Find the Joy!
“Let your joy be in your journey—not in some distant goal.” — Tim Cook Welcome to the November 2020 edition of TotalWellbeing, your guide to the 8 dimensions of wellbeing. This month we will be talking about finding joy and appreciating the little things. With the pandemic, politics, and everything else going on it is easy to dwell on the bad stuff, however it’s important to understand that while we don’t have control over all the negativity, we do have control over how we choose to react and feel about things. To help you control your emotions and find joy every day, try focusing on the positive and let the negative move on. You can’t stop the bad, so it is a waste of your energy to try. Instead pick out the good things in your life and focus on those! See our resources below for more tips and resources on staying positive. Don’t forget, November is National Alzheimer’s and Dementia Awareness Month and is an extremely important month if you are one of the many caregivers that are currently caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or if you have a loved one that is living with dementia. The good news is that there are resources out there to help you as well as promising progress on treatments, diagnostic capabilities, and even a potential cure. Take a look at the latest update from our resident Alzheimer’s/dementia expert JJ Jordan here, and if you or someone you love is either a caregiver or is impacted by Alzheimer’s/dementia in some way, please call MINES today to get connected to caregiver support resources, trainings, and more. As a quick reminder, your online portal, PersonalAdvantage, also has helpful resources, tips, and resources on happiness, joy, and emotional wellbeing. Please log on today for articles, self-help tools, health assessments, and more. To your total wellbeing, The MINES Team Looking at Happiness as a Choice Are you a person who can act on tough questions? Questions like: What am I grateful for? What choices do I have? What actions can I take to improve my life? What are my primary strengths? How can I live a more balanced life? People who can act on these questions likely also describe themselves as happy. “Happiness is neither a mood nor an emotion. Mood is a biochemical condition, and emotions are transitory feelings,” says Dan Baker, Ph.D., director of the Life Enhancement Program at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Ariz., and author of What Happy People Know. “Happiness is a way of life, an overriding outlook composed of qualities like love, optimism, courage, and a sense of freedom. It’s not something that changes every time your situation changes.” Read the full article here. If you or someone you know would like more advice or coaching around finding joy, increasing work/life balance, managing stress, or anything else related to your happiness and wellbeing, remember that Your Employee Assistance Program is here to help. In addition to free and confidential counseling, you have access to wellness coaching and resources as well. Call us at 1-800-873-7138 to get connected right away. Also, PersonalAdvantage has a ton of great resources and FREE webinars.
Mastering the Principles of Positive Thinking Believe in yourself – A sense of inadequacy can prevent you from achieving your goals, but self-confidence can lead to self-realization and achievement. Make a list of all your good points if you have lost confidence in your ability to succeed. Reaffirming your assets will help you overcome your doubts. Use your mind to restore your energy – How you think has a profound effect on how you feel physically. If your mind tells you you’re tired, your body will accept it as fact and be fatigued. You can maintain your energy level indefinitely if your mind is intensely interested in what you are doing. Create your own happiness – You have two choices when you get up in the morning: to be happy or unhappy. Choose to be happy by telling yourself that life is good, things are going well, you can handle all your problems and you’re grateful for all you have and will have. Expect the best, not the worst – You release a force in your mind that promotes positive results when you expect the best. Don’t believe in defeat – Make your mind more positive by eliminating negative expressions in thought and speech. Statements such as “I can’t do that” and “I’m afraid I’ll fail” clutter your mind and condition it to expect negative results. Speak and think positively about every situation. Break the worry habit – Several times a day, use your imagination to empty your mind of anxiety and fear. Picture all your worries flowing out of you, just as water empties from a sink when the stopper is removed. When all your worries are gone, fill your mind with faith, hope, courage, and positive expectations. In time, you’ll find yourself worrying less. Practicing silence is also effective – Sit in a quiet place for 15 minutes. Don’t read, write or speak. Think peaceful thoughts, meditate, or pray. Replace irritation, anger, and hate – Deal with hurtful situations or misunderstandings immediately. Seek out the person involved and strive to resolve your differences. To cool an angry response, reverse your body’s natural reactions by unclenching your fists and lowering your voice. Maintain a positive, optimistic attitude – Instead of letting life’s difficulties get you down, keep your mind open and responsive to new ideas, exercise initiative and resourcefulness when dealing with challenges, and use your creativity and good judgment when solving problems. Remember, your Employee Assistance Program is here to help you reach your positive thinking goals. This includes counseling, self-help tools, wellness coaching, and more. If you need additional information, or to access services, please call MINES and Associates at 1-800-873-7138 today.
Question of the Month What is one activity that you used to do for fun or find joy in that you no longer get to do? Why are you unable to enjoy this activity any longer? What is stopping you from building time back into your life for this hobby/activity?
If you or a member of your household needs assistance or guidance on any of these wellbeing topics, please call MINES & Associates, your EAP, today for free, confidential, 24/7 assistance at 800.873.7138.
This Month’s Focus Free Webinar: Reclaim Your Joy MINESblog: New to TW? Check out our past Blogs! National Alzheimer’s Awareness Update Back to School During the Pandemic Important Links COVID19 Resource Page Visit our BLOG MINES and Associates Current Training Catalog Balanced Living Magazine LinkedIn MINES Archives Contact Us Email MINES
		MINES does not warrant the materials (Audio, Video, Text, Applications, or any other form of media or links) included in this communication have any connection to MINES & Associates, nor does MINES seek to endorse any entity by including these materials in this communication.  MINES accepts no liability for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided herein, nor any additional content that may be made available through any third-party site. We found them helpful, and hope you do too!

