Sure, eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise are essential, but they’re hardly top secret.

Perhaps more surprising is that your relationships just might round out the holy trinity of good health.

You already know that your friends and family make your life more fulfilling, providing love, laughter, loyalty, and a support system in times of trouble.

And according to a new study, people who have plenty of friends and family in their lives have a good chance of living longer than those who don’t.

Over the course of seven and a half years, researchers found that people who had strong social relationships were 50% more likely to still be alive.

In terms of long life, close friends and family can be as important as weight loss, physical fitness, and quitting smoking.

Now’s as good a time as any to strengthen your social bonds. Reconnect with an old friend or plan a family dinner. Not only will you enjoy time spent together; you might be securing a few extra years of happiness.

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Combine those with determination, goals and a plan for achieving them, and active steps in the right direction, and you’ve got the recipe for improved overall health.

Maintaining a healthy diet and exercising as little as 30 minutes a day can improve quality of life and even add years to it.

Feeling better, looking better, having a better long-term outlook … what more compelling reasons could anyone need to concentrate on improving their health?

And health and wellness has far-reaching effects that go beyond the individual.

As far as your business goes, for example, an employee’s health can be as important as his or her work skills. Promoting health in the workplace is a long-term investment in a company’s most valuable asset: the people who keep it running smoothly.

Healthy workers can bolster the well-being of your company in several ways: decreasing absenteeism, increasing productivity, and saving a significant amount in health-care costs.

People spend the majority of their waking hours at the office, so workplace health and wellness initiatives can have a significant effect on their lives.

Beyond that, workers who make healthy lifestyle changes will likely take them home to their families, multiplying the positive effects exponentially and bringing us one step closer to the ultimate goal: a nation filled with people who are healthy, happy, and fit.

Here are some noteworthy facts from the American Heart Association:

While the concept of a mind/body connection might seem too vague and even somewhat far-fetched, its existence and importance to the concept of overall health is well documented.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), a decline in mental health can lead to a parallel decline in physical health. Likewise, poor physical health can take a toll on mental wellness.

Your body responds to stressful events in your life and the heightened emotions they stir up. The list of physical ailments that might spring from a particularly emotional event such as the death of a loved one is long and varied.

Back pain, chest pain, headaches, high blood pressure, sleep problems, sexual problems, shortness of breath, and fatigue are just some of the physical troubles you might experience due to mental distress, according to FamilyDoctor.org.

Poor emotional health can also weaken your immune system and cause you not to take good enough care of yourself, making you more susceptible to colds, flu, and other infections.

A positive outlook, the APA notes, can help keep you healthy. The association cites some compelling evidence supporting the mind/body connection.

Taking these facts into account, it’s easy to see why it’s important to promote mental health care when motivating your employees to get healthy.

These statistics include:

Stress is a common condition, universal among people no matter what their work and life situations.

And at its most severe, studies have shown, it can cause a number of health problems.

Job stress raises the risk of heart disease, according to research that indicates the cause may be attributed to both behavioral and biological factors.

Stress-related behaviors such as unhealthy eating and smoking combined with an overabundance of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood can wreak havoc on the heart.

Fortunately, it seems that more and more businesses are taking the issue of stress in the workplace seriously.

And with good reason: In a recent survey, more than 80% of employers said that their health care costs are affected by employee stress.

In addition to the increase in health care costs, stressed-out workers can take a toll on your company in other ways, including absenteeism and on-the-job safety. (More accidents happen when workers are distracted by stress.)

In response to the growing awareness of the need for stress relief, both for the well-being of employees and for the good of the business, 66% of employers surveyed had adopted strategies aimed at reducing job stress.

These include employee assistance programs, work/life balance support, on-site fitness centers, and stress-awareness campaigns.

However you see fit to help your employees manage stress, take action sooner than later.

Here are a few tips on relieving workplace stress:

If you’re trying to lose weight, you should add something else to that list: your meals.

Presumably you’ve plotted out an exercise routine, an essential component of any weight loss regimen.

But you’re going to need something to fuel those heart-pumping, calorie-consuming workouts.

Just as your exercise schedule boosts your chances of success, so does a well-devised nutrition game plan.

Before you hit the grocery store, do your homework. Consider each menu you’ll prepare for every day of the week, plus snacks, and write down the ingredients you’ll need.

For variety, include meals that you can switch up to suit your taste. Have several healthy choices on hand for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to keep you from getting bored with the same old foods.

If your diet plan involves eating foods you don’t like, it doesn’t stand much of a chance. Instead, focus on foods you enjoy, but tweak your cooking method to make it healthier.

Fried chicken, for example, can become oven “fried” chicken. Baked chips can replace the standard kind.

Taking the edge off your hunger with nutritious snacks can help you ignore the call of the brownies in the break room later.

