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Workplace Wellness Lab delivers leading insights, ideas and information on wellness, health management, and healthy living.

Our goal is simple: Workplace Wellness Lab provides regular and better information as an important path to create healthy individual outcomes, while helping change health care in America.

By connecting the audiences that matter – consultants, corporate executives, policymakers, thought leaders, journalists, customers, and more – we establish a positive, substantive, and influential voice within the wellness industry that makes the case that:

    • Left unchecked, current trends in health spend and outcomes are unsustainable.
    • Given that half the healthcare dollars in this country are incurred by employers, well-executed preventive care health management programs in the worksite are clearly enduring and valuable, helping drive improved workplace environments and individual outcomes.
    • Industry coherence around private sector innovation to drive effective health management programs is economically vital, given what’s possible in a spend category that is arguably one of the greatest challenges in America today.

Workplace Wellness Lab comes at this challenge principally from the employer point of view: What are the credible and demonstrated best practices in preventive care to structure programs that have an enduring impact? How can the impact be made explicit, as something that is both the right thing to do and a proactive business initiative that lowers the cost of care, as experienced by both employers and employees?

And Workplace Wellness Lab goes beyond the workplace. It’s a robust platform filled with ideas and insights from those that influence how employers think about this opportunity: research organizations, non-profits, think tanks and more.

From an editorial point of view, great ideas can come from anywhere. With that philosophy in mind, we will combine our own original content with other content across the web. We organize the content, with a view to making it as simple and useful as possible.

All content will be sourced. If we found it somewhere, we’ll tell you where we got — and how to get to that site yourself.

We also welcome your comments — criticisms, ideas, and, yes, we take compliments, too! Have a thought of what you’d like to see — or see something you think others should know — drop us a line.

Thanks for visiting – and please come back again!

Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

Memorial Day Weekend is always a time of remembrance and optimism — respect for America's fallen combined with the excitement of the unofficial start of summer.

It's also a time when well-run workplace wellness programs can remind employees about proper sun protection and skin cancer prevention.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: “Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Most cases of melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, are caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. To lower your skin cancer risk, protect your skin from the sun and avoid indoor tanning. Follow these easy options:

  • “Stay in the shade, especially during late morning through mid-afternoon.”
  • “Wear clothing that covers your arms and legs.”
  • “Wear sunglasses that block both UVA and UVB rays.”
  • “Use sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher and both UVA and UVB (broad spectrum) protection.”
  • “Avoid indoor tanning.”

Said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.: “Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Current estimates are that one in five Americans are at risk of developing skin cancer in their lifetime. Exposure to natural and artificial ultraviolet (UV) light has a direct impact on a person’s risk of developing skin cancer — despite age or skin type. Most cases of melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — can be attributed to ultraviolet exposure. We also know that the effects of exposure to UV radiation — whether from the sun or indoor tanning beds — are cumulative. They add up over one’s lifetime.”

Of course, the easiest way to protect against the sun is to avoid it. But that's neither fun nor practical. Sunscreen is an obvious form of protection.

The CDC explains how sunscreen works: “Most sunscreen products work by absorbing, reflecting, or scattering sunlight. They contain chemicals that interact with the skin to protect it from UV rays. All products do not have the same ingredients; if your skin reacts badly to one product, try another one or call a doctor.”

“Sunscreens are assigned a sun protection factor (SPF) number that rates their effectiveness in blocking UV rays. Higher numbers indicate more protection. You should use a broad spectrum sunscreen with at least SPF 15.”

As we've noted, the American Academy of Dermatology offers guidance on how to select a sunscreen: “When selecting a sunscreen, make sure the label says:”

  • “Broad spectrum: The words “broad spectrum” means that the sunscreen can protect your skin from both types of harmful UV rays — the UVA rays and the UVB rays.”
  • “SPF 30 or higher: The American Academy of Dermatology recommends that you select a sunscreen with an SPF rating of 30 or higher.”
  • “Water resistant: Dermatologists also recommend that you look for the words “water resistant.” This tells you that the sunscreen will stay on wet or sweaty skin for a while before you need to reapply. Water resistance lasts either 40 or 80 minutes. Not all sunscreens offer water resistance.”

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