The post TotalWellbeing: November 2020 appeared first on MINES and Associates.

	Smart Saving
“Never spend your money before you have it.” – Thomas Jefferson Welcome to the October 2020 edition of TotalWellbeing, your guide to the 8 dimensions of wellbeing. This month we will be looking at smart saving and ways to manage your money. This is an important topic to pretty much everyone and with current economic uncertainty, it is as crucial as ever to save money and plan for the unexpected. Check out the resources below for savings options, pros and cons of various ways to save, and 10 money resolutions you can make right now to help secure your financial wellbeing. Also, October is National Substance Abuse Awareness Month. A recent study from Mental Health American showed that while the number of adults and youths struggling with substance abuse and addiction has dropped, still nearly 8% of Americans have some sort of substance abuse issue. That is still over 26 million people that are struggling. If you know someone that is dealing with substance abuse, you are in need of resources yourself, or would just like to talk to an expert about concerns or resources that may be available, please call MINES today. As a quick reminder, your online portal, PersonalAdvantage, also has helpful resources and tips and resources on financial issues as well as substance abuse. Please log on today for articles, self-help tools, health assessments, and more. To your total wellbeing, The MINES Team Safe Money: Weighing Savings Options in a Low-Interest Rate Environment Keeping money in an account whose interest rate hovers below 1% may not hold much appeal in a world where return on investment is king and memories of much higher rates linger. But even amid the current prolonged period of exceedingly low-interest rates, there are compelling reasons for consumers to keep cash in a vehicle such as a savings account, money market account, or certificate of deposit (CD). Which savings environment is right for you? Here is a look at some of the options: Online high-yield savings account. Today the savings accounts with the highest rates — sometimes 1% or perhaps a tick above — are often found online. “Online savings accounts end up being the best solution in many cases,” says O’Kurley. However, be aware that these accounts come with moving parts. Some carry attractive initial rates that quickly revert to less attractive lower rates. Others couple a relatively high-interest rate with a higher minimum balance. Given these distinctions, it pays to spend some time comparison-shopping, with www.bankrate.com a good place to start. Savings account from a brick-and-mortar bank. People who prefer to do their banking offline, person-to-person, may prefer to open a savings account at a local bank. They’ll likely earn a lower interest rate as a result. Certificate of deposit. Gone are the days when interest rates for short-term three-month or six-month CDs consistently and substantially exceeded those of traditional savings accounts. These days, securing a higher interest rate with a CD often means committing to keeping money in the account longer-term — for one, three, or even five years. Thus CDs limit flexibility, as the extra return they provide can be quickly erased by penalties for early withdrawal. The trade-off — sacrificing accessibility to that cash simply to earn a little extra money in interest — often isn’t worth it, O’Kurley says. “CDs are what they have always been: FDIC-insured accounts you get from a brick-and-mortar bank. But you’ll give up liquidity to get one.” Parking money in a CD for several years also comes with interest rate risk. Should interest rates rise, a lower rate would still apply to the money inside the CD, precluding the CD owner from earning a higher rate on that money. People who are willing to live with that risk while sacrificing a measure of liquidity with a CD can comparison-shop at www.bankrate.com. Checking account. While most checking accounts are FDIC-insured and some pay interest, not only do their interest rates rarely match those of savings accounts (particularly online savings accounts), they also may come with a range of restrictions and requirements, including minimum initial deposits, transactions fees, and other costs that can add up quickly. For those reasons, checking accounts typically are better suited to house money you intend to spend, not save. Money market account. As with CDs, money market accounts