Using Body Composition Analysis to Manage Health and Safety at Work

Using Body Composition Analysis to Manage Health and Safety at Work

Obesity has always been associated with several health conditions that may affect the body’s functioning and longevity. Over the past few years, the rising obesity epidemic worldwide has raised concerns amongst health experts globally. Studies have also shown that obesity prevalence in Australian adults rose from 55% to 60% from 2006 to 2019. The percentage is expected to go up.(1)

While the incidence of Obesity started rising, so did the awareness about Body Composition. Body Composition Analysis effectively evaluates an individual’s fat mass, muscle mass, and body fat percentage. There are various body composition analysis tools – one of the most popular and reliable method being Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA).

What is the Importance of Body Composition Analysis?

Body Composition Analysis allows an individual to know the ratio of fats and muscle mass in their body and what interventions they need to improve their overall health. This assessment method has gained attention, particularly after the rising trend of Obesity worldwide amongst office-going individuals in every field.

Body Composition Analysis allows an individual insight into their nutritional needs and the functional status of their body. It may be used to prevent different diseases associated with unhealthy body composition and assess one’s progress after therapeutic interventions. (2)

By educating one on their fat mass, muscle mass, and body fat percentage, body composition analysis will enable a person to compare their results to healthy individuals. They can also compare their measurements to the ideal measurements that have been predetermined with the help of population data. Hence, this comparison motivates to reduce the composition of body components that are above normal levels and increase those below normal levels. An example of this may be lowering total body fat and increasing muscle mass in overweight individuals through increased physical activity and dietary changes.

Important Parameters Included in Body Composition Analysis

SMI

SMI stands for Skeletal Muscle Index and has become a popular body composition analysis parameter. It helps identify muscle mass and the risk of frailty. (3) This is particularly important for individuals who are at risk for Sarcopenia, as it is a condition that is associated with a loss of skeletal muscle mass and function (4) Skeletal Muscle Index is calculated by dividing the skeletal muscle mass into the legs and arms to the individual’s height. Hence, it can be effectively used to diagnose conditions like Sarcopenia and monitor the individual’s nutritional status.

Visceral Fat Level

Commonly assessed in medicine with percentage of body fat, is Visceral Fat present in the body. This type of fat is found around the organs found inside the abdomen. It may be linked to numerous metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and even type 2 diabetes. Hence, understanding the body fat percentage and muscle allows opportunity for intervention to prevent metabolic and cardiovascular disorders.

Waist To Hip Circumference

The Circumference of an individual’s waist measures their body’s central fat. This fat is usually associated with an altered lipid profile or increased chances of Insulin resistance. The Waist to Hip Ratio is a popular body composition analysis parameter for predicting the disease risk in an individual. (5)

When this ratio is more than 0.85, it represents a more central body fat distribution. Moreover, experts believe that women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.85 and a mean of 1 are at an increased risk for cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and Diabetes. (6)

Total Body Water

The total amount of water present in the body may be divided into two types known as extracellular water and intracellular water. As the name suggests, while the extracellular water is found outside the cells, the intracellular is present inside the cells. Since Total body water is essential for maintaining body health, this parameter allows individuals to assess their health status and plan required interventions.

Skeletal Muscle Mass

Skeletal Muscle Mass helps analyze the mass of lean muscles present at every body segment. Since these muscles are essential for the mobility and posture maintenance of the body, an imbalance of this parameter may indicate reduced health status and the need for increased physical activity.

Fat-Free Mass

Fat-Free mass comprises all the tissues in the body, except for fat-based ones. It includes skeletal muscles, parenchymal tissues, and bones. This parameter helps an individual determine their total energy expenditure over 24 hours. An increased fat-free mass is a cause of increased energy expenditure in overweight and obese individuals. (7)

How Body Composition Analysis can help Companies Manage their Health and Safety

Unhealthy body composition is a common cause of poor health amongst people worldwide. Poor health not only affects social and private lives, but also has a deleterious effect on work performance. Poor health and wellbeing may cause our teams to slow in productivity, miss out on work and have a negative impact on overall office operations. Data from Integrated Benefits Institute shows that a loss of more than $576 billion is seen every year due to the productivity loss and missed workdays by employees. Therefore, experts suggest that management and employers encourage keeping the number of unexpected loss of workdays to a minimum, by educating and encouraging staff on healthy interventions and how to maintain their health continuously.

