miller Health Occupational Health and Fitness

Index

110_AHLTI_August 2008

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John Miller conducted a Health Management program for The Group in March 2008.

9 people completed the following profiles: -

■ Health, Fitness and Wellbeing

■ Diet

■ Chemical intake

■ Stress risk

■ Career satisfaction

The results are presented in graphic format, with commentary.

Click here to read what the assessments are all about

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.

	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 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. 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.

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

This profile is described as poor. The average score was 77. Anyone scoring more than 80 is putting up with a lot of 'background noise'.

HEALTH CLIMATE SURVEY

Based on scores received in the Health, Fitness and Wellbeing profile we've compiled a Health Climate Survey. Scores on each item have ranked - the higher the score the worse the problem. We added the scores for each item. The results appear in the table below.

Symptoms	% of people scoring over 5
Crook guts	63
Asthma	63
Fitness	63
Libido	63
Smoking	63	5
Blood pressure	50	2
Candida	38
Poor sleep	38
Migraines	25
Snoring	25
Colds and flu	25
Mouth ulcers	25
Caffeine	25
Unhappy family	25
Headaches	13
Lack of energy	13
Overweight	13
Grinding teeth	13
Anxious	13
Insecure	13
Depressed	13	1
Wrong job	13
Under appreciated at home	13
Crookback	0
Irritable bowel	0
Chest pain	0
Rashes	0
Shakes	0
Alcohol	0
Under appreciated at work	0

We registered those scores of 5 and over as being a symptom, issue or concern. For the first time in the history of the Health Climate Survey no issues rated more than 20%. In which case the notes tha6t5 appear directly below don't mean a great deal.

Perception

Based on people's perception (where they gave a particular symptom a score of 5 or more) the key issues are highlighted in the table above. Below are some comments about the most frequent, high-rating scores in the people we survey.

•	Crook Gut It's not often that 'crook gut' appears at the top of the list. Must be eating the wrong food. Lay off anything with wheat in it and milk and you should feel a lot better. It won't hurt to lay off the grog as well.

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

•	Blood pressure Blood pressure is a symptom of body system dysfunction relating directly to - lack of aerobic fitness - being over-weight - being stressed. 2 people were on blood pressure medication.

•	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 - itching to get on with life - ...

•	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. There is a high and positive correlation between people not being in the right job and people saying they are under-appreciated at work.

•	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. 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 5 people smoked. That's 5 people too many. It's far too high a proportion of staff. We recommend a smoking cessation program.

•	Grinding teeth Usually accompanies stress.

DIET PROFILE

The diet profile is designed to assist participants to check out whether they are eating wisely and also one which has appropriate amounts of carbohydrate, protein and fat. It also looks at various eating habits, eg eating too much, eating for comfort ...

• Closeness to ideal weight?

• Do you eat a decent breakfast?

• Do you eat a high fat diet?

• Do you eat a high starch diet?

• Do you eat from the top of the Diet Hourglass?

• How much water do you during each day?

• Do you supplement your diet with essential micro-nutrients – vitamins,

minerals, essential fats (omega 3) and glyco-proteins - and

nutraceuticals - ginko, aloe vera, Echinacea ...?

• Do you eat too much?

• Are you ruled by your addictions to fat, sugar and starch?

• Does the back end of your system work like a charm?

We use the Hourglass Diet as out eating model.

Low scores are usually symptomatic of high fat, high starch, low fibre diets. The results: - people become over fat and constipated.


	Being over weight is a symptom of metabolic dysfunction.	Not good at all. Too many people filling themselves up on flour and sugar at breakfast time. This is due to the Kellogification of our diets. The 'fat police' have just about stripped a cooked breakfast out of existence.

	If you're over weight you've either got a fat guts ...	or a starch guts, or a sugar guts.

	The nature of our culture is that it's too easy to eat junk food.	Most people are not drinking enough water. We're too affluent - we can afford to drink coffee, fruit juice and carbonated drinks to slake our thirst. Every thing but water.

