Evaluate Your Lifestyle

Evaluate
Your Lifestyle
Ramesh Bijlani
Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi Branch
N e w D e l h i 110 016
pmsswb@gmail.com

Evaluate Your Lifestyle
Questionnaire
developed by
Ramesh Bijlani, M.D.
Former Professor
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
New Delhi
Current Address:
Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi Branch
N e w D e l h i 110 016
pmsswb@gmail.com

This questionnaire has
40 questions. It may take
you 40 minutes to
answer them, but it could
add 20 years to your life!

Please pick up a paper and
pen, and write on it the
Question No. and your score.
At the end add up your score
for all the questions.

Important:
In most of the
questions, the
maximum score is 2,
but in a few it is 4

1. Does your everyday work generally include
physical activity?
(Activities such as walking to work, climbing stairs, etc.)
(‘generally’ means at least 5 days a week)
- Yes, more than 30 minutes: 4
- Yes, 15-30 minutes: 2
- Yes, but less than 15 minutes: 1
- No: 0
Significance: This question is about physical activity that
is a part of your daily life anyway. For example, you
may be walking to work, climbing stairs a few times a
day because you live on the second floor, or may be
sweeping and mopping the floor. If there is no such
activity in your daily routine, try to find an excuse for it.
Physical activity helps stay healthy.

2. Does your everyday routine include some
time set aside for physical activity?
(e.g. Jogging, walking, cycling, swimming, yogasanas, etc.)
- Yes, 15-30 minutes: 2
- No: 0
Significance: This question is about structured physical
activity, such as walking, jogging, swimming, cycling,
or yogic postures, for which you have reserved some
time in your everyday routine. Even if your everyday
work itself involves some physical activity, additional
structured exercise is desirable. It is desirable
because it may be more comprehensive, systematic
and of an intensity that is just right for you.

3. Does your everyday routine include
Yogasanas & Pranayamas?
- No: 0
Significance: You might have answered yes to the
previous question because you practice Yogasanas
and Pranayamas everyday. In that case you can score
additional points in this question. The overlap is
deliberate. It increases the weightage of Yogasanas
and Pranayamas. That has been done because the
physical practices of yoga are better than other
exercises such as jogging, cycling, swimming or tennis
in ways more than one.

Please add up your score for
Questions 1-3
The maximum score for these
questions is 10

Questions 1-3 were
about
Physical Activity
Please make a note near your total for
Questions 1-3
that the score is for
Physical Activity

4. Which is generally your heaviest meal?
- Lunch (or Brunch): 4
- Breakfast: 2
- Dinner: 0
Significance: Ayurvedic wisdom tells us that the
digestive fire is at its peak from 10 am - 2 pm.
Hence, that is the right time to take the heaviest
meal of the day. How about the adage, ‘breakfast
like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a
pauper?’ Perfectly consistent! Who would eat
more – the king, or his young son?

5. When do you have dinner?
- Before 8 pm: 4
- Between 8 and 9 pm: 3
- Between 9 and 10 pm: 2
- After 10 pm: 0
Significance: Ayurvedic wisdom has it that
around 6 pm is the end of the day, and
beginning of night. Therefore, dinner should
ideally be over by 6 pm. As a concession to
modern lifestyle, one may delay it up to 8 pm,
but not beyond that. Modern scientific studies
also suggest that late dinners may lead to
overweight, the mother of many lifestyle
diseases.

6. How many helpings of fruits / vegetables do
you take in a day?
- 4 or more: 4
- 2 to 3 helpings: 2
- less than 2 helpings: 0
Significance: Fruits and vegetables have been clubbed
here because they are nutritionally alike. We need
fruits and vegetables primarily for vitamins and
minerals. Fruits and vegetables also have dietary fiber.
But the type of dietary fiber that grains provide is
somewhat different from that which fruits and
vegetables provide, and both are important. Moreover,
fruits and vegetables CANNOT meet our entire dietary
fiber requirements. WHOLE GRAINS too are therefore
necessary to get enough fiber.