The increased working hours and prolonged sitting positions in an office setup increase musculoskeletal problems and Obesity. Studies have shown that nurses are more likely to suffer from musculoskeletal overload. In one study, 61.7% of the nurses complained of lower back pain, 41. In addition, 5% complained of shoulder pain, while 48.9% complained of neck pain. (8) This further affirms the importance of health assessment tools like Body Composition Analysis to allow the employees to check their health and the changes they need to make to improve their health.

Moreover, other studies have shown Obesity in office workers is associated with an increased risk for sick leave due to its harmful effect on various body systems. (9) This can be a significant burden on a country’s economy and national health setup. (10)

Introduction of Body Composition Analysis tools at the workplace will encourage staff to know what is happening inside their body and what changes they need to prevent diseases and maintain their health. The benefit of such health and wellness-promoting interventions amongst the office workers was seen in a study conducted by a Ferrari Company in Italy. The employees who agreed to the health recommendations and followed the nutritional advice thrice a week had a much lower risk for cardiovascular disease than those who did not. (11)

 

References:

  1. Keramat SA, Alam K, Ahinkorah BO, et al. Obesity, Disability and Self-Perceived Health Outcomes in Australian Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis Using 14 Annual Waves of the HILDA Cohort. Clinicoecon Outcomes Res. 2021;13:777-788. Published 2021 Sep 7. doi:10.2147/CEOR.S318094
  2. Thibault, R., Genton, L., & Pichard, C. (2012). Body composition: why, when and for who?. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 31(4), 435–447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2011.12.011
  3. Kim KM, Jang HC, Lim S. Differences among skeletal muscle mass indices derived from height-, weight-, and body mass index-adjusted models in assessing Sarcopenia. Korean J Intern Med. 2016;31(4):643-650. doi:10.3904/kjim.2016.015
  4. Fielding RA, Vellas B, Evans WJ, Bhasin S, Morley JE, Newman AB, Abellan van Kan G, Andrieu S, Bauer J, Breuille D, Cederholm T, Chandler J, De Meynard C, Donini L, Harris T, Kannt A, Keime Guibert F, Onder G, Papanicolaou D, Rolland Y, Rooks D, Sieber C, Souhami E, Verlaan S, Zamboni M. Sarcopenia: an undiagnosed condition in older adults. Current consensus definition: prevalence, etiology, and consequences. International working group on sarcopenia. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2011 May;12(4):249-56. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2011.01.003. Epub 2011 Mar 4. PMID: 21527165; PMCID: PMC3377163.
  5. Rimm, A. A., Hartz, A. J., & Fischer, M. E. (1988). A weight shape index for assessing risk of disease in 44,820 women. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 41(5), 459–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(88)90047-9
  6. Seidell, J. C., Oosterlee, A., Thijssen, M. A., Burema, J., Deurenberg, P., Hautvast, J. G., & Ruijs, J. H. (1987). Assessment of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous abdominal fat: relation between anthropometry and computed tomography. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 45(1), 7–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/45.1.7
  7. Ravussin, E., Burnand, B., Schutz, Y., & Jéquier, E. (1982). Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate in obese, moderately obese, and control subjects. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 35(3), 566–573. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/35.3.566
  8. Anna Kołcz, Martyna Baran, Karolina Walewicz, Małgorzata Paprocka-Borowicz, Joanna Rosińczuk, “Analysis of Selected Body Composition Parameters and Ergonomic Safety among Professionally Active Nurses in Poland: A Preliminary Prospective Monocentric and Observational Study”, BioMed Research International, vol. 2020, Article ID 9212587, 9 pages, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9212587
  9. Neovius, K., Johansson, K., Rössner, S., & Neovius, M. (2008). Disability pension, employment and obesity status: a systematic review. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 9(6), 572–581. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2008.00502.x
  10. Lehnert, T., Sonntag, D., Konnopka, A., Riedel-Heller, S., & König, H. H. (2013). Economic costs of overweight and Obesity. Best practice & research. Clinical endocrinology & metabolism, 27(2), 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beem.2013.01.002
  11. Biffi, A., Fernando, F., Adami, P.E. et al. Ferrari Corporate Wellness Program: Results of a Pilot Analysis and the “Drag” Impact in the Workplace. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 25, 261–266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-018-0266-z

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5 Ways To Use InBody As A Lead Gen Tool

5 Ways To Use InBody As A Lead Gen Tool

1. How Do You Prove Your Training Methods Work?

By precisely tracking body composition and showing your clients what great results they’re getting from your training methods, with a combination of sharing these to social media the word will get out how successful your methods are.

