The take-away from the Gallup Mid-Year Well-Being Report Data is great…it can tell us all sorts of things. For instance, according to a recent article summarizing the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index at the mid-year point, "Americans in Hawaii continued to set the national standard in wellbeing in the first half of 2011. Washington State ranked 12th. While overall data is great for regional and state planning, it doesn't have a great deal of application for individuals. Or does it? If we use the survey questions as a guide to being healthier, we might find a simple approach to adding some more quality to our overall wellbeing.
Let's start with the components of wellbeing according to Gallup research: - Life Evaluation
- Emotional Health
- Physical Health
- Healthy Behavior
- Work Environment
- Basic Access
Gallup uses a scientific scale to measure life evaluation based on an individual's current situation and their anticipated situation, with "0" as low and "10" as high. Where do you rate? Could you do something differently to change your number? For instance, fill in the blank, "If I had more help with ________________, my evaluation number would improve." Now brainstorm all of the possible ways to make that statement come true. Remember small changes help, not all changes need be drastic!"
To measure your emotional health, according to Gallup, think about your daily experiences. How often to you . . . - Smile or laugh
- Feel treated with respect
- Experience enjoyment
- Learning or doing something interesting
- Feel happiness
- Worry
- Experience sadness
- Have anger
- Feel stress
- Experience depression
For 1-5 above, think of ways to add one more bit of laughter or happiness to your day…even if it's just reading the comics in the morning. For 6-10, think of one thing you can let go of that causes these unwanted feelings. To measure your physical health, according to Gallup, think about your daily experiences. How often to you or have you had . . . - Sick days in the past month
- Disease burden
- Health problems that get in the way of normal activities
- Obesity
- Feeling well-rested
- Energy
- Colds
- Flu
- Headaches
This category might take some additional thinking, but if any of these items stand out to you, do you know what is causing the issue? For instance, if you have a lot of headaches ask yourself: Do you drink enough water? Do you drink too much caffeine? To measure your healthy behavior, according to Gallup, think about your daily habits. Do you have room for improvement? - Do you smoke
- Do you eat healthy (think un-processed food consumption)
- What is your weekly consumption of fruits and vegetables
- What is your weekly exercise frequency
To measure your work environment, according to Gallup, think about your work day. Think about your… - Job satisfaction
- Ability to use your strengths at work
- Supervisor's treatment (more like a boss or a partner)
- Supervisor creates an open and trusting work environment
To measure your basic access, according to Gallup, think about your access to the following 13 items. While some of the items might be out of your control, are there ways you can work to expand your access? - Satisfaction with community or area
- Area getting better as a place to live
- Clean water
- Medicine
- Safe place to exercise
- Affordable fruits and vegetables
- Feel safe walking alone at night
- Enough money for food
- Enough money for shelter
- Enough money for healthcare
- Visited a dentist recently
- Access to a doctor
- Access to health insurance
For more on Gallup's research visit: http://www.well-beingindex.com/
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