to your employee's schedule, especially after-hours, is a sure-fire way to get them to 'disengage'. With a Luxe Pillow®, the only effort your employees need to make is to go to bed at a reasonable time.

How Sleep Affects Your Health

When your employees don’t sleep well once in a while, they may just end up foggy-headed or a bit grouchy the next day. However, if they’re chronically sleep deprived, they risk experiencing negative long-term effects. According to several studies, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to multiple health problems including diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, memory problems, and more. If the sleep issue goes unresolved, it can begin impacting their overall health:

• Anxiety and Depression. When you sleep, your brain creates “pathways” between neurons that help you remember new information. Losing sleep can make it harder to learn and concentrate. As a result, their risk of developing psychological problems such as depression, mood issues, or even anxiety increases.

• Sick Days. If you want to eliminate sick days in your workplace, make sure your employees get enough sleep! A lack of sleep makes it harder for your body to fight off infections and it takes longer to recover from illness. As a result, your employees become more susceptible to developing chronic illnesses.

• Weight Gain. Along with feeling too exhausted to exercise, sleep deprivation causes the brain to release hormones that can stimulate appetite. Overeating and not exercising is an easy recipe for weight gain and obesity which leads to a whole host of health problems.

• Heart Issues. Sleep is critical in maintaining and repairing your heart and blood vessels. Research has proven that cardiovascular disease is more common in people who don’t get enough sleep than in those who have a healthy sleep schedule.

Benefits of Partnering with Luxe Pillow®

Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on step challenges or ineffective wellness plans, consider partnering with Luxe Pillow®. By providing your employees with a high-quality sleeping pillow, you can encourage healthy habits and let your employees know that you truly care about their well-being. Luxe Pillows could also be used as a reward for healthy actions, given as the perfect gift for your star employees, or they could be used as a component of your overall wellness strategy. It’s a simple, cost-effective, and beneficial solution that can truly make a positive difference in your workplace. Plus it doesn’t take extra effort on the part of your employee.  It’s simply a tangible health benefit that they can and will use every night.

To learn more about Luxe Pillow® and how it can improve employee productivity, contact us for more information!