7. Do you generally have brown bread,
brown rice, and other unrefined cereals?
(‘generally means at least 5 days a week)
- Yes: 2
- Sometimes unrefined, sometimes refined: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Unrefined cereals such as brown
bread, dalia, sooji and brown rice have dietary
fiber. Fiber prevents constipation and piles, and
also helps bring down blood cholesterol and
blood sugar levels. Refined cereals such as
maida and white rice are almost completely
devoid of fiber.

8. Do you generally have unrefined pulses
(sabut daal)?
- Yes: 2
- Sometimes unrefined, sometimes refined: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Unrefined pulses (such as sabut
moong, sabut masoor, sabut urad, kaale chanay,
rajmaah, etc.) have dietary fiber. The
corresponding refined pulses (dhuli hui daalein)
are almost completely devoid of fiber.

9. Which fats / oils do you use regularly?
- Mustard / Canola: 2
- Soya bean / Coconut / a blend / mixture: 1
- Any other: 0
Significance: First, a popular misconception based on
outdated knowledge needs to be unlearnt: Oils such as
Sunflower oil and Corn oil are NOT the best oils to use.
Second, the ONLY vegetable oils that have n-3 type of
fatty acids (and we need them) are mustard oil (and
closely related canola and rapeseed oil) and soya bean
oil. Most blends now have soya bean oil, but it is better
to have soya bean oil itself instead of the blend.
Finally, it is healthy to take some ghee or butter also
along with mustard / soya bean oil.

10. Do you use butter or ghee?
- Yes, regularly, in moderation: 2
- Occasionally: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Keeping totally away from ghee or butter
is also now outdated knowledge. We SHOULD HAVE
about one third of our fat intake in the form of
saturated fat, which essentially means animal fats
such as ghee and butter. Further, ghee and butter are
only about two-thirds saturated fat; about one-third
is mono-unsaturated.

11. Do you have spices?
- Yes, a variety of them, regularly,
in moderation: 2
- Occasionally: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Spices are not just for taste and
fragrance. They are also a rich source of
phytochemicals (which have antioxidant
function), which in turn help in improving the
immunity, protect against infections, heart
disease, diabetes and cancer. A few spices
that are good round the year are turmeric
(haldi), dry ginger powder (sunthi), small
cardamom (chhoti elaichi) and clove (laung).

12. Do you have dessert after lunch and /
or dinner?
- Occasionally : 2
- Often, and miss it when it is not there: 1
- Yes, regularly, after at least one meal : 0
Significance: Dessert taken after a meal is
‘extra’ in the sense that it is taken after one is
otherwise full. Hence, it promotes overweight.

13. Do you take non-vegetarian food?
- No: 2
- Less than 5 days a week: 1
- More than 5 days a week: 0
Significance: There is a world-wide trend towards
adopting vegetarian diets for three reasons:
1. They are healthier than non-vegetarian diets.
2. They are more eco-friendly.
3. They are ethically more sound.
Thus, vegetarian diets help save the self, the
surroundings, and the soul.

Questions 4-13
questions is 26

Questions 4-13 were
about
Diet
Questions 4-13
Diet

14. Are you a Non-smoker / Ex-smoker / Smoker?
- Non-smoker: 4
- Ex-smoker; gave up smoking more than 10 years ago: 3
- Ex-smoker; gave up smoking 5-10 years ago: 2
- Ex-smoker; gave up smoking less than 5 years ago: 1
- Smoker: 0
Significance: That smoking is linked to lung cancer
is widely known, but what is not equally well
known is that it is also linked to high blood
pressure and heart disease. Finally, anyone who
smokes long enough is sure to get chronic
bronchitis, which can eventually lead to heart
disease. Smoking is difficult to give up, but many
have done it, and so can you, if you do smoke.

15. Do you drink?
- No / rarely: 2
- Sometimes: 1
- Regularly: 0
Significance: That moderate drinking may offer some
protection from heart disease is controversial. It may
not be alcohol, but stress reduction, that protects. But
even for marginal protection, drinking has to be
moderate, and to a person who enjoys drinking, it may
be difficult to stay within the permissible limit. That
regular drinking eventually leads to liver disease is
beyond any controversy. It is better to reduce stress
by safer methods (spiritual approach to life is the
best). There is no point in getting a little protection
from heart disease at the risk of getting liver disease.