no longer hold much of an interest rate edge over savings accounts, which is why O’Kurley says he rarely recommends them to clients. While they could regain that edge when interest rates bounce higher, there’s no telling when that may happen. Still, because most money market accounts are FDIC-insured, as modest as their interest rates are, they remain a viable, if lower-yielding, option for stowing “safe money.” Read the full article here. If you or someone you know would like more advice or coaching around financial matters including budgeting, saving, and debt management, remember that Your Employee Assistance Program is here to help. In addition to free and confidential counseling, you have access to financial coaching and resources as well. Call us at 1-800-873-7138 to get connected right away. Also, PersonalAdvantage has a ton of great resources and FREE webinars.
10 Money Resolutions Get (or recommit to following) a financial plan. If you have big goals, like buying a home or retiring on your own terms, having a financial plan puts you in a much better position to attain them. Establish (or rededicate yourself to following) a household savings and spending plan. Having a firm grasp of what you take in and what you spend each month is key to controlling your own financial destiny. Save (or save more) for retirement. The numbers are daunting: members of Generations X and Y likely will need a nest egg of $2 million to $3 million to live comfortably during retirement. Save (or save more) for a child’s education. With college tuition costs continuing to skyrocket, it’s never too early for parents (and grandparents) to create (or increase their funding of) a college savings plan, such as a tax-favored 529 plan. Establish (or add to) an emergency fund. Prepare yourself for life’s unexpected twists — job loss, a health crisis — with a savings account in which you set aside funds to cover the financial burden of unforeseen events. Get insurance to better protect assets and loved ones. A relatively modest investment in an insurance policy can afford you and your loved ones much-needed protection in the case of disability, death and other circumstances that can financially decimate a family. Rely less on credit cards in order to reduce debt. A high level of debt can wreak havoc on a person’s finances. Make (or update) beneficiary designations. You want the money you’ve put into assets such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts and annuity contracts to land in the right hands when you die. Talk to a tax adviser about ways to lessen the tax burden. One hour spent with an accountant or tax expert can yield significant savings on your tax tab. Take stock of your investment portfolio. A diversified investment portfolio is a must for protecting your nest egg. Read More Remember, your Employee Assistance Program is here to help you reach financial goals. This includes financial counseling, self-help tools and calculators, and free 30-minute consults on financial matters. If you need additional information, or to access services, please call MINES and Associates at 1-800-873-7138 today.
Question of the Month Think of any reoccurring expenses that may be putting a strain on your finances. Perhaps subscriptions you no longer use, or streaming services that can be consolidated. What can you do to reduce or eliminate these expenses from your financial routine?
If you or a member of your household needs assistance or guidance on any of these wellbeing topics, please call MINES & Associates, your EAP, today for free, confidential, 24/7 assistance at 800.873.7138.
This Month’s Focus Free Webinar: Saving for the Future MINESblog: New to TW? Check out our past Blogs! Are There Potentially Positive Outcomes from COVID-19? Back to School During the Pandemic Important Links COVID19 Resource Page Visit our BLOG MINES and Associates Current Training Catalog Balanced Living Magazine LinkedIn MINES Archives Contact Us Email MINES
		MINES does not warrant the materials (Audio, Video, Text, Applications, or any other form of media or links) included in this communication have any connection to MINES & Associates, nor does MINES seek to endorse any entity by including these materials in this communication.  MINES accepts no liability for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided herein, nor any additional content that may be made available through any third-party site. We found them helpful, and hope you do too!

