Much gratitude to those of you who answered my reader survey over the past month. It is deeply inspiring to learn about who we are, to hear what you value, the aspects of lifestyle that can be challenging for you, and how I do and can support you. I’ve contacted the lucky winner of books – yeah. Our path forward is clear, thanks to the results of the survey.
I’ll share the results of the reader survey in two charts. The first focuses on who we are as a group. 45 of you responded to the survey (great for first-time-out), and 97.78% (or 44) who responded were women. We scale a wide age range, and 2/3 of us are over 50. This feels right to me; I have been focused on integrative health through our lifespan and while that’s interesting to women in their 20’s, as life progresses interest in just how we live well, feel well, and be well throughout the journey tends to intensify. My life’s work is offering insight and mentoring to those interested in lifestyle as a spiritual path to wholeness. Seems we have found each other.
Next we asked what areas of lifestyle you find most challenging. Now, survey design aside (the 4 areas I chose do overlap, particularly when you get into resiliency, stress management, rest and relaxation), but I found the results interesting and informative. Here’s a summary chart:
When I look at how you listed your first, and your first two areas of greatest challenge, physical activity ends up on top. I hear you on that – maintaining an active lifestyle in today’s screen-centric sedentary culture can be a challenge for sure. It is for me, and I love to move! It’s a practice! I will be focusing on what science says about the role of physical activity in health and happiness over the next months, and giving you lots of ideas to weave it in. As we go through life, the type of physical activity that works for us changes, and our needs evolve. We’ll be talking about that, too.
The dance of stress and eating, which shared a second-overall-but important place on your priorities list, again give a nod to the way these two areas of lifestyle interact. I have been fascinated lately with the neurobiological science of the reward system and epigenetics (how our choices and thoughts influence gene expression, which ultimately determines how well we function for the rest of our lives), and just what stress does to our ability to eat well and feel well (so, our ability to be well).
Again, thanks for your input, and I hope you find knowing a little more about other readers of this blog and newsletter interesting and perhaps even, like me, the whole community feels more like a community.
Be well.
Annie
Reader Survey Results: Who We Are
