GWI’s ‘Future of Wellness at Work’ Report Will Be Released Next Week

The GWI’s 2016 research report,  “Future of Wellness at Work” will be available next Wednesday (2.17). This in-depth study includes new data on the state (and cost) of unwellness for the global & U.S. workforces, while predicting how work itself, and workplace wellness approaches, will change dramatically in the future. Also being released: a white paper on key findings from a GWI/Everyday Health survey of American workers, shedding new light on whether current workplace wellness program are working, and identifying strategies that would make a surprising impact.

Clinical Wellness Best Practices Becomes GWI Initiative

The wellness industry has been around for more than half a century, but gaining credibility within the medical community has been hard won. But increasingly, wellness approaches are being adopted by some of the world’s most respected medical institutions: from large, multidisciplinary hospitals to complex-care specialty facilities. Yet, the work of these pioneers is not well known. So, the new GWI Clinical Wellness Best Practices Initiative seeks to: 1) research and publicize wellness departments in medical settings 2) identify clinical wellness “best-practices” and 3) evaluate/rate the world’s leading clinical wellness centers.

To Prevent Back Pain, Forget Orthotics and Back Belts – Exercise Instead

A large majority of people will suffer serious back pain in their lives, but few studies have examined what really works to prevent it…and what doesn’t. A recent meta-review of studies shines new light: education on its own, orthotics/shoe insoles and back belts provided zero prevention against lower back pain – but exercise’s preventive effect was significant. No matter what kind of exercise program, it basically halved the likelihood of another back pain episode within the next year.

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of February 9, 2016)


“Rethinking the Calorie” – The Atlantic, January 26, 2016
This article claims that the simple weight-loss formula—burn more energy than you consume—may actually be holding us back in the fight to curb obesity. Progress to understand this is critical: in the U.S. alone, the inability to curb the extraordinary prevalence of obesity costs more than $147 billion in healthcare, as well as $4.3 billion in job absenteeism and yet more in lost productivity.