2. Collect More Leads At Your Open Days

Offering complimentary scans at your open day is a great lead gen tool. Even if they don’t sign up as a member on the day, if you collect their email address you can now send them follow up emails, sharing ways to reach their goals, tips on gaining muscle mass and tips on fat loss, educate them the number on the scale is just a number and it’s all about what you’re made up of.

3. Attend Community Events With Your InBody

Attending an event with an InBody device starts a conversation and creates interaction, opening the door for ongoing sales and of course attracting new members to your gym.

4. Reward Members With Scans For Their Friends

Let your members be your very own walking billboards. By giving members who are achieving their goals a complimentary scan for a friend, increases the foot traffic into your gym and in turn gives you more potential leads to convert.

5. Convert Walk-ins To Members

When someone walks through your doors chasing a body scan, you’ve now got the opportunity to sign them up as a member or get them started on your next challenge.

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5 Strategies To Acquire & Retain New Clients In Your Clinic

5 Strategies To Acquire & Retain New Clients In Your Clinic

Why is body composition analysis an effective tool for Nutritionists and Dieticians?

When you stand on a set of bathroom scales and measure your weight, you’re not getting a true picture of what’s going on inside you and what you’re made up of. Your total weight is affected by many variables so it cannot be relied on to track the progress of a nutritional program. A comprehensive scan of a client’s body composition is a great method to track positive changes and measure the effectiveness of a diet strategy. Measuring increasing muscle mass and decreasing fat mass are key indicators of healthy changes to body composition that don’t necessarily show up on a basic set of scales. Monitoring these metrics over time can pinpoint the changes needed in their programs but most importantly increases client retention after seeing they are in the right direction to achieving their goals.

Stuck with ways of generating new clients?

Are you interested in generating more leads and bringing more traffic to your clinic? You’re not alone! InBody owners around the world are using their device as a tool to attract new clients.

1. Offer a complimentary nutritional consult with their first body scan purchase.

During your in depth explanation of their body composition results you will gain trust from your potential client, giving them a hint of your services and demonstrating to them your extensive knowledge in this field – increasing the likelihood of booking a full consult with you. Chances are you’ll turn a potential client into a new client!

2. Use Client Success Stories to generate new leads.

Using existing client’s success shows your potential clients that your services and products truly work, from continuous body composition monitoring you have the data to prove it. Create a customer spotlight when a significant goal is reached, this may include their background and a testimonial and most importantly the exact body composition metrics measured. With the permission of your client, this can be used in email newsletters and created into a social media post that they are able to share directly to their friends and followers, expanding your reach even further.

3. Complimentary business listing on the InBody locations directory.

On average 1,500 people a week visit the locations page on the InBody website, the most common question we get asked is “Where can I get my body scan?”. With InBody scans in high demand in today’s ever growing health and fitness community your business will be exposed to everyone in your area looking to monitor their body composition.

Improve Client Retention

A lot of businesses concentrate on generating new leads and acquiring new clients, not realising it is far cheaper to retain the existing clients you have already built a relationship with. Having a method to keep current clients engaged and motivated is key! If someone determines success by weight, it’s hard to see improvements and sometimes they are left disappointed. The InBody test goes beyond the standard scales and shows metrics such as the amount of muscle gained and fat lost, even going as in depth as measuring visceral fat levels. By using an InBody, it’s a fast and effective way to keep your clients motivated, engaged and coming back.

1. Use the Body Composition History to track progress.

With ongoing monitoring you can show your current clients what improvements they have made while on your program. By using the history graphs in the InBody App you can show exactly how much body fat they have lost over a period of time, pinpointing the success of your program. You can also identify when they may have slipped off track – the data does not lie. This will help you retain more clients.

2. Justify up-selling recommended products.

By reviewing a client’s body composition results, you can guide them to the right product. For example, if a client has low muscle mass, you may sell a specific product to help them reach their goals quicker. If you align a product to each key metric on the InBody test you can potentially increase your average purchase value for each person, increasing your overall revenue.