Questions 14-15
questions is 6

Questions 14-15 were about
Smoking & Drinking
(Using any other substances of abuse,
although not included in this questionnaire,
would also bring your lifestyle score down)
Questions 14-15
Smoking & Drinking

16. When do you generally go to bed?
- Before 10 pm: 4
- Between 10 pm and midnight: 2
- After midnight: 0
Significance: Sleeping from 9 pm to 4 am is not the
same as sleeping from 1 am to 8 am, although
both would give seven hours of sleep. That is so
because sleep-wakefulness is only one of the
several biological rhythms linked to light and
darkness. We may alter the time of sleep at will,
but cannot alter the other rhythms. For all the
rhythms to be in synchrony is important for
optimal health.

17. How long do you generally sleep (including an
afternoon nap)?
- 6 to 8 hours: 4
- 5 to 6 hours, or 8-9 hours: 3
- 9-10 hours: 2
- Less than 5 hours or More than 10 hours: 0
Significance: Most people need 6-8 hours of sleep. How much you as
an individual need, can be determined only in a round-about way. If
the duration for which you sleep does not give you symptoms of
sleep deprivation during the day, you are sleeping enough.
Symptoms of sleep deprivation include feeling drowsy, sleepy,
irritable, and hungry. It is difficult to concentrate on mental work,
there may be acidity in the stomach and the blood pressure might
go up. Long-term sleep deprivation lowers the immunity, and the
person gets frequent infections such as common cold. Voluntary
sleep deprivation is a major risk factor for lifestyle disorders.

18. Is your sleep restless or disturbed?
- Only rarely: 2
- Sometimes: 1
- Almost everyday: 0
Significance: The quality of sleep is just as
important as the duration.

19. Do you find it difficult to fall asleep, or wake
up too often at night, or are awake too early? If
yes, how often?
- Only rarely: 2
- Sometimes: 1
- Almost everyday: 0
Significance: Sleeplessness (Insomnia) can be of three
types. One may find it difficult to fall asleep after going
to bed, but once asleep, the person sleeps very well
and long enough. Or, one may fall asleep easily, but get
up several times at night. Or, one may fall asleep easily,
sleep continuously for 4-5 hours, and then wake up and
find it difficult to go back to sleep.

Questions 16-19
questions is 12

Questions 16-19 were
about
Sleep
Questions 16-19
Sleep

20. Are you generally looking at a screen
(e.g. TV / smart phone) while having a
meal?
- Only rarely: 4
- Sometimes: 2
- Almost always: 0
Significance: On one hand, one should eat with full
awareness: ‘mindful eating’, as it is called. On the
other hand, addiction to the TV, and even more to
the smart phone, is now a major contributor to
eye strain and many other problems.

21. Do you take half-hourly breaks from screen time?
(The break may be for just 5 minutes)
- Regularly: 4
- Sometimes: 2
- Never: 0
Significance: Frequent breaks from screen time, may be
for five minutes every half an hour, prevent eye strain.
During the break, one may look at a distance, specially
at greenery or some other type of natural beauty. One
may also change the posture; may be, walk around a
bit. And, one may place the cupped palms in front of
closed eyes to give rest to the eyes.

22. Do you have symptoms of excessive
screen time (e.g. irritation in the eyes,
headache, neck / shoulder pain)?
- No: 2
- Sometimes: 1
- Frequently: 0
Significance: Knowing the symptoms resulting from
excessive screen time can help take corrective
measures, such as frequent breaks.
(If you have irritation in the eyes, headache, neck / shoulder
pain but do not spend much time in front of a screen,
please consult a doctor. These symptoms can also be due
to other causes.)

Questions 20-22
questions is 10

about
Screen time
Questions 20-22
Screen time

23. What is the number of members in
your family (including a servant or a
pet, if any) living under the same roof?
- If the number is 2 or more, your score is 2
- If you stay alone, but in a community setting,
such as a hostel, your score is 1
- If you stay all alone without even a pet in the
house, your score is 0
Significance: Statistically speaking, those who stay
all alone have a shorter lifespan. Having even a
pet for company helps.