	There is a good case for supplementing one's diet. Our food lacks vitamins minerals and essential fats.	Not only do I fail to eat from the top of the Hourglass, I also eat too much. It's hard to satisfy the inner hunger by eating.

	There's and epidemic of food addiction, particularly to chocolate, cola drinks, cake, biscuits, ice-cream ...	Back end function depends on eating less fat, flour and sugar and more fruit. vegetables and fibre. Psyllium husk works like a treat.
Total score 43. This is not a good score. It explains why people have a crook gut and are overweight. It's too easy to eat a high energy dense diet of manufactured food - particularly foods containing large amounts of fat, flour and sugar - food that comes in packets, tins, cans, bottles, cardboard boxes and plastic bags. This is a group that needs to design strategies to get more fruit and vegetables down their throat.

Australia is in a grip of an obesity and body system dysfunction epidemic generated by too much of the wrong food on the one hand, and too little of the right food on the other. It is my opinion that diets high in refined, cereal-based carbohydrates and sugar (the garbohydrates) are the suspects. Too few people seem to be aware that their level of body fat is affected by the amount of flour and sugar they take in each day. The high starch diet has replaced the high fat diet, with the same consequences. The garbohydrate diet stimulates insulin production which leads to fat gain, and all manner of metabolic dysfunctions.

Many people are unaware that they may be allergic or intolerant of some foods, particularly wheat flour, milk, deadly nightshades, chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, preservatives ...

Most people have a flour and sugar breakfast, attributed to the kelloggification of the Australian diet. You don't eat biscuits for lunch and dinner so why are you eating them for breakfast? The breakfast eating behaviour of Australians is dreadful. Few people have fruit. Even fewer have vegetables, or adequate protein and fat.

Few people take vitamin and mineral supplements. I believe there are good reasons to do so. If you don't believe me, I recommend you buy the book, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutrition May Be Killing You, by Ray Strand, MD.

By their own recognition a small number of people said they over-ate and were ruled by their addictions to junk food.

The operation of the back end of the system was only fair – low scores being reflective of a diet that lacks sufficient fibre.

CHEMICAL INTAKE PROFILE

The chemical profile focuses principally on the mix of culturally acceptable stimulants and depressants.

• Do you smoke?

• How many alcoholic drinks do you have a week?

• How much caffeine do you drink each day?

• Do you persistently feed a sweet tooth?

• Do you persistently feed a salt tooth?

• How many hours a week do you spend watching TV?

• Do you have a high intake of food additives?

• How do you rate your reliance on headache and pain-killing tablets?

• Are you on sleeping tablets or anti-depressants?

• Are you on diabetes or blood pressure mediation?


	5 people smoked. That's far too high a proportion of people.	4 people have close to 20 or more drinks per week. That's too many. As people become fitter the need for alcohol declines.

	Reasonable. Less is good.	A few addicts. Time to stop putting it in tea and coffee.

	No need to have extra salt on your food. We're getting enough out of packaged food as it is.	Hmmmmm. TV is robs people of their time, their sleep and their vitality.

	2 people on anti-inflammatory tablets for musculo-skeletal dysfunction.	Work out why you have headaches - tiredness, metabolic dysfunction, dehydration, resistance ...

	2 people too many relying on medication to get to sleep. A sign of metabolic dysfunction and lack of fitness.	Elevated blood pressure is another indication of metabolic dysfunction.

Average score: 61. Compared with other groups, this is not a very good result.

STRESS RISK PROFILE

Participants completed a simple stress and relaxation profile designed to assist them in making an assessment of how they were affected by stress. It is based on the habits of unstressed people.

If you do what unstressed people do you are less at risk of becoming stressed. I’m yet to see someone who said they were highly stressed or depressed who got a high score on this profile. A good score is over 70.

• How would you rate your current stress level

• Do you get a good night’s sleep?

• Do you take your holidays?

• Are you keeping yourself fit and healthy?

• Is there balance in your life?

• Do you take time off at lunch time?

• How many hours a week do you work?

• Are you good at giving back to your Self?

