Speaker Q&A Directory
Stress Management to Lower Costs and Boost Performance
The American worker is stressed out. Top sources of anxiety in the workplace include excessive work hours, lack of work/life balance, and fears of job loss, according to Towers Watson. Stress takes a high toll on health. Yet few companies address it directly. L. Wood Bedell, director of the board of benefit services for the Reformed Church in America, tells how to make stress management a cornerstone of your health plan.
Q: Why did you decide to reduce stress in the workplace?
A: Clergy health has deteriorated rapidly over the last 35 years. They used to be one of the healthiest populations. They're now one of the least healthy. Their ability to handle stress has become a major problem for them.
Q: How are you helping them handle that stress?
A: In 2006, we put in a program by a company called HeartMath. They started as a research company investigating the effect the heart has on the brain with regard to stress. They were able to indicate that by regulating the heart, through various practices, you could stop the "fight or flight" stress response in the brain.
Q: Why would people want to stop that natural response?
A: Stress is a physiological response to fear and anxiety. It's hardwired in our brain to protect us in times of danger. Yet sometimes it's a perceived, not real, danger. HealthMath teaches how to control that stress through a shift in emotion and breathing. They offer an online course that teaches the science and the practical applications.
Q: How does this program compare to other wellness approaches?
A: Compared to other wellness programs, it's probably more effective and easier to do. With an exercise program, you have to get in your 10,000 steps. With a diet program, you have to will yourself to a different type of behavior. We gave plan members a heart monitor and an incentive to practice the stress reduction every day for 60 days. The idea was to hardwire it.
Q: What results have you gotten from the program?
A: The study group had a negative health cost trend of 3%, while the control group had a trend of 9%. Essential hypertension diagnosis dropped in the study group, but increased in the control group.