24. Do you have some work that you do regularly?
- Yes, for more than a living (e.g. for mental satisfaction, with
an attitude of selfless service, or as a volunteer): 2
- Yes, but only to make a living: 1
- No: 0
Significance: We have a tendency to look upon overwork as a major
source of stress. But work is also a stress buster. Having no
work to do is itself stressful; in addition, idleness leaves time for
ruminating on our problems. Any work is better than no work at
all. But work that gives us some satisfaction which goes beyond
making a living is more effective in generating mental peace.
(If you are a homemaker, working with an attitude of selfless service
would merit a score of 2; doing the work merely to fulfill a
responsibility would merit a score of 1.
If you are a student, studying to work towards a goal higher than
making a living would merit a score of 2; studying primarily to
get equipped to make a living would merit a score of 1.)

25. Do you have some hobby?
- Yes, spend, on an average, > 1 hour per day on
hobbies: 2
- Yes, but spend, on an average, < 1 hour per day on
hobbies: 1
- No: 0
Significance: To work is good; to enjoy it is
better. Since daily work involves various types of
compulsions, and is a package deal in which
what one likes has to be done along with what
one does not, it is better to also spend some time
on what one does just because one wants to.
However, if you enjoy everything that you do, for
you work itself is your hobby. Then, your score in
this question is 2.

26. With respect to work, how do you feel?
- Just right: 2
- Overworked: 1
- Idle: 0
Significance: Having any work is better than having
no work at all. Therefore, the worst thing is to be
completely idle. However, having too much work is
emerging as a major contributor to stress. If that is
so with you, some of the things you can try are:
eliminate/reduce the time spent on the work that is
unimportant or less important (e.g. spending time
on social media); manage time better; be more
efficient; and learn to say ‘no’ when necessary.

27. How satisfied are you with the overall
achievements of your family? (In areas such as
education, health, socioeconomic status, interpersonal
relations, peace, harmony, goodwill, etc.)
• Highly satisfied and proud: 2
• ‘It’s OK’: 1
• Dissatisfied: 0
N.B. If you are indifferent to the achievements of
your biological family because you have a
larger spiritual family, your score in this
question will be 2
Significance: The family can affect the emotional
well being of a person positively by making him
proud, or negatively by becoming a source of
embarrassment.

28. In the city where you live, is there a
relative or friend whom if you give a phone
call and say, “I have just got what looks
like a heart attack,” the response would
be,“Don’t worry, I’m coming just now”?
- Yes: 2
- Yes, but I am not sure what they would say: 1
- No, I have no such person: 0
Significance: Emergencies can strike anybody, anywhere, at
any time. Just the confidence that some person exists, who
is accessible, and who would put everything aside to be
with you, contributes to reduction in chronic stress,
specially among those who live alone, or elderly couples
who have no young person living with them.

29. If you lose something, do you:
- Stay relaxed: 2
- Find it difficult to forget it: 1
- Get very upset and find it impossible to forget the
lost object: 0
Significance: If something is lost, be it a pen or a
PAN card, it is natural to try to find it. But trying
to find it need not necessarily also mean getting
very upset. Be it through emotional maturity, or
through spiritual equanimity, either way one
escapes self-torture by understanding that
‘getting upset will not help’, and that ‘heavens will
not fall if the thing is not found.’

30. When under stress, do you write a diary?
- Yes: 2
- Occasionally: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Writing a diary is a good stress-buster.
It helps the person ventilate without needing a
listener. It also ensures confidentiality. While
writing, the person ends up analyzing the
situation, thereby developing a clearer and more
balanced perspective. While writing, some
concrete actions that may help change the
situation are also likely to be discovered.

31. When under stress, which you are
finding it almost impossible to cope with
on your own, would you like to talk to a
counsellor or close friend or relative?
- Yes: 2
- May be: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Talking to a trustworthy
patient listener is one of the most effective
ways of coping with stress. A good
counsellor, professional or otherwise, is
one who helps us go through a difficult
phase of life with minimum pain and
maximum spiritual growth.