Whether you want to generate new leads, retain your current clients or do both, the InBody is a great tool to use to complement your services, inspiring your current clients to stay with you, and build your reputation.

Contact an InBody team member today to learn how you can switch gears and start increasing your bottom line.

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3 Tips To Get More Out Of Your Gym’s Fitness Challenges

3 Tips To Get More Out Of Your Gym’s Fitness Challenges

#1 Be More Efficient

Traditional methods of checking body composition are time consuming, often have a lot of personal contact and open to human error. If you signed up 100 people for your challenge, just think how long it would take to measure each one with a tape measure or callipers. In today’s current climate a lot of people are opting for a non-contact method of measuring body composition. The InBody provides you with a very detailed report with over 40 parameters in less than 1 minute. Being more time efficient means you’ll be able to scale up your challenges!

#2 Take The Guesswork Out

It’s not just about who lost the most weight, there are a combination of parameters that can be looked at to determine a winner of a challenge. Collate this data together so you can easily analyse your top challengers and choose a winner. The results don’t lie, InBody’s precise results will prove exactly who can take away the prize.

#3 The 3 Scan Challenge Method

You want everyone to get great results during your challenge, the more successful, happy clients you have the better. By introducing another scan midway through the challenge you can see how everyone is tracking, do they need some tweaks in their meal plans or maybe this will show they’ve missed a few training sessions. Keeping everyone on track and motivated to nail the challenge is key to sharing successes and in turn signing up even more new members on your next challenge to develop your business further.

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The One Day Training Course You Don’t Want To Miss

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The One Day Training Course You Don’t Want To Miss

As the Australia and New Zealand distributor of InBody, we have identified the precision and uniqueness of the technology that needs to be combined with an excellent level of knowledge and training. An InBody Certified Operator should be the only one carrying out the scan.

We created a 1-day training course for InBody Operators, which is completely complementary upon purchase of a new InBody device.

We have had fantastic feedback from those doing the course about how they get to connect with us; they see how we protect and develop the InBody brand, and they see how they can be a part of it. Most importantly, they learn the best scanning conditions – how to set up and take care of the InBody, how to interpret the results and how to use it as a marketing tool to further grow their own business.

It’s a phenomenal course and we ensure that people walk away with a wealth of knowledge that also allows them into our InBody Certified forum. The forum provides a great space to discuss with other operators about different conditions that they’ve experienced in business and everything else which they’ve found to be beneficial, plus gives them access to extra material to help them increase their business.

Upon completion of the Operator Training, you will receive an InBody certificate signed by InBody Specialists, as well as an InBody plaque to identify that you have attended and completed the certified course.

It is absolutely mandatory to do the course when buying a machine. We always like to meet the owners to put name to face, but we also understand that they have staff who will need to do the training too. We have people coming from all over Australia and also from overseas, and logistically it can be difficult to coordinate training for everyone, so we are excited to soon be launching our Online Training Course. This will also be beneficial if new staff are hired, so there will no longer be a need for them to come to us on the Gold Coast.

We take Operator Training very seriously – the owners walk away with a wealth of knowledge and it’s introduction has improved the level of service provided by InBody operators across Australia and New Zealand.

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How Mobile Scanning can be used within your business

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How Mobile Scanning can be used within your business

If you’ve ever considered purchasing an InBody device, or would like to try the uniqueness that InBody possesses first hand, then mobile scanning is an ideal way to do just that.

Mobile scanning is offered by many operators, where someone comes to your premise, gym or workplace and scans your clients or employees. Full interpretations are provided to ensure that anyone who scans has a full understanding of their results, and you get to see the technology and how it could be applied to your business.

Mobile scanning has been a very effective and efficient means that we, and many operators, have used around Australia and New Zealand and they continue to utilise with great success.

Mobile scanning is generally charged at cost per scan, making this a great system for you to expose yourself to the InBody technology without needing to outlay any more money.

This offers you an opportunity to see if it is more suitable for you to purchase a device or to continue having the mobile scanning operator come out to your business.

There are many advantages to using mobile scanning within your business.

The scanner should be a certified operator and have received training at our head office on the Gold Coast. They will set up the device within your centre, carry out all scans and give your clients a professional interpretation and once the scans have been completed, they will then pack everything up and be on their way.

