Invitation to Your Daily Health Survey

According to recent surveys by Gallup and the Pew Research Center, Americans have become increasingly polarized, anxious, distrustful, and yearning. These conditions are generally fueled by our frenzy to keep pace with continuing news cycles and social media posts which then compound our mental and emotional overstimulation. As a result, more Americans, both young and old, feel disoriented and choose isolation in order to escape from family and vocational responsibilities. For comfort, they choose unhealthy relationships, make poor nutritional choices, or fall into alcohol and drug dependency.

It has always been true that the choices we make influence our personal well-being.  Therefore, we personally chose and recommend programs that foster physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines.  One such program, the Daily Health Survey, helps participants establish daily routines that promote healthy habits, all the while providing immediate feedback to show progress which reinforces the good habits.  

Daily Health Survey
The Daily Health Survey has been developed by our friend and former student, Robb Fogg and his wife, MaryEllen.  What follows is Robb’s brief account of his childhood struggles and how his experiences of dysfunction eventually led to his development of the Daily Heath Survey.  Read on and see if you or someone you know can relate.

Dear Friends of Oikonomia
Not long ago, I came to the understanding that I had very bad PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) from my childhood.  My counselor said it was a miracle that I was thriving.  Praise God!  By applying my science background and enlisting the help of my wife MaryEllen, I reverse-engineered a survey that helps us detect when our Fight or Flight response is activated and how long it remains in a “stuck-on” condition.  Fight or Flight is a state of heightened alert in response to a perceived threat from danger and is produced by physiological changes in the autonomic nervous system and hormonal system.  The Fight or Flight is only supposed to be “on” for 60 minutes but for those of us who saw a challenging childhood it has a tendency to stay on.  This sustained state of being “on” causes problems in almost every system in the body and can lead to arteriosclerosis, insulin resistance, panic attacks, difficulty in crowds, difficulty sleeping, low energy, and poor digestion. 

When our Fight or Flight response is “on” for longer than it should be or becomes too easily triggered, a person is considered hypervigilant [Click HERE.].  Instead of a healthy awareness of our surroundings, hypervigilance is an emotional state of heightened awareness as if to continually survey the surroundings to look for perceived threats.  Hypervigilance can play havoc with our emotions and lead to unnecessary fear, anger, anxiety, insecurity, and shame among other things. 

One of the most surprising things that we found is that when our stress response gets stuck on it has a tendency to turn off creative thinking, problem solving, empathy, and abstract thinking.  These are key resources to grow a thriving society and foundational to a life of faith.

Who Should Enroll?
Obviously, not everyone struggles with an overactive Fight or Flight response, or with hypervigilance.  However, there are many who possess these conditions who are not aware how much their lives are controlled and diminished by them.  Still others may know of a family member or friend who struggles with these conditions and whom we might help by inviting them to enroll in the Daily Health Survey.  Regardless, we should all want lives that are flourishing and being all that God has created us to be.  So, why not give the Survey a try?   Even better, invite someone to enroll along with you.  It’s free except for the cost of a few minutes per day.

Benefits to Enrollees
First, the Daily Health Survey is free!
Second, it only requires a few minutes each day.
Third, it is rewarding to see how improving daily health habits or starting a new routine affects your overall health score (See Figure 1; Click to enlarge =>).

Fourth, each day you will receive a brief informative video with helpful encouragement and instruction on particular aspect of how nutritional and other lifestyle factors affect your overall health and well-being.

Fifth, the Survey is not only Free!  It has the potential to FREE you from the behavioral/ physiological/spiritual bindings that are keeping you from a more flourishing life physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Finally, we close with a sample short-video on how a persistent Flight-or-Fight response can cause us to have a diminished “personal narrative” and a sense of our value and identity which would otherwise be sustained by healthy self-talk. Click HERE to hear Robb explain more.

Links to Enroll Free
Robb and MaryEllen will begin a new round of the Survey next Monday (3/23).  It takes 3-5 minutes to complete the survey each day.  The links to enroll are provided below.  They have also provided some examples from Robb’s own personal data of the kinds of feedback you will receive to visualize and assess your own (Figures 1 and 2).

Daily Health Survey: To Enroll, click HERE

Trouble logging on?  Click HERE.  Code: BAYCF2

Return to Your Login:  Click HERE.

Category Breakdown (How I can improve a category): 

To view, click on thumbnail HERE   è

Figure 2. Example of how your data will be displayed. To view, click on thumbnail HERE   è

Sample short-videos provided as daily resources and motivation:

1)  "Self-Talk Lost" -- What to Do to Restore It   Click HERE.

2)  New "Brain Game" applying trifecta --
      hydration, breathing, and self-talk  Click HERE.