LIFELINE Employee Assistance Program

Every May, the National Mental Health Association sponsors a campaign to promote emotional health at home and work.  This 50-year tradition helps improve the lives of millions of Americans. The theme for this year’s observance, MIND Your Health, focuses on the mind-body connection and the fact that the latest research continues to show even stronger evidence that being healthy doesn’t pertain just to our physical health, but that our mental and physical well-being go hand in hand.  

As part of this effort, the LIFELINE program, a service of the State’s HealthQuest health promotion program, offers the following points regarding the connection between mind and body.   

• Stress has a direct link to the five major causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung disorders, accidents, and suicide.
• Chronic stress doubles a person’s risk of having a heart attack.
• Seventy five percent of visits to the doctors’ offices concern stress-related ailments.
• Chronic stress can cause premature aging.
• Cardiovascular experts remind us that regular physical exercise can help people reduce stress, depression and anxiety, and enable them to better deal with adversity.
• People who have major depression and anxiety disorders are significantly (60%) less likely to relapse if they take medication and exercise regularly, than if they take medication alone.
• Individuals who have depression are more likely than others to develop diabetes.

If you have questions about your mind and body connection, call confidentially 24/7 at 800-284-7575.

For questions or concerns, contact the LIFELINE program administrator at 785-296-4304.