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

Symptoms/issues/concerns

% of people

scoring over 5

No. of people

scoring 10

Low level of fitness

47

Poor sleep

41

Snoring, sleep apnoea

41

Crook back, sore shoulders

35

Overweight

35

2

Under appreciated at work

35

Lack of Energy

29

Alcohol intake

29

Irritable bowel, constipation etc

18

Elevated blood pressure

18

1

Headaches

12

Reflux, unsettled stomach

12

Anxious

12

Depressed

12

1

Unhappy family life

12

Financial status

12

Frequent colds, flu, sinus

6

Shortness of breath from asthma

6

Itchy, rashes, psoriasis

6

Elevated cholesterol

6

Elevated glucose

6

Smoking

6

0

Caffeine

6

Work-life balance

6

Furry tongue, thrush, tinea,

0

Chest pain, palpitations

0

Mouth ulcers

0

Shakes, nervous mannerisms

0

Grinding teeth

0

Wrong job

0

•

Poor sleep

41% said they slept poorly. Could be anxiety or lack of fitness.

•

Obesity

35% of people said they were more than 10Kg over weight. It's a symptom of metabolic dysfunction and relates to high energy diets and low energy lifestyles. It's suggestive of elevated levels of insulin floating around the body, which is a precursor of all manner of body system dysfunctions - elevated blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, elevated blood glucose.

The recommendation, 35% of people need to get out and exercise at lunch time and eat from the top of the Hourglass.

•

Lack of energy

29% of people said they lacked energy.

Low levels of energy come from many sources, including: -

-  lack of a good aerobic fitness training program

-  a diet high in wheat flour and sugar

-  dullness

-  ...

•

Fitness

47% of staff indicated they weren't particularly fit. We recommend staff be given the greatest encouragement to leave the office at lunch time and get in some physical activity. One organisation we work for gives staff an hour and a half off for lunch, providing people exercise during that time.

Fitness has a significant bearing on the scores for low levels of energy, poor sleep, snoring, depression and headaches.

•

Musculo-skeletal dysfunction

35% of staff have some sort of musculo-skeletal dysfunction that they have to put up with constantly. Musculo-skeletal dysfunction goes with low levels of strength and flexibility. Those are greatest risk need encouragement to attend a strength and flexibility training program several times a week.

•

Rashes and itchiness

Can be caused by a range of things: -

-  a body that's stressed producing too much cortisol

-  a toxic diet

-  a sluggish elimination system

-  itching to get away from something

-  ...

•

Headaches

Caused by

-  a diet high in wheat flour and sugar

-  caffeine withdrawal

-  lack of oxygen getting to the head

-  a sluggish elimination system

-  a head out of alignment due to tight and weak muscles

-  beating your head against a brick wall

-  ...

•

Colds and flu

Symptom of a depressed immune system, one which can be strengthened by eating from the top of the Hourglass and getting plenty of aerobic exercise.

•

Under-appreciation at work

35% of people said they were under-appreciated at work. Compared with other groups we have surveyed this is not a particularly high score. However,  people feeling under-appreciated at work is always a cause for concern and managers need to take note and put in train a series of measures to improve this score in say, 3 months time.

•

Being in the wrong job

Nobody said they were in the wrong job. This is an exceptionally good result. Usually in our surveys there is a high and positive correlation between people being in the wrong job and people saying they are under-appreciated at work.

•

Diet

A diet high in flour and sugar and low in fruit, vegetables and fibre leads to irritable and bowel, reflux.

Depression and anxiety

There is an epidemic of depression in our community and we encourage all organisations to target depression. 1 person was on anti-depressant medication.

There is an epidemic of depression in our community. This epidemic relates to poor health in general and will, of course increase at the same rate as the epidemic of all other body system dysfunctions. The mind is just another part of the human ecosystem - an ecosystem under threat from low levels of health, fitness and wellbeing. It is important that people who are depressed or a risk of becoming depressed be encouraged to have regular counseling - through the EAP or other counselors - and be given encouragement to do the things that unstressed people. In particular it means encouraging people to exercise at lunch time. It means taking their holidays, eating wisely, not working too many hours and ‘getting a life’. Stress, anxiety and depression can be a high price to pay for achievement.

As the population becomes less physically active, eats diets high in flour and sugar and low in omega 3 fats, selenium and B group vitamins, lacks resilience, drinks too much alcohol and caffeine, has difficulty managing the internal and external conversations going on inside their head and/or live lives devoid of meaning and purpose, we can expect rates of anxiety and depression to increase.

Whilst not wishing to make light of the true ‘black dog’ of clinical depression, for some people the symptoms of stress, unhappiness, sadness, grief, hopelessness, disappointment, despair, vacuity, anger and anxiety are being treated as if they were the symptoms of clinical depression.

The best book about depression I've read, and what you can do about it, and one that I recommend highly is by psychiatrist, David Servan-Schreiber, Healing Without Freud or Prozac.

Blood pressure

1 person was on medication.

Blood pressure is a symptom of body system dysfunction relating directly to

- lack of aerobic fitness

- being over weight

- being stressed.

Smoking

Nobody smoked. That's exceptionally good news.

On the whole, a good score, except for the hiccup of 3 people scoring 5/10. My encouragement to people who scored less than 6 is to move heaven and earth to work out what it is they really want to do - and develop a plan to get there as soon as they can.

Patchy. Work is probably about as stressful as you want it to be. Walk away. Each morning when you get to work, set an alarm clock for 30 minutes before you want to leave. Make appointments for your Self that allow you to get on with your work unhindered by interruptions.

A good result. Most people are focused.

This is a fair to middling result. Of all our profile questions, this one is usually the worst answered. In this 'organisation' there's some extra work for managers. For staff our recommendation is always to manage up. A lot of managers are too busy getting on with their work to spend time managing down. So, take your manager out for morning tea once a month and talk about yourself and your work. Get some regular feedback. Don't wait for the big one at the end of the year. If you manager doesn't have time for you, get another one!

This is not particularly good. Too many people do not think they are receiving a financial reward commensurate with their responsibilities. If you're not happy, you're selling yourself short. Log onto Seek and get your suit dry cleaned!

This is a reasonable result. With only a couple of exceptions, work is valued and appreciated.

It's a patchy score. The aim is to have all staff recording a score of 7 or more.

Average score: 76. Compared with other groups, this is a good, result.  For people who score less than 70, there is the whiff of a suggestion they're not in the right job. The situation is certainly redeemable. For people scoring less than 60 the smell is becoming distinctly stronger and below 50 it is very strong.  Being in the wrong job sucks all vitality out of you.