Work site health program cuts absenteeism

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Employees who participated in a work site health program improved blood pressure control by 9 percent and diabetes control by 15 percent, says a U.S. study.

The program uses a Health Risk Assessment, a screening tool that includes measures of employees' health through blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol testing. It also includes a 60-question survey that asks about current health status, family history, daily nutrition, physical activity, the use of alcohol and tobacco, safe habits such as seat belt usage, stress, depression and gender-related health questions.

The survey also questions how willing an employee is to make lifestyle changes related to health and safety and provides coaching.

From 2004 to 2006, 2,100 workers of a municipal utility in Jacksonville, Fla., were tracked. The study found the number of employees who missed work due to hypertension dropped from 25.8 percent to 15.6 percent, while those who missed work because of diabetes dropped from 50 percent to 16.9 percent.

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association's eighth Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Washington.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Study: Anger can lead to clearer thinking

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (UPI) -- Anger -- often blamed for flawed thinking -- was found in U.S. studies to make participants more rational and analytical in their reactions.

Researchers Wesley G. Moons and Diane M. Mackie, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, investigated anger's impact on thinking and decision-making.

Three studies, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggest anger prompts a more careful and rational analysis of another person's reasoning.

In the studies, college students were exposed to arguments attempting to persuade them to unpopular viewpoints. Beforehand, some were asked to write about an experience that had angered them.

The researchers suggest that angry people can and do process information analytically, but are often influenced by more mental shortcuts. Although it is not always the case, anger-induced action is sometimes the result of quite clear-minded and deliberative processing, according to the researchers.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International