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. Score 0 on pills

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 0)

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

Poor sleep

50

Snoring, sleep apnoea

50

Crook back, sore shoulders

50

Headaches

33

Overweight

33

Low level of fitness

33

Elevated blood pressure

33

Caffeine

33

Lack of Energy

17

Frequent colds, flu, sinus

17

Reflux, unsettled stomach

17

Elevated cholesterol

17

Elevated glucose

17

Grinding teeth

17

Alcohol

17

Smoking

17

1

Wrong job

17

Work-life balance

17

Unhappy family life

17

Furry tongue, thrush, tinea,

0

Irritable bowel, constipation etc

0

Shortness of breath from asthma

0

Chest pain, palpitations

0

Itchy, rashes, psoriasis

0

Mouth ulcers

0

Shakes, nervous mannerisms

0

Anxious

0

Depressed

0

0

Under appreciated at work

0

Financial status

0

•

Poor Sleep

A lot of people in our community don't sleep well. Some are anxious - the first casualty of anxiety is poor sleep. Some aren't physically tired. People who are physically fit and physically tired sleep like logs. Some want to sleep too long. Some need to 'wake up to themselves', get up and get on with life... To read more about it click here.

•

Snoring

The recipe for a good snore is to be male, over 40, 20 kilos of more over weight, stressed out of your brain, have a few drinks and sleep on your back. It's a good measure of metabolic dysfunction. It doesn't get better by wearing a gas mask or having your sleeping partner dig you in the ribs! It's telling you to get fit and lose weight. This is not rocket science.

•

Musculo-skeletal dysfunction

Some staff are groaning and travailing in pain. 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.

•

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

-  ...

•

Over-weight

Having extra fat around your body is 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, 50% of people need to get out and exercise at lunch time and eat from the top of the Hourglass.

It's stimulated by eating too much high density food - too much of fat and too much of the garbohydrates - and too little vigorous physical activity.

Plus, you can't satisfy the inner hunger by eating. Find out why you're eating too much. A good counselor could help.

•

Fitness

A very high proportion 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.

•

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.

•

High caffeine intake

Drinking too much coffee is an easy trap to fall into. It's a drug. It can become a habit. Maybe a couple of cups a day, before lunch is about a reasonable dosage. As your mum used to say when you said you were thirsty, 'Go and have a drink of water.' Check the colour of your urine to see whether you are getting enough water. If it's clear you're in the clear. If it's dark yellow you're dehydrated. Drink more water.

•

Lack of 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

-  ...

•

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

-  ...

•

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

This is a course 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. This factor certainly needs addressing in more detail and re-evaluation.

•

Being in the wrong job

There is a high and positive correlation between people being in the wrong job and people saying they are under-appreciated at work. There is evidence that a career development program may be needed in this workplace and/or people given strong encouragement to have a few sessions with the employee assistance program people - or me!

•

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. no-one scored higher than 5 on the depression question, indicating risk that needs to be dealt with. No-one was on anti-depressant medication.

There is an epidemic of depression in our community. This epidemic relates to poor health generally 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.

•

Smoking

1 person smoked. Now lets move heaven and earth to assist that person to give it away altogether.

This is a reasonable result.

A good result. Paul Pearsal in his book Superimmunity' said you need a 21 day away from home holiday every year.

Not particularly good. Some people are not keeping themselves in the shape they'd like to be in.

With one exception this is a good looking graph.

A good result.

With one exception this is a very good result. No one on their death bed ever said 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office.'

A few people are too busy to look after and nurture their Self.

Very few people meditate. The reasons to do so are compelling.

Family life satisfaction is good for most people, but not for some. The tail suggests the organisation could encourage staff with family problems to go to the employee assistance program for advice and support.

Average score: 65. This is an average sort of a score.  People could do more to look after their Self. I recommend to people that if they have a problem with giving back to their Self, they spend time with a counselor or life coach, or go to a personal development weekend.

Patchy. 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.

Patchy. If you're not focused, you're going to have to put up with whatever comes your way; it could be a tsunami!

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!

These people are pretty satisfied with what they sell themselves for. If you're not happy, you're selling yourself short. Log onto Seek and get your suit dry cleaned!

This is a good result. Work is valued and appreciated.

Patchy. There's room for improvement. The aim is to have all staff recording a score of 7 or more.

Average score: 70. Compared with other groups, this is a good, but not brilliant 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.