While the number of cancer deaths per year has steadily decreased over the past several decades, there is still much work to be done, say American Cancer Society's Susan Gapstur, PhD, MPH and Michael J. Thun, MD, MS. Gapstur and Thun point to tobacco cessation efforts as a key success factor in the decline in cancer deaths and suggest that tactics of a similar urgency are needed to address the obesity epidemic, which also has strong ties to cancer.
To many people, exercise is a chore and something that exists on a list of "shoulds." But in order to make lasting changes, motivation to increase physical activity has to come from a deeper desire for something meaningful. This article explores the relational benefits of exercising with others, and other surprising benefits of making a commitment to daily physical activity.
Middle-aged USA Today readers who participated in the publication's seventh annual Weight-Loss Challenge found that after losing about 10 pounds, weight loss became much more difficult. Free & Clear's Vice President of Clinical Development and Support, Dr. Jennifer Lovejoy, lead researcher of one study, discusses hormonal changes in post-menopausal women, the effects that can have on calorie burn, and the importance of increasing daily physical activity.
The Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence and the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco are urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to relax restrictions on nicotine patches, lozenges and gums amid concerns the agency's regulations go too far and make it harder for people to quit smoking. Free & Clear's own Ken Wassum, former president of ATTUD, speaks out about the need to tone down the warning labels on NRT products.
DCH Auto Group announced the launch of its new wellness program, DCH Life Roads, which seeks to establish a workplace that encourages and supports healthy lifestyles by integrating health promotion activities and resources that help to enhance health and well-being among employees and their families.The first program offered will be the smoking cessation program, Quit for Life® Program, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society® and Free & Clear®.
University of Washington's Dr. Jeffrey Harris and Free & Clear's Dr. Tim McAfee discuss the ways that raising prices of tobacco products through taxation can decrease the smoking prevalence of a state, as seen in the state of Washington. The writers also suggest that optimal change will only occur when tax revenues are directed back into a state’s tobacco education and cessation programs, especially those targeting low-income youth and adults and Medicaid beneficiaries.
David Katz proposes we re-engineer the modern environment so that it does not promote obesity, as well as empower individuals and families with the skills and strategies necessary to resist the obesogenic elements of the modern landscape. Factors that promote obesity in our environment are everywhere—from the tasty concoctions of fat, sugar, and salt that food technologists develop to tempt our taste buds to the lack of physical education in schools. Read his interview here.
Recent research indicates that the number of part-time smokers has grown and continues to rise, creating a culture of nondaily smoking that could be a result of psychological and behavioral dependency. Daniel F. Seidman, director of Smoking Cessation Services at Columbia University Medical Center and author of a new book, "Smoke-Free in 30 Days," notes that smoking just a few cigarettes a day can be even harder to give up than a heavier habit, since each one carries more reward.
A study published Thursday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that the consistent delivery of positive, "gain-framed" messages, intended to encourage and support rather than chastise, made smokers using the quit lines more likely to attempt a smoking cessation program and more likely to have continued abstaining from cigarettes when they were contacted two weeks later.
With smoking rates declining and obesity escalating in the United States, obesity is now an equal if not greater threat to national disease burden and the shortening of healthy life as smoking. Researchers at Columbia University and The City College of New York say years of life lost to obesity are now equal to or greater than those years lost to smoking.
Despite the overall decrease in smoking prevalence, tobacco remains a major concern to the general public, to the workforce, and to the health care costs smokers incur upon organizations. In this article, Free & Clear's chief medical officer, Dr. Tim McAfee, stresses the importance of furthering the cause of tobacco cessation and presents ways managed healthcare executives can help to turn the tide.
A new American Cancer Society study appearing in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (CEBP) adds to evidence linking long-term cigarette smoking to an increased risk for developing colorectal cancer.
Alaska DJ Mike "The Madman" Crosby talks about how the Alaska State Quit Line is helping him make plans to quit for good -- for his health, his finances, and his three-year-old daughter.
If Americans continue to pack on pounds, obesity will cost the USA about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018, eating up about 21% of health-care spending, says the first analysis to estimate the future medical costs of excess weight.These calculations are based on the projection that in 10 years 43% of Americans adults may be obese, which is roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight, if obesity continues to rise at the current rate.
Free & Clear's latest Clear Insights webinar discusses the sedentary lifestyle so prevalent in today's modern environment and provides you with practical strategies for increasing the physical activity at your organization's worksite to help your employees be the healthiest they can be.
Many people do not take the time to plan for and prepare nutritious home-cooked meals during the week. This means that if they don’t have access to a healthy and appealing cafeteria selection at work, many will find themselves eating out each day at lunchtime. Sandi Kaplan, Free & Clear's associate director of clinical development and support, discusses practical strategies for overhauling worksite cafeterias to improve employee health.