To tackle snack attacks, make sure your fridge and pantry at home (and the community fridge and cabinets at work) are stocked with your favorite fruits, prepared veggies with a tasty yogurt dip, and other healthy choices.

If members of your staff are trying to shed some pounds (and we hope they are), helping them succeed starts with providing relevant information.

Share these tips on healthy eating from the American Dietetic Association.

And while they might appear enviably laid-back on the surface, not even these polished few are immune to the occasional bout of palm-sweating, stomach-clenching, sleep-stealing anxiety.

Whether it’s a looming project deadline or a mile-long to-do list, the things that make you anxious have at least one thing in common: They can have detrimental effects on both mental and physical health.

And left unchecked, those effects can be far more severe than restless nights and a nervous stomach.

In fact, two new studies show that anxiety may significantly increase your risk for heart disease and even heart-related death.

While anxiety disorders require professional help, periodic symptoms of garden-variety anxiety can be improved with a few simple techniques.

Here’s a sampling of anxiety-relievers from WebMD:

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Unfortunately, the reality is that keeping your employees safe goes beyond eliminating building hazards and addressing ergonomic concerns. Sometimes, it’s people who present the danger.

Having a keen awareness of potentially dangerous situations is the first line of defense. Advise your staff to report any suspicious activity or safety concerns immediately.

Make sure you equip your employees with the knowledge necessary to protect themselves and each other.

Take measures to help keep your staff members safe from common workplace dangers and crimes, including building intruders, theft of property, and even a volatile and potentially violent coworker.

Doing so will not only assure them that you are looking out for their best interest, but it will also instill the sense of security necessary to keep them focused on their work.

The National Crime Prevention Council offers some tips for making your office secure and keeping your employees safe.

Safety check:

A number of your employees are probably taking advantage of the summer months to use some of their well-earned vacation time.

The closest many people will come to a workout while vacationing is the sandy trek from their lounge chair to the beach bar and back.

Sure, it’s OK to loosen up on your diet and exercise routine occasionally (and temporarily), and what better time to do so than when you’re indulging in leisure time with your nearest and dearest?

Chances are, however, that you’ll find it harder to get back into the swing of things once you return from the blissful land of vacation.

It can be challenging to get back to working out every day (instead of lounging by the ocean and soaking up the sun) and eating right (having salads and whole grains for lunch instead of fried shrimp and hush puppies, for instance).

To head off the problem before it becomes one, consider incorporating some of your healthy habits into your time away.

Here are a few tips to give your trip a boost of good health:

Despite its reputation, stress is not always a bad thing: It can serve as a motivator, keeping us from simply stewing over a problem and instead doing something to solve it.

On the other hand is the kind of stress that causes real problems. From sleep disturbances to headaches, from back pain and fatigue to digestive distress, anxiety, and depression, severe stress can certainly make life difficult.

And whether the cause of the stress is work-related or not, its negative effects will likely follow the sufferer to the office.

You may be able to spot it in the individual’s work performance, attitude, or focus. An employee with a pristine attendance record might suddenly start calling in sick on a regular basis.

Then there are the costs of employee turnover, decreased productivity, and on-the-job accidents caused by distracted workers.

Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to weed out those who need help managing their stress. The best thing you can do is give your staff the tools and resources to find their own healthy coping strategies.

Because stress targets everyone from time to time, you can rest assured that your efforts to encourage stress management won’t go to waste.

Stress busters:

It’s hard to believe that a mere five minutes of anything could make a notable difference.

But a new study suggests that taking up biking and brisk walking might be an effective way to minimize weight gain as women enter middle age.

Over the course of the 16-year study, researchers found that women who biked five minutes a day gained 1.5 pounds less than those who didn’t.

Women who extended their biking workouts to 30 minutes achieved greater results, gaining about 3.5 pounds less than women whose routines stayed the same.

Brisk walking (defined as 3 miles per hour or more) is also beneficial, and researchers found that women who increased their time spent walking briskly gained 4 pounds less than those who did not.

Slow walking, on the other hand, did not prevent weight gain, and women who were overweight to begin with saw even better results.

Perhaps this information will serve to inspire women who have a hard time fitting exercise into their busy schedules. While five minutes of physical activity a day isn’t a lofty goal, it’s better than none at all.

And it’s a starting point that could lead to a more active lifestyle and improved overall health and fitness.

Walking and biking are two ideal activities for beginners. With no special equipment required other than your own two feet (and a good pair of shoes), walking remains a popular exercise for good reason.

Invest in a pedometer to track your progress and motivate you to add steps every day as your stamina and fitness level increase.

Biking makes a low-impact and fun workout that you can customize to meet your fitness needs.

In the beginning, for example, you can spend some time cruising a flat trail; as your endurance increases you might take on hillier terrain or longer distances.