A new study has found that workplaces that introduce a personalised active lifestyle program targeting employees with metabolic syndrome (who are at high risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes) can have a positive influence on their health outcomes.
More than 35% of Australian adults have metabolic syndrome.1 This is higher in people with diabetes. People are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome when they have at least three of its five risk factors:
- a large amount of abdominal body fat,
- low levels of high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (the 'good' cholesterol),
- high levels of fat in the blood,
- high blood pressure, or
- high blood sugar levels.
Metabolic syndrome increases the chances of developing heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, but it is also linked with rising costs as a result of sick leave and lost productivity.
The study, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, found that a program incorporating wearable activity trackers, a smartphone app and face-to-face sessions with exercise coaches can reduce disease severity in both men and women in various occupations.
Moreover, participants were more productive due to improvements in exercise capacity, anxiety, depression and quality of life due to being more physically active.
“By equipping participants with a wearable activity tracker we were able to guide and support individuals regardless of where they worked or lived,” said research lead Dr Sven Haufe from Hannover Medical School in Germany.
“With the high acceptance of recommended activity and mobile health technologies, and a dropout rate similar to that seen in other exercise programs, this type of intervention has huge potential to reduce disease risk, while improving mental health, work ability and productivity for the large and growing number of employees at high risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in an ageing workforce.
“Offering similar programs to the broader workforce could ease the healthcare burden and economic costs arising from metabolic syndrome conditions that already affect 1 in 4 adults worldwide (over a billion people).”
The study included 314 volunteers in various occupations (manual/office/shift/full-time) with metabolic syndrome from the main Volkswagen factory in Germany. Participants were randomly assigned to the six-month lifestyle program focusing on regular exercise (160 adults) or a control group where participants were not given any specific lifestyle recommendations and carried on as normal (154).
Participants in the exercise group wore a fitness tracker bracelet and received personalised exercise, nutrition and stress management recommendations at regular face-to-face meetings with an exercise coach and via a smartphone app, with the aim of doing 150 minutes of moderately intense physical activity a week for 6 months. Activities were adapted based on activity-monitor data.
The researchers measured the change in metabolic syndrome severity adjusted for sex and ethnicity — with high scores representing an increased risk for, or severity of, metabolic syndrome. All participants underwent medical examinations and completed questionnaires about their health-related quality of life, level of anxiety and depression, amount of physical activity and work ability at the start of the trial and again six months later.
1. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/metabolic-syndrome
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