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Virtually every day we hear of more troubling statistics concerning every day Australians - a scenario which is similar for most countries across the globe. Let’s take a brief look:

A brief snapshot of our nation in 2017:

Physical Health – where are we at?

◊ Around 2/3 of Australians are either Overweight or Obese.

◊ Around 300 Australians develop Type II Diabetes every single day.

◊ Around 2.5 million Australians have Cardio-Vascular Disease – it’s the Nation’s biggest killer.

◊ Around 140,000 Australians are diagnosed with Cancer each year – approximately 50,000 will die each year from cancer and its expected to increase by a whopping 40% by 2020.

◊ Every 10 minutes in Australia someone gets a Stroke.

◊ Around 2 million Australians have Chronic Kidney Disease.

◊ Around 3 million Australians suffer general Chronic Pain.

◊ Around 4 million Australians experience general Back Pain.

 ◊ Over half of the nation don’t get a proper night’s sleep and 1 million of these have Sleep Apnoea.

Apart from the explosion of physical disease in recent times, the same can be found for mental health, including psychological and social disorders…

Mental Health – where are we at?

◊ Virtually every second Australian will experience a Mental Health Problem in their life time.

◊ Around 17 million Australians admit that Stress is affecting both their physical and mental health.

◊ Around 1 million Australian adults have Depression, and over 2 million have severe Anxiety.

◊ 60,000 Australians per year attempt Suicide – 8 per day taking their own life. It’s the biggest killer of Australians up to 40 years of age.

◊ Almost 1 million people call Lifeline each year in Australia.

◊ 1 in 3 Australians have Body Image and Self-Esteem Problems.

While these sound like conditions found in only the sick or elderly, instead they are today being found in everyday people, including many of our children — a frightening fact.

Mental Health & Addictions – where are we at?

◊ 300,000 Australians use Methamphetamine's like Ice. This has tripled over the past 5 years and is up 175% in the past year alone.

◊ There are more people dying of Prescription Drugs than Illegal drugs in Australia.

◊ 4 million Australians have a drinking problem – with 1 million drinking on average, eight standard drinks a day.

Before I go on, I just want you to pause for a minute and take in the enormity of this situation.

What’s even more troubling is that every year that goes by, these stats are getting worse not better and so much so that they are becoming the new normal.

You may directly relate to these statistics or you may not. But due to the sheer prevalence of these issues, we all have love ones or know others who can relate to these statistics.

What is the net effect of all of this?

This leads to much suffering and lowered quality of life, and it also contributes to pre-mature death and aging. Sure some of us are living longer than we once did, but without the quality of life we should be living.

It also leads to soaring financial cost to the nation – with the Government constantly scrambling to find enough money to deal with these issues. For example, 60 billion per year is spent treating obesity related illness alone.

It is clear that many Australians are struggling to maintain a sense of balance and well-being in their lives.