That's Fit

Wellness programs are gaining popularity with employers (about 1/3 of companies in the U.S. now offer them) and for many, it's a real blessing, after all who wouldn't want a free gym membership sitting out there that they can use or not, or free health screenings and flu shots available right on the job site?

Do you have a soda habit? I went through a period when I used to work in an office and I would drink cup after cup of loaded coffee all morning and bottle after bottle of Diet Coke all afternoon -- talk about sugar and caffeine overload! I have since pretty much cut out soda (and am still working on cutting down on so much coffee) but it wasn't an easy transition. For me the habit-breaking point came when I moved into a home office that (thankfully!) didn't come stocked with a Diet Coke vending machine calling my name from across the room.

We've all experienced "brain failure," that embarrassing moment when you can't remember something totally mundane and regular -- like how to spell a simple word or where you parked your car. Having a better memory is something pretty much everybody would enjoy, especially when it comes to doing your best at work. Giving your noodle a boost is something you can do in as little as 30 seconds, so there's really no reason you can't fit an exercise or two into your daily routine. Try one of these exercises from Natural Health to get started:

Smarts: most of us think we have them but surprisingly, few really do. Although it's true that your intelligence is in good part determined by factors out of your control (like genetics and whether or not your parents let you eat lead paint chips as kid), it's also true that you have more control over your brain power than you probably think. All kinds of daily decisions affect how well your brain works and how "smart" you are, including everything from what you eat to how you act to what exercises you choose for your workout. Are you maximizing your mental potential? If your coffee cup is too big or you often try to multi-task while working out you probably aren't. The following is a list of a few of the ways you can make the most of what you've got in the smarts department (don't worry, they're all pretty easy!).

You're probably doing your best to squeeze healthy eating choices and exercise into your work day, but are you doing it for all the right reasons? The majority of people are motivated to exercise and eat better by the desires to look better, feel better, and live longer, but did you know that adopting a fit lifestyle can actually help your career? Yep, hitting the gym can improve your work performance right along with your bench press stats.

Health and fitness are big topics nowadays and because they're important to us in our everyday lives, they're also important to us in our work lives -- we spend too many waking hours at work to not worry about how our jobs are impacting our healthy living goals.

But what about thinking the reverse: how is your health affecting the success and happiness of your work life? Namely, do you think your weight is affecting your career?

We're all stressed way too much -- I don't think anybody disputes that. Our schedules are too busy, our jobs too demanding, our family times too rushed. And although it seems like we're always talking about how we need to take it easy and relax,how often do we really make good on that? One bubble bath once every six months just isn't going to cut it!

The best stress relief happens when it's built right into your life, and the trick is to form a set of habits that you do on a regular basis without really thinking about it. You don't have to think "this action is meant to decrease my stress" in order to reap the relaxing and re-energizing benefits from it. Here are 5 ways to build stress-relief into your life:

In a survey by CareerBuilder.com 49% of office workers said they had gained weight because of their jobs, and 28% of those people reported putting on more than 10 pounds (ouch!). Do you fit into one (or both) of those two groups? 49% is scarily close to a majority! It's no wonder so many of us struggle. Want some help? Try these 8 tips and tricks for losing weight (or at the very least keeping it from creeping on) while at work:

Out of sight, out of mind!
Apparently cutting down on how many times you grab a piece of candy from your (or your coworker's) candy dish at work is as simple as using an opaque candy dish with a lid. If you can't see the candy inside you're less likely to crave a piece of it (71% less likely!).

Would you consider your job stressful? Do you blame your career for any of your skin problems and signs of aging? Are you having a hard time finding a skin routine that really works?

I realize that stress comes from all different areas in life, but I swear that 90% of mine has always come from my work. I'm 30 years old and just started to finally get really serious about skincare, and I would love to know just how many of my wrinkles were first formed somewhere back in my employment history. I just know that those 12-hour nursing shifts and that boss who used to turn bright red while yelling out commands must account for at least half of them!

The health of our planet is interconnected with our own personal health, so whether we like it or not, committing ourselves to a healthier, fitter lifestyle also means committing ourselves to a healthier, greener lifestyle. And although the whole "green thing" is starting to catch on in people's homes, it doesn't seem to have the same steam when it comes to workplaces. It's not clear whether it's because people think environmentally-friendly efforts at the office are someone else's problems or because they are simply discouraged by their employers lack of commitment, but whatever the reason, the environmental gap between home and office is shockingly large.

In a poll, 85% of people said that when they're at home, they turn their computer off when they're not using it as an effort to conserve energy but on the flip side, only 53% of those same people shut their office computers down at the end of each day. And that's just one small area -- the numbers are just as bad (or worse) for things like shutting off lights in empty rooms and avoiding excess waste when it comes to coffee and donuts.

Oh the good 'ol days when lunchtime was for nothing but eating, visiting with friends, and relaxing. When is the last time you did nothing but eat on your lunch break? We're a society of stressed-out, always-busy, multi-tasking maniacs most of the time, which of course sets us up for snarfing down fattening convenience foods from fast food joints and vending machines in an effort to save time. Not good. Not good at all.

Life is about more than just how much you accomplish each day and although being as productive as possible is not a bad thing, there's definitely something to be said for slowing down to smell the roses. Here's some good advice on how to make the most of your lunch break:

Get outside Depending on where you work, you're probably cooped up indoors in the same place for most of the day, so get outside and breath some fresh air to recharge your body and your mind.

How many times have you overslept and started the day out in a rush (an even bigger one than usual) and the day just never seemed to recover? Or gotten out of the shower and your hair just wouldn't cooperate, leaving you starting out with a bad hair day and all the curses that go along with it for hours to come? It seems to be a fundamental truth that the way the day starts out sets the tone for how the rest of the day is going to go -- nobody is immune. Not even morning people!

So start your day out right and the rest of your day should go much better -- it's like a law of physics. To that end, try these tips from Active.com for a better morning and a better day.

When you hear the words "harassment" and "workplace" together you probably automatically insert "sexual" in there somewhere, don't you? Although sexual harassment does seem to get most of the press these days (sex sells, I guess) there's an even bigger threat lurking out there: workplace harassment in the form of bullying.

Surprised? Some of you might be thinking that bullying is something that doesn't survive past the school-age years, but a whopping 37% of you have a real idea what being bullied at work means -- at least that's how many people have experienced it according to this article in The New York Times. That's more than 1/3 of us! Can that be right?

I'm a huge snacker. That whole "several small meals" thing is not a problem for me -- I always find time to eat! But what I don't always do is find healthy things to eat, and when I do (all-too-often) end up snacking on something too salty, too sugary, too processed, or too fattening I always end up feeling it later in the day. It's pretty predictable that within a few hours I'll be feeling lethargic and be finding it hard to focus on work, not to mention (oddly enough) I'll be craving even more junk food. It's a vicious circle in the truest sense.

You can probably guess some of the jobs considered "healthiest" -- nutritionists, running coaches, and personal trainers rank among the top 10. And, you likely realize that a sedentary office job can make it tough to keep the pounds from piling on. But, have you considered what non-fitness related jobs might help you stay in shape?

CareerBuilder.com recently came up with a list of 10 jobs that have nothing to do with fitness but will help you keep your weight down. Do any surprise you?

1. 1. Painters
2. 2. Landscapers
3. 3. Childcare Workers
4. 4. Construction Laborers
5. 5. Messengers
6. 6. Freight and Stock Material Movers
7. 7. Farm Workers
8. 8. Assemblers and Fabriators
9. 9. Bindery Workers
10. 10. Camera Operators