by Sean Slovenski, CEO of HumanaVitality (NAPSA)—Have you ever gone to see your doctor for an annual checkup and received—in addition to your blood pressure and cholesterol readings—a speech from your doctor about changes he/she would like to see you make to your diet and exercise routine? Often you leave the doctor’s office inspired to do better but by lunchtime you’ve lost your resolve and instead of a salad you are making a runfor fast food. Sometimes it seems we know the right steps to take but whenit comes to actually making a change, we can’t find the motivation. Why? Because behavior change is a very complex process. That explains why nearly two out of three American adults are still overweight or obese, 60 percent don’t exercise and more than 20 percent still smoke. And why 90 percent of those who join health and fitness clubs stop going within the first 90 days. Incentives No Longer Just For Hotels and Airlines What can be done to help busy people makehealthier lifestyle choices? What if you received a wellness incentive to help reinforce your progress? Incentives entice us to fly certain airlines, stay at particular hotels and use specific credit cards—incentives can help us make better health choices, too. The majority of 1,000 adults in a July 2011 survey for HumanaVitality (http://www. humana.com/vitality), a comprehensive wellness, rewards and loyalty solution, said they should be rewarded for making healthy choices. And 59 percent said they would like to be rewarded for exercising. Furthermore, research demonstrates that healthy rewards solutions work. A 2010 study from the American Journal Get set, go: Take steps now for a healthier life and you may be rewarded more than yourealize. of Health Promotion shows that individuals who regularly participated in the vitality solution experienced shorter and fewer hospital stays than those who didn’t participate and weren’t very engaged in vitality. Parents Motivated by Vacations The secret to successful incentives is personalization. While some participants of loyalty solutions like instant gratification and choose to redeem points for several small rewards, others like to save points for bigger items. Parents today are most moti- vated by the ability to rack up points for vacation packages, working toward a much deserved break. HumanaVitality offers participants more than 600,000 rewards to choose from, giving individuals the ability to find rewards that will motivate them personally to take small steps that lead to meaningful behavior changes over time. You MayBe Healthier Than You Think You may be making choices that positively affect your health without realizing it. Having an understanding of the good things you are already doing will help you make these choices more often. For example, parents whose children play on an organized sports team receive points for this healthy behavior through HumanaVitality. Also, by using a compatible pedometer, HumanaVitality will give you points for every step you are already taking. Entire families can benefit from incentives to make healthy choices. On top of the wellness reasons, there are also lasting family bonding benefits. In the same way that you look to rack up frequent flier miles and hotel points, you should start seeking ways to increase your heath, and the health of your family. Wellness solutions provide people with the much-needed push to take these steps with an eye toward being rewarded for their efforts. e Sean Slovenski is CEO of HumanavVitality. He has been a prevention and wellness industry leader for over 22 years. He pioneered the delivery of wellness coaching online, by inventing the first of its kind online personal coaching product. He also cofounded Hummingbird Coaching Services, a leading positive psychology-based coaching company, serving as CEO.