When you run a fitness challenge, whether in a fitness facility or within a corporate workplace, you need a way to validate that the training methods that you are teaching are working, or that the participants are following what you have recommended.

Having a third party doing the body composition assessments helps to ensure that any emotion can be taken away from the equation to ensure that you are using real life data.

With our app, you can track the results from each of your clients and work out who the winners are in the challenge, while the clients have the ability to access their scan results on their mobile to keep themselves accountable and motivated.

Mobile scanning gives you the advantage as you can see InBody technology first hand, to see how it would work within your business and you can then decide whether to continue with mobile scanning, or look into purchasing a device.

Even when trying to buy a car and taking it for a test drive, you don’t often get to drive it in the conditions that you would like to use it in, so you then have to assume whether or not it will work for you; Will it fit in the garage? Can it go off road?

The beauty of InBody is that it comes at no cost to you except charge per scan by the mobile scanner. They can set up the device in your exact environment and you can see it in action and see what a brilliant standalone tool it is.

Whether maintaining mobile scanning or deciding on buying, mobile scanning offers a great look-in at how the device can support your business or merely provide your clients with a simple, yet effective, way to track and measure change in their body composition.

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Why traditional BIA is flawed and how we’ve revolutionised body composition analysis

Why traditional BIA is flawed and how we’ve revolutionised body composition analysis

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis has come a long way since it debuted in the early 60’s. Over the years, we have seen the progression and increase in accuracy and reproducibility as the technology has evolved.

HOW IT STARTED

Original BIA, although innovative for it’s time, was extremely flawed.

BIA initially used a single frequency which measured only the extracellular water (the water outside your cells), and it only measured one side of the body.

It was fundamentally flawed in the sense that an assumption was made that one side of the body is exactly the same as the other. We know that is not the case at all. If we look at people that are one side dominant (eg tennis players or a pitcher), you will find that one side of the body can be slightly more developed than the other. So the conclusion was that most of the assessments were based on a guess.

WHAT THEY DID NEXT

After it was concluded that traditional BIA wasn’t really an effective way of measuring the extracellular water or the intracellular water, they started putting what is called empirical estimations into the equation. What that meant was they used an assumption method based on your inputted data, which generally refers to age, gender and sometimes ethnicity.

As BIA developed, instead of looking at the body as one cylinder they broke it up into 5 cylinders – these cylinders were made up of each individual limb and your trunk. By measuring each cylinder, they are able to independently and effectively measure these areas in order to get a much more precise method.

There are some BIA devices out there that measure on a 5 cylinder method; however, they still use antiquated technology requiring the empirical estimations, that being assumptions based on age and gender, to determine your results, rather than actually measuring you.

HOW INBODY CHANGED THE GAME

Dr Cha invented InBody in the 90’s and conquered these limitations. He went one step further by overcoming the constraints of using empirical estimations in the measurement of someone.

This required vast technology and through this, he was able to eradicate the need for empirical estimations and ensure the InBody device’s measure someone precisely as they are.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

InBody BIA uses what we call the impedance, or the resistance, of you.

Small alternating currents are sent through the body which measures the different resistance of the makeup of the body. For example, body fat compared to body water (such as blood) has a much weaker conductivity, which equals relatively high impedance.

If you did a scan 4 times in a row, even though the body is changing slightly, your impedance won’t change much in the small amount of time spent scanning.

If you were to test this by scanning 4 times in a row on an InBody device and changing your age and gender with each scan, you would recognise the impedance wouldn’t change and therefore your measurement wouldn’t change, regardless of the inputted data (age and gender).

WHY DOES INBODY STILL ASK FOR AGE AND GENDER?

The reason InBody requires this information is to display guidelines on the result sheet so you can compare your measurements against suggested ‘normal ranges’ for your age and gender. This has nothing to do with your measurement.

If you tested a generic device by changing the age and gender when scanning, you would have received 4 radically different results, yet your impedance, the resistance of you, has not changed during that time.

WHY HAVE THE RESULTS CHANGED?

This is a really important concept to grasp – these generic devices are using BIA, but they mostly utilise a software program that uses formulas based on age and gender to produce their results. By changing the age and gender, the inconsistent results show that the device is using that information and not actually measuring the user.

As an example, if you added 10 years to your age, then it would provide results based on how it expects your body composition to be if you were 10 years older.