Questions 23-31
questions is 18

about
Mental stress
Questions 23-31
Mental stress

32. If you are traveling alone, and have to
face an emergency (e.g. you feel pain in
the chest, or your train is attacked by
robbers, or your plane is hijacked) how
would you feel?
- Not at all afraid: 2
- A little afraid: 1
- Very scared: 0
Significance: It may look unnatural to be not at all
scared in such emergencies, but it is not
impossible. What makes it possible is the inner
state that can quickly look at the situation from a
plane higher than that of the ordinary mind.

To walk through life
armoured against all
fear, peril and disaster,
only two things are
needed, two that always
go together – the Grace
of the Divine Mother
and on your side an
inner state made up of
faith, sincerity and
surrender.
- SRI AUROBINDO

33. Do you think about your future?
- Occasionally and optimistically: 2
- Often but without much fear or anxiety: 1
- A lot, and with fear, anxiety and insecurity: 0
Significance: At the mental level, there is no guarantee
one can get that nothing will go wrong in the future. It
is only by rising to a level higher than the mental that
one can suspend thinking about what all might
possibly go wrong, and trust that the Divine Will would
prevail, and that the Divine Will works always for the
best.

34. Do you participate in the activities of
some social/religious/spiritual group(s)?
If yes, how often do you visit such place(s)?
- Once a week or more: 2
- Less than once a week: 1
- No: 0
Significance: Visiting such places helps relieve
stress in at least two ways. First, it may give a
different perspective on life. Secondly, it makes a
person meet regularly a few like-minded people
with whom one can share joys and sorrows.

35. Do you meditate / pray?
- 5 or more times a week: 2
- less than 5 times a week: 1
- Not at all: 0
Significance: Meditation and Prayer are
conversations with a Higher Power, who knows
everything, and who can do everything. In
meditation, the person primarily listens to that
Power; in prayer, the person speaks to It. Either
way, awareness of being in touch with the
Supreme gives protection, security and infallible
guidance.

36. What is the goal of your life?
- spiritual growth: 2
- to be a good person: 1
- to be happy and successful: 0
Significance: To simplify matters, one might say that if one is
good, happiness and success follow as byproducts. But
being good does not guarantee immunity from a road
accident, a failed marriage, or an incurable illness. If such a
thing happens to a good person, he may be shattered
because just being good does not equip a person for
handling such traumatic events with equanimity; it is the
spiritual person who is equipped to do so. Further, if the goal
of life is spiritual growth, goodness, happiness and success
follow as byproducts.

37. If somebody has hurt you, for you to forgive
him / her is:
- Quick and easy: 2
- Slow and difficult: 1
- Almost impossible: 0
Significance: By forgiving, the person who gains the most
is the person who forgives. Somebody might have hurt you
years ago, he may no longer be a part of your life, but
refusing to forgive keeps bringing back memories of what
he said or did to you, and these memories make you
miserable even today. Why hand over to the person a
remote control by which he can make you miserable?
Genuine forgiveness leads to lasting mental peace, which
is one thing that anger and revenge can never do.

38. If you have hurt somebody, even if it was
unintentionally, for you to apologize to him /
her is:
- Quick and easy: 2
- Slow and difficult: 1
- Almost impossible: 0
Significance: One may deny or justify having hurt
somebody any number of times, but an
uneasiness still continues. Mental peace is truly
restored only by apologizing.

39. For you, are the boundaries between family,
friends, colleagues, and others:
– Very blurred: 2
– Somewhat fuzzy: 1
– Very sharp: 0
Significance: Relationships based on blood and marriage are too
obvious to be ignored. But there is a deeper spiritual relationship
that we have with everybody else, which is easily missed.
Therefore, a person who lives on the surface considers those who
are related to him by blood or marriage as ‘his own’, and those
who are not as ‘others’. Spiritual insight blurs the boundary
between ‘our own’ and ‘others’. A person for whom the boundary
has got blurred showers love on all those who happen to be
around. This is not only good in itself; research has shown that it
also prolongs his life because his loved ones are never missing.

