By Dennis McNamara

We all know that stress can make life more difficult for us. It can overwhelm us, distracting us from focusing on our day-to-day activities of life.

Experiencing increased levels of stress in our lives affect all aspects of our life including our jobs. The impact of stress in the workplace can be increased absenteeism, decreased productivity, and increased healthcare costs.

In fact, recent research shows that depression and high stress have a greater impact on healthcare costs than other health risk factors. In a study of 46,000 employees over a three year period, researchers compared 10 modifiable health risk factors and their impact on health care costs.

What they found was that depression and stress seem to increase healthcare costs more than smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and alcohol consumption. Healthcare costs for workers reporting depression were 70% higher than for non-depressed workers, and 46% higher than for those who felt they were under a lot of stress.

Possible reasons for this are: 1) that psychological duress may cause people to seek medical attention for vague complaints; 2) depression and stress could be related to serious illness or, 3) psychological and social problems could lead to more serious health problems.

If you are concerned about your employees and rising healthcare costs, don't overlook the impact of the mind over the body. For information regarding Asante's Employee Assistance Program, call (541) 608-4238.