The post TotalWellbeing: October 2020 appeared first on MINES and Associates.

Who is affected

US General Stats:

• 1 in 25 adults are currently diagnosed with a serious mental illness; 1 in 5 are currently diagnosed with some sort mental illness
• There are a wide variety of anxiety disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and specific phobias to name a few. Collectively they are among the most common mental disorders experienced by Americans.
• Approximately 10.2 million adults in the U.S. have co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders.
• Serious mental health illnesses cost people $193.2 billion in lost earnings every year in the U.S.
• Nearly 60% of adults with a mental illness did not receive care in the previous year.

Men:

• 3% are currently diagnosed with a serious mental illness; 14.3% are currently diagnosed with some sort mental illness.
• Men die from suicide at twice the rate as women.
• 6 milling men are affected by depression per year in the U.S.
• The Top 5 major mental health problems affecting men in the U.S. include Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Psychosis and Schizophrenia, and Eating Disorders.
• Men are significantly less likely to seek help for mental health issues than women. Causes for this include reluctance to talk, social norms, and downplaying symptoms.

Women:

• 5% are currently diagnosed with a serious mental illness; 21.2% are currently diagnosed with some sort mental illness.
• 12 million women in the U.S. experience clinical depression each year. Roughly twice the rate of men.
• Although men are more likely than women to die by suicide, women report attempting suicide approximately twice as often as men.
• Many factors in women may contribute to depression, such as developmental, reproductive, hormonal, genetic and other biological differences (e.g. premenstrual syndrome, childbirth, infertility, and menopause).
• Fewer than half of the women who experience clinical depression will ever seek care. And Depression in women is misdiagnosed approximately 30 to 50 percent of the time.

Kids:

• 50% of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14; 75% by the age of 24.
• 20% of 8 to 13 year of age in the U.S. will be diagnosed with some sort of mental illness in their lifetime.
• Girls 14-18 years of age have consistently higher rates of depression than boys in this age group.
• Nearly 50% of kids with a mental illness did not receive care in the previous year.
• LGBTQ adolescents are twice as likely to attempt suicide than non-LGBTQ youths.
• More than 90% of children who die by suicide have a mental health condition.

Sources: click the links for more stats and infographics.

• National Alliance on Mental Health: https://goo.gl/XuFb82
• Mental Health America: https://goo.gl/vXcKkM

How many are seeking care?

The short answer to this one is “not enough.” A recent report from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) state that only 1 in 5 adults with a mental illness are receiving treatment. This statistic combined with an uncertain future for Medicare and mental health funding means that employers are often the only path to access help for those in need through health insurance benefits, employee assistance programs, and wellness programs.  These alarming statistics also bring to light how common it is for these issues to affect the workforce, and simultaneously its productivity. So, whether someone is directly suffering from a mental health issue or not, this is a problem that affects every last person in one way or another.

