It’s no secret that the holidays bring joy, but they can also bring stress. We all know that prolonged and chronic stress can wreak havoc on your overall health and wellness, so it’s important to find healthy ways to manage it. One effective way to do so is to practice mindfulness.

The Basics

Mindfulness is the process of bringing your full attention to experiences in the present moment. Being mindful means being aware of where you are and what you’re doing, as well as not being reactive or overwhelmed with what’s going on around you. Many people achieve mindfulness through meditation and yoga.

Getting Started

Mastering meditation takes practice, but getting started can be easy and not time-consuming. Try the following two quick mindful meditation techniques next time you’re feeling stressed.

1. One-minute relaxation breathing—Close your eyes and take a deep breath in for a count of four, and then exhale for a count of eight. Repeat five times.

2. Five-minute body scan meditation—Sit or lay down in a comfortable position and take a few moments to find a calm, steady breath. Bring your awareness to sensations in your body, where you will spend several slow breaths on each focal point beginning with the left toes and all the way through the left hip. Repeat on the right side. From there, follow the same process through your torso, arms and up through your head. Click here to download full newsletter

Each year, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust conduct a survey to examine employer-sponsored health benefit trends such as annual deductibles, plan enrollment, and health and wellness programs. The 2018 edition of this survey has been released, and it discusses a lot, including how health care costs continue to rise.

One of the key findings of the survey was that the average cost of employer health coverage offered to workers rose 5 percent for a family plan in 2018, reaching nearly $20,000. For individual coverage, the average cost rose 3 percent from 2017 at just under $7,000.

While it was predicted years ago that health care costs would continue to rise,

the sticker shock can be hard to get past. Industry experts believe that an increase in the costs of health care services is the reason why insurance premiums are consistently increasingly expensive.

How are employers combatting rising costs?

Many employers have sought out ways to offset the cost of rising health insurance premiums. One of the most common ways this is accomplished is through increasing annual deductibles. For 2018, the average annual deductible for single coverage was $1,573 and the average annual deductible for family coverage was $4,676.

Another common way to reduce costs is to give employees the resources they need to become wiser health care consumers. Helping employees learn how to use the right health care services and shop around whenever possible can help employers and employees spend less money on health care services.

For More Information

Contact us today for your full copy of the Employer Health Benefits 2018 Annual Survey. Click here for Full Newsletter!

Another overhaul of the federal overtime rules may be looming on the horizon.

The Department of Labor has hinted that it is looking to reveal its proposed changes to overtime eligibility in the first quarter of 2019.

Officials haven’t explained how this latest revision will differ from the stalled attempt in 2016. Experts suspect the threshold will be lower than the original $47,500 proposal.

Stay tuned for updates in early 2019. Click here for Full Newsletter

Chances are you’ve probably heard someone talking about their macros, whether it’s in the lunchroom, at the gym or on social media. The “if it fits your macros” (IIFYM) diet was first popular with bodybuilders who used this program to stay fit for competitions. Now, it’s popular with gym-goers and even those who don’t workout.

What’s a macro?

Macronutrients, or macros, are the core components that make up the food that we eat: carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

How does counting macros work?

Instead of counting calories, you count the grams of each macronutrient in the food you eat. A quick internet search will turn up a handful of reputable calculators designed to help you determine how many grams of each macronutrient you need, based on your health goals and activity level.

Is the IIFYM diet just another fad diet?

Counting macros is a trendy diet program, but it’s not technically a fad diet. The concept behind IIFYM is that it’s a long-term plan and it doesn’t restrict or ban certain food groups like fad diets.

As long as you keep your macros in check, you can eat healthy one day and splurge on fried chicken the next without derailing your program. The flexibility of the IIFYM diet makes it much easier to stick to the program, which is likely why it’s so popular. Read More