Risk & Business Magazine Cal Legrow Spring 2017 | Page 25

EXECUTIVE HEALTH Mike O’Neil, President, The Energy Company Executive Health Strategies: Five Ways To Deliver To Your Bottom Line E xecutives are crucially important to the overall value of their organizations, delivering employee confidence, consumer confidence, customer trust, share value, and driving top and bottom lines. These are extremely important responsibilities and are not taken lightly by those that deliver them. What also shouldn’t be taken lightly is executive health. If executives get sick or are unhealthy, a company can be challenged in many ways to keep its top performance going. In the event that executives have to leave due to illness, they are terribly hard to replace. This is why it should be a top priority to get and stay healthy if you are a CEO, COO, or CFO. Here are my Top Five no-gym/no- diet strategies for executives to stay healthy and continue to be productive machines for their organizations: 1. GET DEEP SLEEP. Sleep restores everything: hormones, energy systems, the immune system, brain power, strength recovery, and more. Getting enough sleep is by far the healthiest thing we can do for ourselves. If you have trouble unwinding and getting seven to eight hours of sleep, consult a sleep coach for a personalized sleep plan or for natural sleep aids. 2. DRINK WATER. Water is critical to a healthy metabolism, body elimination functions, and cognitive function. Drink it upon waking, before meals, and when consuming coffee, tea, and alcohol. Never pass by water without at least taking a few sips. Shoot for eight glasses a day. 3. HAVE ONE TO TWO COMPLETE MEAL REPLACEMENT SMOOTHIES AVAILABLE TO YOU AT ALL TIMES. Because you can stay in meetings or other interactions (for instance, with clients or employees) for long durations, having a quick source of nutrition is super important. Quick, ready-to-consume smoothies can keep you satisfied and supplied with the right nutrients to keep your energy and performance going (apples and nuts also deliver). They also keep you from overeating when food becomes available. 4. TAKE A FIVE-MINUTE, MINI- MEDITATION BREAK DAILY. Relax and breathe deep. Think of nothing or something very pleasant. This alleviates cumulative stress on your system and allows you to rest and replenish an overworked brain. 5. START TRAINING USING DAILY BODYWEIGHT EXERCISE GOALS. Executives are driven, so having personal activity goals fits in nicely. My daily goals are 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups (or 100 seconds of planks), and 100 bodyweight squats. I separate them into mini-sets of ten each throughout the day. You can add 10 percent a day until you are a machine. This routine keeps your energy levels up and your metabolism firing. It also keeps you on top of your game without having to take a gym bag to work or take an hour out of the day to go to the gym. In summary, this executive health strategy will take little to no planning and only consume 10 minutes of your day. If these physical and relaxation exercises are executed properly, they can deliver optimal health. Ten minutes is not a large commitment in order to continue driving your company’s financial and morale health, as well as taking care of your own at the same time. For a personal executive health plan, please contact me at [email protected]. + The Energy Company is an industry leading health and wellness company focusing on health wellness, injury prevention and human performance for both individual and companies 25