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Health Fitness and Wellbeing Seminar Results

Inkpen Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Survey

2024

John Miller conducted a one day Seven Habits of Fit and Healthy People seminar in 2024.

47 participants (29 men and 18 women) completed the

- Health, Fitness and Wellbeing

- specific joint assessment

- musculo-skeletal health risk and

- career satisfaction assessment profiles.

Accompanying this report are spreadsheets with retailed data from each of the assessments.

NO TICKET NO START

Approximately 30% of staff failed to attend the 2024 health seminar series. The assessments participants completed during the seminar provide the organisation with important data relating to staff health, fitness and wellbeing - and in particular, workers compensation arrangements.

The failure of people to attend the seminars and not having collected the data from them, places the organisation at risk to claims for personally-generated metabolic, musculo-skeletal and mental health dysfunctions.

Click here to read on.

HARD TALK

There are a number of issues relating to fair and sustainable workers compensation arrangements that need to be addressed by insurers, their premium holders and individual employees.

Click here to read on.

Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Profile

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

• the mind

• autonomic nervous system

• immune system

• digestive system

• circulatory system

• elimination system

• musculo-skeletal system.

On this profile a good score is a low score.

	Symptom	None		Not much			A fair bit			A lot
1.	Headaches including migraines	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2.	Lack of energy and vitality	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
3.	Candida - jock itch, thrush, tinea ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
4.	Poor sleep. If on tablets score 10	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5.	Snoring &/or sleep apnoea. Score 10 if using a mask	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
6.	Crook back, stiff neck, sore shoulders, dicky knee RSI ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
7.	Frequent colds, flu, sinus	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
8.	Unsettled stomach, reflux (Score 10 if on medication)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
9.	Overweight - 1 point for every 2Kg	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
10.	Irritable bowel, constipation	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11.	Asthma	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
12.	Low level of aerobic fitness	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
13.	Chest pain, palpitations	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
14.	Rashes, itchiness, skin outbreaks, psoriasis ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
15.	Mouth ulcers, cold sores	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
16.	Elevated blood pressure. Score 0 on pills	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
17.	Elevated blood cholesterol. Score o if on pills	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
18.	Elevated blood glucose. Score 0 if on medication	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, insecure, apprehensive	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
25.	Sad or depressed (On medication, score 0)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
26.	In wrong job for now	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
27.	Under-appreciated at work	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
28.	Have poor work/life balance	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
29.	Unhappy with family life	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
30.	Unhappy with financial status	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

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 low levels of fitness and high levels of stress usually score well over 80.

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 50. This was not the case with this group.

By and large, higher scores are usually a reflection of

• low levels of fitness

• an inability to deal with what life and work are serving up to people.

Remember, it is not what happens, but how we deal with what happens that determines our level of stress.

2024

2023

Classification of average scores: Excellent - less than 40. Good - 41 - 50. Reasonable 51-60. Poor - over 60.

The average in 2023 was 77. The average score in 2024 was 68, a definite improvement. Anyone scoring more than 80 is putting up with a lot of 'background noise'.

Approximately a third of the participants scored more than 80. This is a cause for concern.

2024

Symptoms/ issues / concerns	% of people scoring over 5	# people scoring 10
Low level of fitness	45	2
Poor sleep	40	4
Lack of Energy	36
Musculo-skeletal dysfunction	34
Snoring, sleep apnoea	32	2
High alcohol intake	32	5
Anxious	32	3
Stressed financial status	26	3
Reflux, unsettled stomach	23	6
Depressed	23
Under appreciated at work	23	4
Overweight	21	7
Elevated blood pressure	19	8
Smoking	19	7
Caffeine	19	1
Frequent colds, flu, sinus	15
Elevated cholesterol	15	4
Elevated glucose	15	6
Grinding teeth	15	1
Work-life balance	15
Shortness of breath from asthma	13	2
Wrong job	13	2
Headaches	11
Itchy, rashes, psoriasis	9
Unhappy family life	9	1
Irritable bowel, constipation etc	6	1
Shakes, nervous mannerisms	6	1
Chest pain, palpitations	2
Mouth ulcers	2
Candida	0

2023 comparison

45% of people in 2024 admitted that they were not fit. The organisation is in the position to have staff attend regular fitness classes and incorporate regular 10 minute strength and flexibility exercises in the workplace.

Smoking behaviour appears to have been reduced. The community average is now around 10%. Not only is the habit unhealthy but it knocks a huge dent in the family housekeeping budget.

There is a relatively high incidence of anxiety and depression - caused by the stress of life, coupled with poor metabolic health - generated by low levels of aerobic fitness. One of the benefits of a regular and systematic aerobic fitness training program is ,'you feel better'.

An interesting observation is that, whereas in 2023 16% of people said they were in the wrong job and 23% said they were under-appreciated at work, he results form 2024 are almost the same.

All in all, these Health Climate Survey results are a call for the organisation to do all within it's power to support a program designed to assist staff to become fitter and healthier.

MUSCULO-SKELETAL HEALTH

There is an epidemic of musculo-skeletal dysfunction within the organisation. The organisation's workers compensation arrangements are in grave danger from people submitting claims for 'work-related injuries' - which have, as their principal cause, personally-generated musculo-skeletal dysfunction. If people don't train, tight muscles take the skeleton out of alignment and weak muscles fail to give the skeleton the support it needs to carry out every tasks without breaking down.

	Joint and muscle pain Symptoms/ issues / concerns	% of people scoring less than 6
	Lower back	39
	Upper back	30
	Neck	41
	Right shoulder	24
	Left shoulder	28
	Right wrist	15
	Left wrist	17
	Right hip	26
	Left hip	30
	Right knee	37
	Left knee	37
	Right lower leg	17
	Left lower leg	17
	Right foot	11
	Left foot	17
	Over all - scoring less than 100/150	28

	Musculo-skeletal risk assessment	% of people scoring less than 6
	Current Condition	30
	Over weight	27
	Leg strength	27
	Abdominal strength	59
	Upper body strength	75
	Hamstring flexibility	64
	Buttock flexibility	50
	Shoulder function	30
	Lack of strength training	93
	Lack of flexibility training	93
	Over all - scoring less than 60%	70

The results of these two assessments provide the organisation with valuable information about the risk it is carrying and what it can do to reduce the risk. It is highly recommended that all staff participate in a regular 10 minute strength and flexibility session.

Even better still it would be good if the local fitness centre could hold regular 'Back-in-Alignment' musculo-skeletal classes, with staff in poor condition being obliged to attend. (After all, the organisation is paying their workers compensation premiums!)

21% reported being over weight compared with 51% in 2023 This is a pleasing result.

50% recorded poor abdominal muscle strength and 75% had a low level of upper body strength.

A lack of hamstring and buttock muscle flexibility is the root cause of poor skeletal alignment - affecting joints above and below the pelvis.

It's unfair to blame the chair at work for lower back, hip and knee pain when you lack strength and flexibility, your skeleton is out of alignment and you don't have a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program.

CAREER SATISFACTION

Participants completed the Career Satisfaction Assessment.

	Career satisfaction assessment	% of people scoring less than 6
	Closeness to ideal job	36
	Right job for now	16
	Job stress	36
	Focus on career options	36
	Good feedback from manager	23
	Receive appropriate financial reward	36
	Feel valued and appreciated	27
	Organisation cares about people	7
	Enjoy company of work mates	14
	Morale of work group	16
	Over all - less than 60%	25