Get in shape or pay a price. That is a message more Americans could hear if the health-care legislation passed by the Senate finance and health committees becomes law. By more than doubling the maximum penalties that companies can apply to employees who flunk medical evaluations, the final bill could put workers under intense financial pressure to lose weight, stop smoking or lower their cholesterol.
Due in part to the economic downturn and increased federal tobacco tax, hundreds of tobacco users are calling the Free & Clear-operated WA state quitline to find the support they need to quit smoking once and for all. New statistics show that Washington State's smoking rate has dropped to a new low of 15.3% -- down from 16.5% in 2008.
Low-income children in Philadelphia with about one dollar in pocket money managed to purchase almost 400 calories worth of snack food at convenience stores on the way to and from school, according to study published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Study results raises questions about kids' choices in the wake of childhood obesity.
Michael Pollan's favorite food rules.
A study of New York City’s pioneering law on posting calories in restaurant chains suggests that when it comes to deciding what to order, people’s stomachs are more powerful than their brains.
Michael Pollan says reform health care by reframing the way we think about food.
A government-sponsored study recently estimated that medical spending for obesity reached $147 billion in 2008, almost doubling in the past decade. It’s not surprising. About 32% of American adults are obese, a condition linked to diabetes, heart disease, even cancer. Almost 21% of American adults are addicted to cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than 45 million people. The estimated health care costs pegged to smoking: $96 billion.
"Tobacco addiction is extremely difficult to beat alone," said quit coach Valerie Smalley of HTQ. "These online services will make it more convenient to get in touch with a quit coach and will assist with determining a personalized strategy on how to help the user successfully quit."
David Kessler had a SnackWells problem. The fat-free cookies, he writes in his new book, "The End of Overeating," would not "relinquish their grip" on him. But he's better now. "No more SnackWells," the former FDA commissioner happily reports. Kessler freed himself from the cookies' clutches by "deconditioning." It's that kind of mental shift, he says, that is required to tackle the nation's obesity epidemic.
All that heart-healthy advice about eating the right foods, exercising and losing weight pay off in real life for both men and women, two new studies show.
In a departure from conventional models, in which employees simply pay a “tobacco differential” for the medical plan, Paychex provides a completely different plan design to tobacco users. This strategy helps reinforce employees’ understanding of the interdependencies between their behaviors, their health, and their health care costs.
A bad economy coupled with a huge spike in the federal cigarette tax is helping fuel hiring at a local company that helps people kick the habit. Free & Clear Inc., a Seattle company that offers telephone counseling and web-based materials to help people quit smoking, has seen steady growth since it spun off from Group Health Cooperative in 2003 with about 140 employees. Today, Free & Clear has about 500 workers, including about 65 people hired in the last two months.
Cigarettes marketed as "light," "low" tar or "mild" will be banned within a year as part of a historic bill the Senate passed 79-17 on Thursday. The legislation, approved by the House in April, is the most sweeping tobacco-control measure ever passed by Congress. It goes now to President Obama, who has said he will sign it.
The legislation, which the White House said President Obama would sign as soon as it reached his desk, will enable the FDA to impose potentially strict new controls on the making and marketing of products that eventually kill half their regular users. The House, which passed a similar bill in April, may vote on the Senate version as soon as Friday.
Free & Clear has seen a 522% call increase in the time since President Obama increased the federal tobacco tax by 62 cents; unfortunately, quit line budgets are being cut right as demand peaks.
Although people frequently perceive ill health as something that happens to them, they're often responsible for making themselves sick. The most obvious example is smoking. Smoking dramatically increases the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke (along with a number of other diseases), and is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Despite the known risks, more than 40 million Americans light up every day.
Quit-smoking hotlines are being swamped — some as much as four times their usual volume — by smokers ready to kick the habit after the largest-ever increase in the federal tobacco tax. "We're seeing magnificent volume because of the tax," says Mary Kate Salley of Free & Clear, a Seattle company that runs "quitlines" for 17 states. She says the lines got 3,250 calls on Wednesday, the day the increase took effect, up 369% from the same day in 2008.
It's a good time to be a quitter. Since the 62 cent federal tax increase was announced in February calls to the Hawaii Tobacco Quitline have increased by 40 percent. "Previously people would call in and mainly say it was for health or for family and recently this week for sure and leading up to this week the cost is really having an impact," said Valerie Smalley, Hawaii Tobacco Quitline Supervisor.
Charles was a rural Oklahoman who lived alone. And he wanted to stop smoking. But he had difficulty coming up with motivation powerful enough to quit, recalls Eva Marks, an Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline Quit Coach who worked with the man.
More than 65 percent of workers currently describe their job as somewhat or very stressful, according to a February survey by Raleigh, N.C.-based consulting firm Workplace Options. Nearly 50 percent reported being unable to concentrate at work due to worries about family debt.
People with a likely history of depression who take varenicline (Chantix®) do not report more severe mood symptoms, medication side effects, or less success quitting smoking compared to people with no history of depression taking this drug.