• Do you meditate?

• Are you happy with your family (and romantic) life?

The matter of stress always needs to be addressed by organisations as part of a personal development thrust, and aimed at all staff. If stress management type programs are to be conducted, all staff need to be involved, otherwise those at most risk and those who are currently most stressed (and too wrapped up in their own busyness) will not attend.

For those who spend long hours at work, I often wonder whether the behaviour is externally or internally driven. I suspect the latter. No body on their death bed ever said 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office.'

SCORING GUIDELINES

Excellent, scoring 8 or more

Good, scoring 7 or more

Fair, scoring 5 or 6

Poor, scoring less than 5

‘Pass mark’ on all parameters 7/10.


	This is a fair result.	Another fair result. The first casualty of anxiety and low levels of fitness is sleep.

	Poor. Paul Pearsal in his book Superimmunity' said you need a 21 day away from home holiday every year.	Not particularly good. A lot of people are not keeping themselves in the shape they'd like to be in.

	Fair average quality.	A reasonable result. Only a couple of people don't take time off to switch off and get outside in the fresh air. This is a reflection of poor personal management, considering people can have an extra half and hour off for lunch if they get outside and exercise.

	This is a fair result. No one on their death bed ever said 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office.' The people who scored poorly are probably women doing 3 shifts.	A poor result. Too many 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 less so for two people. All organisations need to encourage staff with family problems to go to the employee assistance program for advice and support.

Average score: 58. This is a mediocre score. People could do more to look after their Self. Being fit and setting aside to keep the body in good shape is a key indicator of an ability to give back to the Self. It's about respect for Self. I recommend that people scoring less that 50 spend time with a counselor or life coach, or go to a personal development weekend to get themselves centred and grounded on looking after their Self. If you don't do the things unstressed people do you end up stressed.

CAREER SATISFACTION PROFILE

The parameters in the profile relate to a mix of factors influences by the participant, management and their colleagues.

• How close are you to doing the job you’d really like to be doing?

• Are you in the right job for now?

• Is work giving you life or sucking life out of you?

• Are you focused on your career options?

• Do you get good feedback from your manager?

• Do you receive an appropriate financial reward?

• Do you feel you and your work are valued and appreciated?

• Do you work for an organisation that cares about people?

• Do you enjoy the company of the people you work with?

• What’s the level of morale like in your work group?

Normally, when results on the overall career profile are less than 70/100, people agree that they’re not in the right job. Certainly those scoring less than 60 have sufficient issues relating to career management as to seriously consider going somewhere else.

SCORING GUIDELINES

Excellent, scoring 8 or more

Good, scoring 7 or more

Fair, scoring 5 or 6

Poor, scoring less than 5

‘Pass mark’ on all parameters 7/10.


	On the whole, a fair result when compared to other groups we have surveyed. 1 person didn't know what they wanted to do when they grew up! 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.	With 1 exception this is a good score. A high proportion of people are in the right job for now.

	Fair. Work is probably about as stressful as you want it to be.	A fair result for most people. If you're not focused, you're going to have to put up with whatever comes your way; it could be a tsunami!

	With the exception of the 2 people who scored less than 6/10, this is a good result. Of all our profile questions, this one is usually the worst answered. For staff our recommendation is always to manage up.	With 2 exceptions, these people are not satisfied with what they sell themselves for. If you're not happy, you could be selling yourself short. Log onto Seek and get your suit dry cleaned!

	This is a fair result. Work could be more valued and appreciated.	With one exception this is a particularly good score.

	With one exception this is a very good score. You can't get much better than this.	With 1 exception this is good score. What needs to be done to convert scores below 7 to score above 7? That is the question. It's generally the case that our morale is good when my morale is good.

Average score: 71. Overall, this is quite a good score. 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. The person who scored into the 50's scored 59, so I suspect the situation is redeemable.

The Buddha and Confucius both said, 'Find the job you'd love to do and you won't have to do another days work in your life.'

RECOMMENDATIONS

See the generic list of recommendations that cover all our profiles.