Why we do what we do

If you found the above statistics surprising, you must be new to the mental health conversation because these are nothing new. Mental health is an area that struggles to retain consistent support and funding from public and private sources. Mental health programs, care providers, facilities, non-profit organizations, and even programs like MINES’ Employee Assistance Program have to constantly justify themselves and (re)prove the value it what they/we do. A combination of the invisible nature of many mental health conditions and the stigma behind talking about these issues and seeking care makes it difficult to see just how pervasive of a problem these are in the US as well as the much of the rest of the world. In some areas of the world, mental health disorders can land you in jail or worse.  It is not a “sexy” topic so the media only really rallies around the topic when something happens like a mass shooting, celebrity rehab incident, or some other sensation worthy event. This is a tragedy in and of itself because if we as a nation could just remain committed to improving the support system, communication, and available resources around mental health, so much of this loss of life could be prevented. This is why we, MINES and every other care provider, organization, and individual fights this all too silent war every day.

The relationship between mental health and substance abuse

This month is also about a very closely related issue to mental health,  substance abuse. A large percentage of people with mental health disorders also experience issues with substance abuse, and vise versa. In fact, according to a SAMSHA study, nearly 27% of people with a mental health disorder use illicit drugs, which is over twice as much as the rate of the general population. And of the approximately 8.7 million people that suffer from both mental health issues and substance abuse, only about 7% receive treatment for both issues and a staggering 56% don’t receive treatment for either issue at all. With these numbers, it’s easy to see that there is a huge correlation that links these devastating nationwide issues. Enter prevention week.

Prevention week

This year SAMHSA is spearheading Prevention Week, May 13-19, to help spread awareness of both mental health issues, as they do year around, as well as the prevailing substance use issues that are running rampant without any sign of slowing down. We encourage you to check out their site for more information on prevention week and to see how you can support them and your community in the fight. Check out these links for information on all of the above:

• More information: samhsa.gov/prevention-week/about
• Take the Prevention Challenge samhsa.gov/prevention-week/prevention-challenge
• See how you can help here: samhsa.gov/prevention-week/about/get-involved

Below is a list of other important resources that can help you if you or someone you care about is suffering from a mental health issue, depression, substance abuse, or if you just need someone to talk to. Many are free, community-based resources that won’t cost you anything but your time. And of course, as MINES and Associates provides Employee Assistance Programs, we encourage you to use one if your employer offers one. EAPs are a great free and confidential resource that can help you, and in many cases, your family/household members, get in touch with a counselor and start the journey to better mental wellbeing. EAPs can also help with a large variety of other work/life issues that may be affecting you like work/life balance, financial issues, fitness, nutrition, and more.

Resources

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Referral Helpline
  • 1-800-662-HELP
• National Institute for Mental Health – nimh.nih.gov
• NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) – nami.org
• Mental Health America – mentalhealthamerica.net
• Mental Health America of Colorado – www.mhacolorado.org/gethelp
• Anxiety and Depression Association of America – adaa.org
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance – dbsalliance.org
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – suicidepreventionlifeline.org
  • 1-800-273-8255
• First Responder Crisis Text Line
  • Text “Badge” to 741741
• Military/Veterans Crisis Line/Resources
  • Online Chat: Visit website at www.veteranscrisisline.net
  • Call: 1-800-273-8255 (press 1)
  • Text: 838255
• National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention – actionallianceforsuicideprevention.org
• United Way- unitedway.org/local/united-states/

SAMHSA

• Help and Treatment
  • samhsa.gov/find-help
• Child mental health resources
  • samhsa.gov/children/awareness-day/2018/resource-list-traumatic-stress

Going forward

What can we do going forward? Stay loud. Keep talking. Keep writing congress about mental issues that affect you and those you love. Don’t let them wait for there to be a tragic event before the issues get put on their desk. Continue to vote for people that believe in what we do and what needs to be done. Continue to support organizations that are making strides in the right direction. Continue to demand benefits from employers that do more than just the bare minimum to support our mental health. Change is possible but it going to take more than an awareness month. It’s going to take people, all of us, coming together and making this an issue that’s bigger than a month, an issue that cannot be ignored or scapegoated. So, take the rest of this month help spread awareness, and then use next month keep marching, keep shouting, and continue to come together to push change forward because no one is going to do it for us.

To your wellbeing,

Nic Mckane

The MINES Team

The post Mental Health Awareness Month 2018 appeared first on MINES and Associates.

