Occupational health and fitness newsletter

APRIL 2007

HEALTH CLIMATE SURVEY

Just as miners used the canary in the cage to alert them to the presence of noxious gases, measuring aerobic fitness provides a very good measure of risk of metabolic dysfunction.

Assessments of strength and flexibility provide a very measure of risk of musculo-skeletal dysfunction.

Some time ago I conducted a HEALTH CLIMATE SURVEY for an organisation using the Mind and Body Profile as the measurement tool. It produced some very interesting results and it may be something you'd like me to do for your staff.

THE PROGRAM

We took a group of people through the Mind and Body Profile, a subjective tool that pin-points general health, fitness and wellbeing issues.

THE MIND AND BODY PROFILE

The Mind and Body profile provides people with a very good idea of how well the various systems of the body are functioning, particularly the

▪ the mind

▪ nervous system

▪ immune system

▪ digestive system

▪ circulatory system

▪ elimination system

▪ musculo-skeletal system.

Participants were asked to circle the numbers appropriate to the degree that they get the symptoms on the left hand side of the page.

A good score is a low score.

	Symptom	None		Not much			A fair bit			A lot
1.	Headaches	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2.	Migraines	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
3.	Lack of energy and vitality	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
4.	Candida - jock itch, thrush, tinea ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5.	Poor sleep. If on tablets score 10	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
6.	Snoring &/or sleep apnoea.	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
7.	Crook back, sore shoulders RSI ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
8.	Frequent colds, flu, sinus	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
9.	Unsettled stomach, reflux	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
10.	Irritable bowel, constipation, trots ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11.	Overweight - 1 point for every 2Kg	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
12.	Asthma	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
13.	Low level of aerobic fitness	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
14.	Chest pain, palpitations	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
15.	Rashes, itchiness, psoriasis, zits	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
16.	Mouth ulcers, cold sores	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
17.	Elevated blood pressure. (On medication score 10)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
18.	Reduced libido	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
19.	Shakes, nervous ticks, mannerisms	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
20.	Grinding teeth	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
21.	Alcoholic drinks per day (2 pts/drink)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
22.	Smoking. (1 pt/cigarette/day)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
23.	Caffeine (1 pt/cup per day)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
24.	Anxious about life in general	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
25.	Insecure/apprehensive about the future	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
26.	Sad or depressed (On medication, score 10)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
27.	In wrong job for now	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
28.	Under-appreciated at work	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
29.	Under-appreciated at home	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
30.	Unhappy with family and romantic life	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Score

SCORE

The score of a normal, fit and healthy human being is less than 20.

Higher scores are symptomatic of dysfunction of one or more body systems.

People with high levels of stress usually score well over 100.

For people with a score of more than 80, the ‘background noise’ of their life is becoming louder and louder. It is hard to concentrate on your work when body systems are dysfunctional.

We know a fit and healthy group when we see the majority of scores below 40.

THE CLIMATE SURVEY

First we prepared a frequency histogram of the results.

112 people completed the profile. With an average score of 83 we rated this group as unhealthy. A fit and healthy group of people has an average score in the 40's.

A lot of people are putting up with a lot of background noise. The risk of absenteeism, presenteeism and workers' compensation claims is considered high.

SCORES ON EACH ITEM, RANKED - the higher the score the worse the problem

Then we added the scores for each item to see which were the most pressing health and management issues. The results appear in the table below.

Rank	Symptom		Aggregate score for 112 people	People scoring 7 or more - high risk -
1	7	Musculo-skeletal dysfunction*	708	58
2	13	Under fit*	542	29
3	5	Poor sleep*	528	27
4	3	Lack of energy*	509	23
5	6	Snoring, sleep apnoea*	463	31
6	28	Under appreciated at work	454	22
7	11	Over weight*	449	26
8	9	Crook gut	376	20
9	8	Colds*	369	11
10	1	Headaches*	368	16
11	27	In wrong job	359	11
12	21	Alcohol	340	9
13	23	Caffeine	316	7
14	25	Insecure	309	7
15	24	Anxious	307	3
16	26	Depressed*	278	8
17	10	Irritable bowel	242	4
18	4	Candida	233	5
19	29	Under appreciated at home	233	2
20	18	Reduced libido*	220	1
21	20	Grinding teeth	204	9
22	30	Unhappy family life	195	6
23	15	Rashes …	190	5
24	16	Mouth ulcers	188	6
25	17	High Blood pressure*	173	7
26	2	Migraines	167	4
27	14	Chest pain/palpitations*	156	4
28	22	Smoking	153	19
29	19	Shakes …*	151	1
30	12	Asthma*	147	7
xxxxxx	xxx	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*Aerobic fitness related

We recommended the organisation focus on dealing with the top 12 items, plus the issues of smoking and depression.

You will note that a large number of those symptoms are related to aerobic fitness. Improve your aerobic fitness level and there is a good chance they will go away. Click on the Complete Fitness Program for more information for a list of benefits of being more aerobically fit and what you can do to improve it.

Purchase a copy of the Aerobic Fitness Diary.

The smoking scores indicate that the Company has a community average for smokers. We believe this average number of smokers could be reduced dramatically with a concerted campaign to assist smokers, their friends and family members to give it up.

There is a higher than average number of people on anti-depressant medication. I believe that anti-depressant medication without a sustained physical activity program, nutrient rich diet and counseling is a tawdry form of treatment. I recommend the book Healing Without Freud of Prozac by French/American Psychiatrist David Servan Schreiber.

You'll feel better if you exercise with vigor for at least 30 minutes, twice a day. That's walking, shuffling, jogging, swimming, cycling or on the stepper or elliptical at the gym ...

When you're getting 800 or more aerabytes a week, preferably from at least 10 aerobic exercise sessions there's a good chance you'll be feeling a lot better. Increase your intake of essential vitamins, take copious doses of omega 3 fat (2 or 3 fat capsules with each meal), lay off wheat (which sucks energy out of a lot of people and gives them headaches) and improve your posture (it's hard to say you feel 'fantastic' when you've got the posture of a miserable person). You are what you eat. If you want to feel dreadful, eat junk! Eat from the top of the Hourglass.

WOULD YOU LIKE US TO CONDUCT A

HEALTH CLIMATE SURVEY FOR YOUR ORGANISATION?

In the hands of people who want to dramatically lower the cost of workers' compensation claims the Health Climate Survey is a pretty powerful tool.

There are several ways we can do it.

1.	A quick one-on-one assessment for each staff member. It takes about 10 minutes to administer the profile and provide a bit of feedback.

2.	a one-on-one assessment that includes measures of blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose. Set aside 15 minutes. We can probably do the Polar Heart Rate sitting down test of aerobic fitness in that time.

3.	A seminar program that includes completing the Mind and Body Profile. It could be done over an hour or two, a half day or a whole day and probably the best seminars would be - Seven Habits of Fit and Healthy People, - Models of God health - Work/Life Balance - Relaxation, Better Sleep, Fewer Headaches, More Energy

At the end of it we'll give you a report suggesting which issues need to be addressed in the quest to

▪ lower absenteeism

▪ lower workers' compensation costs

▪ lower presenteeism

▪ increase productivity.

If you're interested in a health climate survey for your staff, complete the contactus form or give me a ring.

Regards

John Miller

(02) 6288 7703

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter just send me an email. If there is someone else in your organisation you'd like me to send it to, I'd appreciate it if you could let me know their name, phone number and email address.