Backed by Science

InBody has hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies behind it and as such, it is used by many of the top researchers because it doesn’t use age and gender in the measurement of you.

You won’t find these generic devices within the Medical industry. Nor will you find them in Universities being utilised for research purposes, because you can’t provide facts based on an assumption.

You need to do research by actually measuring something.

And that’s where InBody’s patented technology is unique.

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Fine Tune Your Clients Training

Fine Tune Your Clients Training

How do you define a good workout?

Within a gym environment, it is safe to say that most people will have a different interpretation of how they describe a good work out. These definitions can vary from having a good “pump”, being out of breath, how sweaty they get and whether or not they vomit at the end. While these can certainly indicate that you’ve worked hard, how do you know that what you’re doing is getting you closer to your goal?

When you get in a car, your objective is to go from “A” to “B”. If you jump in the car and drive it really hard, like doing burnouts, how do you know that you are getting closer to “B”?

In a car, you already know what “B” is but in a gym environment, many people do not know how to define what their “B” is, nor do they have a precise means of measuring if the training they are doing is getting them closer to “B”. Just like driving a car where you are constantly monitoring you’re on the quickest path to reach your destination, it makes sense to do the same in a training environment – ensuring you’re on track and minimise wasted time in the gym.

InBody can fulfil both of those requirements.

When training your clients, you need a way to validate and fine-tune your training methods to make sure they are on track.

Having them do an InBody scan is the first step. This not only gives them their starting point, but you can also find their “B” and set them a realistic, informed goal from the beginning.

Each scan offers a comprehensive report, measuring over 40 parameters of the body – it not only measures how much body fat and muscle mass your client has, it also breaks this information down further to show you where both are stored throughout their body. This is a great way to see any imbalances that your client may have; for extreme imbalances, you may need to adjust their plan or incorporate certain exercises to bring the body parts into proportion.

Keep them on track.

InBody devices are a great tool to show clients their body composition so that it makes them more aware of where they are currently sitting, while also showing them that there is more to their “weight” than just a number on a scale. By breaking the information down into an easy-to-read result sheet, they can further understand what areas they need to work on – this creates leverage for change for the client but most importantly, they can monitor their improvement so they can keep motivated to continue on their journey to “B”.

Every Personal Trainer knows that you will not always have clients that follow your advice. InBody scans are a great way to identify if a client may be straying from their plan; you may have prescribed a plan that you know has had great success only to find that a client has had less than desirable results. When these precise results are right in front of them, it is difficult to deny that they weren’t following the advice provided.

What sets YOU apart from the rest?

When you’re a good trainer, you want results. Why do people leave the gym? Because they cant see these results. Although it may be obvious that their body composition is changing, they cant see the results for themselves.

By utilising an InBody device, you can continue tracking client results to prove that changes are happening and they are on track to reach their goal and, if not, you can make tweaks or changes to get them back on track straight away.

Current methods are a guess; whether you’re weighing yourself or looking in the mirror, these cannot prove definitively that your training plan is working, but with InBody’s standalone, patented technology, there is no denying what’s on paper.

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How a nationwide transport company used InBody to monitor employee health

How a nationwide transport company used InBody to monitor employee health

In the past few years, we’ve seen a steady increase within corporate companies who have started to monitor and actively assist their staff in keeping a healthy lifestyle.

A large Australian Transport company recognised the need for use and application of InBody Body Composition Analysers within their business. They were concerned that a combination of long distance driving and potentially inadequate dietary choices and exercise regimes would have a negative effect on their employees’ health.

  • 62% of Australian workers are overweight
  • Only 8% eat 5 or more serves of Fruit & Vegetables per day
  • Unhealthy employees take up to 9 times more sick leave than their healthy colleagues

Source

After identifying this issue, they then needed to find a way to measure the body composition of their drivers that was non discriminatory and non invasive, yet extremely precise.

What they did

Following on from their research, they decided to introduce InBody Body Composition Analysers into their workplace.

They started to scan their staff at different stages of their employment; from pre-employment, early employment and continuing on throughout the total duration of their time with the company.

The scanning covered a vast array of people – all different ages, genders, ethnicity and activity levels.

What they found

With regular scanning, they found a consistent trend that over time, the body composition of their drivers changed unfavourably. Some of the key markers that they followed were Skeletal Muscle Mass and Visceral Fat.