The hefty increase in the federal cigarette tax to help fund a children's health-insurance program has buoyed tobacco foes, who say it will breathe new life into efforts to curb smoking. But last week's move by Washington could also complicate efforts around the U.S. to boost state cigarette taxes.
“Contrary to these beliefs, there is growing evidence that even occasional smokers experience greater health risks when compared to non-smokers and are likely to progress to regular, dependent smoking over time,” said Halperin, who is also associate medical director of the “Free & Clear” Tobacco Quitline, which provides cessation services for 18 states, including Washington, and director of the Tobacco Studies Program at the University of Washington.
The economic news is enough to weaken anyone's heart, and it sometimes does with people feeling stressed, eating poorly and cutting out workouts while trying to make ends meet.
Tobacco is evolving and escaping for two fundamental reasons. One is that it can be engineered into new forms. The other is that the problem targeted by legislation—the weed's tendency to cause cancer—isn't essential to the tobacco business. What's essential to the tobacco business is addiction. Addiction is a nasty business, deliberately enslaving people while pretending that they "choose" the product.
Phone and email counseling help people improve their diet and lose weight, according to a Dutch study published on Friday that points to a potentially simple but effective tool in the fight against obesity.
Will one of President-elect Barack Obama’s New Year’s resolutions be to quit smoking once and for all? His good-humored waffling in various interviews about smoking made it plain that Mr. Obama, like many who have vowed to quit at this time of year, had not truly done so.
In 2006, all of Caterpillar U.S. facilities went smoke free. To provide support for employees to quit smoking, Caterpillar hired Free & Clear, Inc., a highly specialized tobacco treatment provider that uses a clinically proven, comprehensive approach to treat physical addiction, psychological dependence and behavioral patterns.
The number of new cancer cases and deaths are falling for both men and women for the first time since the government began compiling a report on long-term trends, researchers announced Tuesday. Overall cancer death rates decreased an average of 1.8% a year from 2002 to 2005, the report shows. Death rates have been falling since the government began tracking this trend in 1998.
Providing employers with tools and information to make informed decisions on tobacco cessation benefits, programs, and worksite policies in the United States and worldwide. This website is for any organization, large or small, national or multi-national, that wants to help employees quit using tobacco.
For this report, Lisa Grand, Director of Benefits, provided information on Panasonic's tobacco-cessation policy and program implementation and how it aligns with the company's philanthropic philosophy.
Nearly two dozen of the nation’s business, labor, insurance, government and health care leaders – including three former Secretaries of Health and Human Services and two former Surgeons General – today endorsed a bold plan to provide every American with access to comprehensive tobacco cessation treatment services by the year 2020.
Most smokers already know that they can help preserve their health, hygiene and personal relationships by kicking the habit, and that holds true across the country. But in strictly financial terms, smokers in Delaware stand to save the most cash by quitting. That's because in Delaware, where a pack of cigarettes costs about $5.39, residents smoke more than in any other state--just over 185 packs per year. That comes out to $998.23 spent individually on smoking every year.
NWjobs teamed up with the Puget Sound public to show local employers what they value in the workplace. From Sept. 26, 2008 through noon on Oct. 22, 2008, they asked visitors to vote daily for their favorite local employers in more than 30 unique categories. Free & Clear was named a finalist in "Favorite Health Care Company" Category.
Even middle-class people struggle to put healthful food on the table. Studies show that junk foods tend to cost less than fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods, whose prices continue to rise. This fall a couple in Encinitas, Calif., conducted their own experiment to find out what it was like to live for a month on just a dollar a day for food.
It turned out that the clinics that were in the pay-for-performance program made 1,483 referrals to the quit line, an average of 11.4% of their patients who were smokers. Those that didn’t have the chance to earn extra money made 441 referrals, an average of 4.2% of their smokers.
Among the 45 million smokers in the United States, about 19 percent don’t smoke every day. These occasional smokers — people who smoke only on the weekends or just a few times a week in social situations — often believe they are avoiding the health worries typically associated with smoking. But new research shows that even occasional cigarette smoking can impair artery function, a sign of looming heart disease.
Almost everyone agrees that tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States and a key factor in America's $1 trillion annual bill for chronic care. Yet until recently, the major payers for health care have done nothing to bring the smoking rate down. That is changing, thanks in part to a few not-for-profit health plans that have proven that a combination of benefit design, clinical intervention, and commitment can diminish smoking rates.
Many talent managers are on the fence about employees' smoking habits and an organization's potential involvement in helping them quit. But there are clear benefits to offering tobacco cessation programs, including productivity gains and reduced costs associated with medical claims.
Corporate America has made big strides toward the smoke-free workplace. Its next goal: the smoke-free worker. Many businesses are seeking to reduce their medical bills by paying for programs to help employees stop smoking. A decade ago, such programs were rare. But recent surveys indicate that one-third of companies with at least 200 workers now offer smoking cessation as part of their employee benefits package.
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