अयं बन्धुरयं नेतिगणना लघुचेिाा् ।
उदारचररिानां िु वाुधैव कु टुम्बक् ।॥
(्होपतनषद्, अध्याय ४, श्लोक ७१)
This person is my friend, and that
person is not; this type of score is
kept by the narrow-minded. To the
large-hearted, the world is verily a
family.
(Mahopanishad, Chapter 4, Verse 71)

40. Who is your most dependable support in life?
- God: 2
- A relative / friend: 1
- None: 0
Significance: The intimacy we have with relatives / friends fluctuates
several times in life. Secondly, their being always around cannot
be taken for granted. For example, people who have enjoyed a
good marriage for a few decades, and have come to depend on
each other for support, get shattered in old age when one of them
dies. Finally, relatives / friends have only a very limited wisdom
and capacity to help. Hence God, who is everlasting, always
present everywhere, and has unlimited wisdom and power, is the
most dependable support.

The Most Dependable Support
… the best friend
one can have –
isn’t he the
Divine, to whom
one can say
everything, reveal
everything?
THE MOTHER

Questions 32-40
questions is 18

about
Spiritual inclination
Questions 32-40
Spiritual inclination

Please add up all your scores
The maximum score is 100

If your score is:
• 90 or above: You are a rare person. It
is always lonely at the top!
• 80-89: You are not perfect, but so
what. After all, you are human!
• 70-79: Very good, but can do better!
• 60-69: Should try to do better,
seriously!
• 59 and below: You really needed this
wake-up call!

Now you know your score,
and you also know what you
need to do to improve your
score. If you start doing the
necessary work on yourself
right away, you may add 20
years to your life!

If you are below 30 years of age, even
if your score is low, you are likely to be
free of disease. That happens because
lifestyle disorders are the result of
slow accumulation of damage over
decades before any symptoms appear.
For a person with a low score but no
disease, the score should serve as a
wake-up call, which may prevent the
disease from manifesting in future.

If your total score is below 60, but
you do not have a disease, it is
recommended that you may have
your blood tested for total
cholesterol and its fractions, total
triglycerides, fasting glucose and
glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c).
Abnormalities in blood
biochemistry are likely to precede
the symptoms of disease.

Lifestyle and Integral Health
This questionnaire
is an attempt to
assess the
lifestyle factors
that are important
in relation to
health & disease.
1. Physical activity
2. Diet
3. Smoking & Drinking
4. Sleep
5. Screen time
6. Mental stress
7. Spiritual inclination

FINALLY…
Establish a
greater peace
and quietness in
your body; that
will give you the
strength to resist
attacks of illness
- THE MOTHER

Now, please can you do us a favour?
If you found answering this questionnaire a
pleasant experience – interesting, educative and
useful – do a good turn to others by letting more
and more people know about it.
You may do so by:
• Letting others know about this slideshow OR
• Directing them to
https://forms.gle/u4D3J4Q68WrpjBTK7
where they would find this questionnaire as a
Google Form OR
• Putting us in touch with them through e-mail

Questions/Comments?
Please feel free to write to us on:
pmsswb@gmail.com
PMSSWB
stands for
Physical, Mental, Social and Spiritual Well Being

Suggested Reading
Bijlani R. A Primer on Yoga.
National Book Trust, India,
first published in 2015.
A book with basic knowledge
about different schools of
yoga, with special focus on
the Integral Yoga of Sri
Aurobindo and The Mother.
Includes answers to about 30
FAQs and a DVD on the
physical practices of yoga
with elaborate instructions
and commentary.

Suggested Reading
Bijlani R. Back to Health
through Yoga. Rupa Books,
first published in 2008.
Of the 14 chapters in the
book, the first seven are
about lifestyle (including
yoga, diet and sleep) and the
next seven about common
lifestyle disorders.

Suggested Reading
Bijlani R. Eating Wisely and
Well. Rupa Books, first
published in 2012.
A book on nutrition that
blends modern scientific
knowledge with time-tested
wisdom of Ayurveda and
Yoga.

Suggested Reading
Bijlani R. Understanding
Spirituality …and Living It
24x7. Sri Aurobindo Ashram –
Delhi Branch, first published
in 2019.
An easy-to-read guide for a
spiritual seeker, based on the
teachings of Sri Aurobindo
and The Mother. Addresses
the two basic questions –
Who am I, and What is the
Purpose of Life – and
illustrates through everyday
examples and stories how
this knowledge can help us
live a life full of love, peace,
joy and fulfillment.

Evaluate Your Lifestyle

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