Dr. Robert Mines (chairman and psychologist) and Dr. Dani Kimlinger (CEO) from the MINES Team were honored to contribute to an article by Bruce Shutan in this month’s issue of The Self-Insurer. The article is called Beyond Opioids and covers how EAPs, like MINES, and good benefit-plan design can help treat addictions and other substance use issues in an employee population as well as control overall health care spending.

The issue can be viewed here:

Check out other Self-Insurer publications here: https://goo.gl/2TjaUV

And check out other MINES publications here: www.minesandassociates.com/about_staff_publications.html

To your wellbeing,

The MINES Team

The post Publication Update December 2017 appeared first on MINES and Associates.

The integration needs to occur at the strategic/systems and tactical levels. On the tactical side, there are already case studies in the public healthcare sectors and in Kaiser Permanente of placing mental health professionals in medical clinics and offices so the doctors and nurses can just walk a patient down the hall to see them once a psychological component has been identified. At MINES we are piloting a wellness coaching model for individuals who are identified by their healthcare provider as a pre-substance use disorder patient, through a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) grant awarded to Peer Assistance Services.

At the strategic/systems level, integration has significant utility and challenges for self-insured organizations whether as an individual entity or a multi-employer trust. At this level, a key component is the ability for the various vendors to cross-communicate on these types of patients. This involves the ability to do data mining to identify the patients, having an intensive case management behavioral health specialist to be the point person, regular communication between the TPA, pharmaceutical vendor, medical utilization review, behavioral health utilization review and the medical/psychological personnel responsible for treatment. An obvious challenge is getting buy-in from all of these stakeholders. There is no incentive other than good patient care for any of these groups to cooperate with each other. To rectify this, incentives would need to be financial or contractual. Employers have leverage on the contractual side as it is their health benefit and their money. At the time of this blog, there are case-studies of organizations moving this direction; however, specifics are a long way from full integration due to the complexities required.

I would welcome your discussion and wisdom on this issue.

Have a day filled with extending loving kindness to all those you encounter,

Bob

Robert A. Mines, Ph.D., CEO

The post Psychology of Performance – 42: Integration of Behavioral Health and Medicine in Self-Insured Organizations appeared first on MINES and Associates.

This week alone, I had client organizations call about each of these concerns.  In one case a senior executive was observed to drink one bottle of wine at a company function, plus cocktails before dinner. Her behavior became problematic when she propositioned a male colleague, angrily denied she had drank too much and proceeded to accuse others on her executive team of “being out to get her.”  To make this situation even sadder, the executive had done something similar three years earlier at the same company function.  This became a performance issue at a number of levels.  First, upon investigation, it turned out she had a number of days in the last few months where her secretary reported she left early for lunch and never returned resulting in significant loss of individual productivity. Second, she created liability for her company when she propositioned a colleague. This created a potentially hostile work environment/sexual harassment lawsuit. In addition, there was lost time for human resources, management, and legal to review the situation and interview all parties. Third, when confronted with her behavior and the company’s requirement to go to the employee assistance program for an evaluation and potential referral for treatment if indicated, she refused and resigned. This resulted in additional loss of intellectual capital and the personal long term health costs to her. This reminder for everyone in supervisor, management, or executive functions is that alcohol and other substance use disorders have not diminished despite policies, procedures,’ and education interventions. It is important to stay alert to your employees’ and colleagues’ behavior and act in a timely and compassionate manner similar to the company discussed in this paragraph.

The research on sleep deprivation is well documented. Sleep deprived individuals do not function well cognitively and their reaction times are diminished. This finding was significant enough for one researcher to say that sleep deprived drivers were more dangerous than alcohol impaired drivers. What are the costs to your organization related to sleep deprivation? We know that individuals who are sleep deprived eat more, make poorer food and exercise decisions, are more irritable with others, and make poor decisions. Many companies recognize the dangers of sleep deprivation and provide nap rooms, meditation classes, and other options so that employees can refresh themselves and perform better at work.