If Skeletal Muscle Mass went down and Visceral Fat went up, intervention would ideally be implemented.

Having the ability to precisely identify the change gave them the ability to provide appropriate advice from health care professionals, to allow their drivers to exercise more and change their dietary habits.

This ultimately created a blueprint, whereby they could reduce the impact of their employee’s job role causing a downturn in their overall health.

How it helped

TRUCK DRIVER FACTS

  • Professional truck drivers have a 7% higher chance of developing depression than other Australians
  • Drivers with moderate depression are twice as likely to have an accident while driving, while 27% of drivers experiencing severe depression are six times more likely to have an accident
  • Between 2008–09 and 2014–15, truck drivers had one of the highest rates of workers’ compensation claims of the circulatory system (for example stroke, coronary artery disease, hypertension and heart failure).

Given the nature of the job, they took necessary steps to minimise the risks to their employees and maximise their health with ongoing monitoring. They certainly didn’t want a condition where many years later they were sued or litigated against with the argumentative point being that the job had a negative impact on health and caused a serious health condition.

The test is quick and simple so there was no interruption to their employees normal duties, yet they were able to precisely measure those markers and provide feedback to the drivers.

With this information, the drivers saw the necessity to make change and were given the tools to do so and it worked extremely well.

It was a due diligence operation of the company to look after the welfare of their employees and ensure that their health and well-being remain a priority. It has since proven to be successful and is still being implemented today.

 

http://services.thomson.com.au/cpdnews/docs/OccHealthNews/TWU_Report_FINAL.pdf
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/transport

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How healthy is your team & why does it matter?

How healthy is your team & why does it matter?

Whether you run a small team or a large company, absenteeism is not ideal.

It’s becoming even more important to ensure the health and wellness of your team is treated as a priority – after all, your staff are your greatest asset.

What You Need To Know

Nearly sixty percent of Australian workers are overweight or obese, with those who are overweight or obese more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as some cancers, type 2 diabetes and heart disease and are more likely to be absent from work.(1)

Forty nine percent of the Australian working population has an inadequate intake of fruit and vegetables.(2)

Seventy one percent of the Australian working population is not getting enough physical activity. (3)

The direct cost to employers for Stress Related Absenteeism each year is $3.48b (4)

The increase in preventable disease and workplace injury resulting from unhealthy living is a major cause of workplace absence or disruption (5)

Obese workers are likely to have longer injury recovery time compared to those of normal weight. Excess weight may also add complications to injury
treatments (6)

It has been estimated that the healthiest Australian employees are three times more productive at work than their colleagues (7)

What You Can Do To Help

There are many different avenues you can take to encourage a healthy workplace – both big and small. Implementing new things to encourage your employees to move more or eat healthier can do wonders to their health and in turn have a positive impact on your business.

By incorporating Health and Wellness plans into your business, you can help to reduce accidents and work related injuries in the workplace and can save on sick pay costs. You can also help to relieve your employees of added pressure when having to cover those who are absent leading to an increase in morale, job satisfaction, motivation and productivity.

How InBody Can Help

So you’ve taken the leap to promote a workplace health program, but how do you monitor whether it’s working?

Utilising InBody Body Composition Analysers is a great way to establish a baseline with each individual staff member. With a quick and easy 60 second body scan we can measure over 40 different parameters, including a person’s body fat, muscle mass and visceral fat (the potentially dangerous fat around the organs). The importance of ongoing monitoring is to track and measure change in their body composition. The scans are a simple, yet effective, way to encourage your staff to continue on their Health and Wellbeing journey.

To find out more about how InBody Body Composition Analysers can assist your Health and Wellness program, download our guide below:

(1) Australian Government Department of Health 

(2) http://www.healthyworkers.gov.au/internet/hwi/publishing.nsf/Content/eatwell

(3) http://www.healthyworkers.gov.au/internet/hwi/publishing.nsf/Content/movemore

(4) Medibank Private 2008 http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/The-Cost-of-Workplace-Stress.pdf

(5) Medibank Private (2005) The Health of Australia’s Workforce, www.medibank.com.au/pdfs/MEDI_Workplace_Web_Sp.pdf

(6) (Connecticut Hospital Association 2005).

(7) Medibank Private (2005) The Health of Australia’s Workforce, www.medibank.com.au/pdfs/MEDI_Workplace_Web_Sp.pdf

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