Work-Life Balance: The Influence of Mental and Emotional Health in the Workplace

Knowing what to do to become healthier does not seem enough motivation to make most people change the habits that are keeping them from good health. There must be a deeper catalyst to enact change, as well as the mental/emotional stability to follow through with it. It is reasonable to claim that ones mental/emotional condition influences their physical health. It is an integral factor when choosing whether one engages in healthy or risky behaviors. Mental and emotional balance creates a positive environment for behavior change. When out of balance, people often find it too difficult to cope with those types of lifestyle changes.

Now it seems that new research can back up that claim. The ComPsych Corporation has released a new wellness report that relates how an employee's mental/emotional health can sabotage efforts to change unhealthy behaviors. They determined that because of the impact of emotional health, on the ability to create and maintain change, many employees would not likely be able to support the needed changes in lifestyle.

ComPsych is the world's largest provider of employee assistance programs. Using aggregate data from health risk assessments across their customer base, they determined that stress, anxiety, depression and poor social support are factors that can hamper employees' efforts to achieve wellness goals. Their emotional instability can hinder them from successfully implementing suggested behavior changes.

Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, Chairman, and CEO of ComPsych offered this explanation: "There is strong correlation between high stress/emotional issues and poor lifestyle choices. For example, smoking and overeating may be a means to self-medicate undiagnosed depression."

For years, we have suspected that people engaged in self-destructive behavior as a way to comfort, numb, or soothe an unpleasant situation. This study shows an actual correlation between the two. Dr. Chaifetz goes on to say, "To be effective, corporate wellness programs must focus on emotional as well as physical factors of the employee, and include a counseling component to address underlying issues."

The bulk of most employee health programs focus on caring for illness once it appears, providing the proverbial Band Aid over the wound. These new findings show the value of preventative and supportive care. By empowering employees with self-efficacy training and support, the need for costly post-condition care could be greatly reduced.

Employees, who have resources available to support and assist them with mental/emotional issues, are more equipped to care for their physical health. By addressing the employee holistically, beyond simply telling them the physical lifestyle changes needed, you increase the ability of that employee to implement and sustain those healthier changes.

Most health risk assessments (HRAs) only tell the employee what they already know they should or should not be doing. What they fail to do, is help them understand their personal barriers to change, or motivate them to make those changes. By providing proactive services like counseling, support, and accountability programs, in addition to the reactive care that is the norm, businesses could not only improve the lives of their employees but their bottom line as well. The key findings of the ComPsych report show:

40 percent say an emotional or physical health problem has interfered with normal activities with family, friends, neighbors or groups.
36 percent say they are tense or anxious much of the time.
43 percent did not receive good support from friends and family in the past six months.
21 percent said they have felt down, depressed or hopeless in the past month.
Additional findings provided by the ComPsych report pointed out how employees' current habits trend toward unhealthy:
34 percent of employees consume one or less fruits and vegetables each day.
23 percent admit to binge drinking within the past six months.
Only 16 percent get enough sleep.

While these findings may seem startling, they could be even higher, as health risk assessments are self-reported. Many answer questions showing themselves in a more favorable light than is accurate. The results of this report depict a high correlation between stress, anxiety, and lack of social support to the inability to adopt healthier habits.

By assisting employees to manage stress and anxiety and helping them develop stronger emotional coping skills, companies can effectively increase the employees' ability to make and maintain positive health related changes. This would create a substantial reduction in post-condition expenses for the company. By implementing and encouraging use of basic employee assistance programs, companies can spend money on the front-end of health care to save more on the more expensive back-end of the health care cycle.

Besides the obvious savings in health care costs, emotionally balanced employees, who take better care of their physical health miss fewer days on the job and are more productive at while at work. Providing and encouraging this type of assistance is a win-win for the employee and employer. These new findings make proactive care an essential area for today's budget-minded businesses to consider.

"Wellness Matters" Article Series by Lisa Schilling RN, CPT
Speaker, Writer, Wellness Coach & Consultant

Lisa Schilling is the author of "The Get REAL Guide to Health and Fitness-FIVE STEPS to Create Your Own Personal Wellness Plan" She is juggles life as a doting wife and the mother of three boys, who keep her feet firmly planted on the ground!

Lisa is a Registered Nurse, author and recovering pageant queen, who spreads hope with her Get REAL approach to wellness. She empowers women, caregivers and groups to unleash their fullest potential by helping them to see their true beauty and discover their REAL value.

She feels passionate about spreading this message of hope and acceptance to help others be PROactive about their health and not simply REactive. Lisa uses her enthusiasm to inspire people to value and appreciate who they are. She helps people build a bridge from where they are, to where they want to be.