People don’t often make the association between nutrition and long-term mood, as well as how diet can impact the brain’s function and its structure, according to Charmaine Alexander, senior advisor on Desjardins Insurance’s disability management team. “We know that between the rise of mental illness in our current lifestyle, just as with obesity, maybe what we’re […]
While insomnia is a disorder, it’s just as commonly a symptom, which most people and physicians don’t grasp, said Dr. Atul Khullar, medical director at the Northern Alberta Sleep Clinic. A lot of times, not sleeping is essentially the body breaking down because of a separate disorder, risk factor or residual symptom of a mental-health […]
Over the past three years, 1,525 employers from across Canada have taken part in MindsMatter, CivicAction’s free online workplace mental-health assessment. “MindsMatter has helped neutralize the excuses for employers to take action,” said Sevaun Palvetzian, chief executive officer of CivicAction. “We’ve created an on-ramp and accelerated more supportive workplace culture and practices across Canada.” But […]
At the start of a new decade, it makes sense to look in the rear-view mirror to better understand where the industry is going. For drug plans, a crescendo of forecasts have predicted skyrocketing benefits costs, driven by high-cost drugs. That talk has only increased the cries for a national pharmacare strategy to make drugs more affordable. Looking back […]
Canadians on the hunt for a new job want improved benefits and better control over their schedule, according to a new survey by Indeed. The survey, which polled more than 1,000 full-time employees, found 32 per cent said they plan to change jobs within the next one to two years. A quarter said they’ve been actively recruited by another […]
Mental-health symptomology — such as difficulty concentrating, feelings of isolation and lack of motivation — is incredibly impactful in the workplace and makes it difficult for people to function at or return to work. “There’s no question that anxiety and depression are very prevalent in the Canadian workplace and are very relevant to plan sponsors,” […]
A migraine sufferer herself, Dr. Rose Giammarco, founder and director of Hamilton Headache Clinic, told the audience at Benefits Canada‘s 2019 Mental Health Summit that migraine can be very disabling and cause tremendous burden of disease. “Clinically, these patients come in with severe headaches, throbbing pain that can last hours or days, sometimes weeks at […]
Mental health is a growing concern both in and out of the workplace, and employees with these issues often need days to deal with them. Paula Allen, vice-president of research and analytics at Morneau Shepell Ltd., suggests employers provide employees with workplace flexibility because “we’re not robots.” Specifically, she supports and encourages mental-health days, though she believes the real promise and […]
Looking ahead to 2020, the big story for health benefits is often avoided because it isn’t easy to address. It’s the elephant in the room. Over the past year, there’s been no shortage of momentum in new and emerging product offerings in the health benefits space — everything from digital cognitive behavioural therapy to virtual […]
When the federal government signed the Cannabis Act into law in 2018, legalizing recreational cannabis, it also committed to providing patients with better access to medical cannabis and to more extensively researching the trends, use patterns, patient impact, potential therapeutic treatments and adverse effects of cannabis and cannabinoids. The legislation also prompted new conversations in […]