Obesity, wellness, and financial impact discussions are ubiquitous on the internet and in the professional literature. Our workforces are getting fatter and fatter. Recent research suggested that obesity not only has downstream health costs for the employer, there is some evidence that cognitive functions can be influenced as well. This research needs to be replicated. Then there is the subgroup of morbidly obese individuals who also have co-morbid depression. Depression affects performance in terms of diminished problem solving skills, concentration problems, social withdrawal, lowered energy which is compounded by the lower energy associated with morbid obesity, as well as other symptoms such as memory impairment. Any of these symptoms will negatively affect performance in most jobs. As an employer it will become an even heavier burden going forward to manage the workforce as the obesity incidence continues to grow. What is becoming more apparent is that the typical wellness program is unsuccessful in helping the morbidly obese. A major component that is missing is the psychological aspects of performance related to weight loss and weight gain. The research in this area has been well established for over 25 years.  Coors Brewing in 1988 was one of the first companies to incorporate an intensive outpatient obesity program as part of its wellness program. It was a highly successful program. Unfortunately during that time there were many fasting programs and one of the unintended side effects of these programs was an increase in gall bladder surgeries and the corresponding cost. Due to a variety of factors beyond the scope of this blog, all weight loss programs were discontinued a few years later. There are best practice examples of successful interventions with the morbidly obese employee population which apply the psychological elements needed to lose and sustain weight loss.

Contact us if you would like to learn more:

info@minesandassociates.com

Have a day filled with loving kindness and compassion,

Bob

Robert A. Mines, Ph.D., CEO & Psychologist

The post Psychology of Performance – 41: Impact of Alcohol, Sleep, and Obesity appeared first on MINES and Associates.

As the prescription drug epidemic continues to rise we need to do more in the area of prevention. Here are some wonderful resources for prescription drug abuse prevention from our friends at Peer Assistance Services:

http://www.peerassistanceservices.org/prescription/drugabuse_materials.php

Ian Holtz,
Manager, Business Development

The post Drug Abuse Prevention appeared first on MINES and Associates.

1. Situation Questions – Tell me about your life? How is it working now?
2. Problem Questions – Can we be specific about what is not working? Are you concerned about your current quality of performance?
3. Implication Questions – What happens if you don’t do something different?
4. Need-Payoff Questions – If you act and it improves – how does that impact your life?

Take time to reflect on these questions, write down your answers, and be curious about where this may take you. If you find yourself resisting the questions or process, look more deeply into that instead.

It’s up to you….as they say “no one can do your push-ups for you.”

Exchange love and happiness with everyone you meet today.

Bob
Robert A. Mines, Ph.D.
CEO & Psychologist

The post Psychology of Performance – 35: Attachment to the Status Quo appeared first on MINES and Associates.

How much is enough? Ratey stated that walking is enough. Low-intensity exercise is at 55 to 65% of maximum heart rate, moderate is 65-75% and high intensity is 75-90%. “The process of getting fit is all about building up your aerobic base” (p.251). Ratey goes on to discuss the role of strength training and flexibility as important elements of optimizing your brain chemistry and hormone levels.

What does this have to do with optimizing your performance at work and in all areas of your life? Everything! Get started today and stick with it.

Have a day filled with optimal brain chemistry,

Robert A. Mines, Ph.D.
CEO & Psychologist

The post Psychology of Performance – 34: Spark! appeared first on MINES and Associates.

According to this site, Bill W., the founder of AA, was successfully treated for depression with 3,000 mg of niacin a day. Unfortunately, this information has not been widely discussed or published in the media. I would be interested to hear from any of you who have used niacin as a means of treating depression or alcoholism and what your results were. Please let us at MINES know.

Have a day filled with mindfulness,

Robert A. Mines, Ph.D.
CEO & Psychologist

The post Psychology of Performance – 32: Nutrition, Depresssion, Alcoholism and Performance appeared first on MINES and Associates.