The Curse Of Knowledge

Introducing Non-Exercise Induced Thermogenesis…

In their insightful book Made To Stick, Chip and Dan Heath draw attention to an all-too-familiar phenomenon these days–the curse of knowledge.

In essence, the curse of knowledge occurs when advanced degrees and book smarts get in the way of real-world solutions.

And in the field of employee health management, this spells trouble with a capital T.

Instead of making things simpler as the field’s knowledge-base continues to expand, the concepts are getting more and more abstract and, as a direct result, harder and harder to understand.

In fact, so real is the curse of knowledge that every time I read a new months worth of scholarly articles in the leading health promotion journals my guts start to churn when I think about the business exec’s and human resource professionals who desperately need this information but will never even come close to understanding what is being said by the country’s best health and wellness researchers.

For example, I was just reading an article today discussing the potential impact of non-exercise induced thermogenesis (huh?) on the rates of obesity in the US workforce.

And what exactly is non-exercise induced thermogenesis you ask–and how might it impact the incidence of obesity in working Americans?

Well, I hope your sitting down…

Non-exercise induced thermogenesis is FIDGETING. I’m not kidding.

It seems that researchers have discovered that employees who fidget at their desks (as opposed to sitting in one position all day) burn more calories than those who don’t–and by fidgeting more, more calories can be burned and the harmful consequences of obesity can be lessened.

And this, my friends, is what I’m talking about.

Fundamentally, this is a very important concept–business and health leaders need (and can) find ways to help their people move more during the day, even if it is promoting something as simple as fidgeting.

But if we don’t start making the field’s knowledge-base more accessible to others–especially with the rates of obesity and physical inactivity at all-time highs (not to mention that 80 million baby boomers are just waiting to move from low- and moderate-risk to high-risk), it is indeed over.

You heard it here first.

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Published:: 01.06.09 / 9pm

Category:: New Buzz, Current Issues In Workplace Wellness, Communicating Wellness Within Your Organization

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The Curse Of Knowledge

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