Wellness programs are a growing global phenom

The Society for Human Resource Management just released a report that says 86 percent of North American companies have a wellness program. These programs are designed to help employees stay healthy through good eating, exercise, and overall healthy lifestyles.

Does your company have a wellness program? If so, what does it consist of?

Stress statistics

The American Psychological Association just released a survey that says 1/3 of people are now extremely stressed. This stress interferes with their jobs, productivity, and eating habits. Some of the stressors are work, money, housing, being single, and being parents of young children.

Stress creates dis-ease in your body so that you actually lose time worrying because you get sick more often.

Does it really have to be this way? Why do you think that people are willing to continue to live like this when there are tools for a better life than this?

What are the best tools you've seen that reduce stress?

Happiness classes in German schools

The rest of the world is far ahead of the U.S. in the happiness race. Take a look at what's happening in one German school.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7010000/newsid_7011600?redirect=7011620.stm&news=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&bbram=1&asb=1.

The amazing benefits of happiness

Happier people:

• Have better relationships with their peers, boss, and customers
• Have a bolstered immune system
• Have more energy and activity
• Are more productive and engaged
• Have greater self-control and coping abilities
• Enjoy an upward spiral of success
• Are more likely to accept change
• Discover rewards in mundane ordinary events
• Produce superior work outcomes
• Select higher goals
• Persist longer on tasks

Could it be that if you are happier first, success will follow rather than the other way around as our culture would have everyone believe?

The search for happiness and bliss

Why is happiness so easy for some and elusive for others? Why is it plentiful one day and scarce the next? Who is happy? What causes happiness? Can we control our happiness and other emotions?

These questions and more will be the topics of this blog. Feel free to add your comments; everyone I talk with has an opinion on happiness -- often the most unhappy people speak the loudest about it!

I have just graduated with a masters in neuroscience. I'll provide the latest studies, but will also be exploring an even greater body of literature on happiness than what science can provide. I find the science of happiness incredibly useful, but also limited, in that it has only been around for about ten years, whereas other bodies of knowledgeon the mind and happiness have been proven for thousands of years.

I hope you'll join me for some thought-provoking and happy digital conversations.

Sandi Smith