Health doesn’t just happen unfortunately. This has become more obvious the older that I get. Most of us assume that our genetics determine our health status, but this is not entirely true. Think of your genes as a deck of cards that you are dealt, but you can decide how those cards are played. The study of this is called epigenetics – “the study of how our behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way our genes work” according to the CDC.
Over the past ten years I have been making changes to improve my overall health outcomes and hopefully I will age well. There are many areas I have done well at making changes, but other areas I have struggled with. I have successfully logged an average of 10,000 steps a day for over a year now, but one area I have struggled with is strength and balance training. It is time to work on the this. The past month I have tried to get into the habit of doing this, but I have FAILED! This is when I started to look for ways to motivate myself and form a habit of regularly doing this.
Did you know it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit? Yikes! The average is 66 days for a new habit to become an automatic behavior.
We humans are definitely creatures of habit, and these can be good and not so good. It takes extra energy for our brain to stop and think about doing things differently, and we often fight this.
The Mayo Clinic shares that there are three ways to make healthy habits stick.
- Drop the “all or nothing” approach. It is so difficult to change everything at once. We get frustrated and feel defeated. A better option is to start with one thing; for example, you may want to start eating “right”. A good start might be adding one or two vegetables to your daily meals. This is doable and is a step in the right direction.
- Look for opportunities to make changes. If you want to become more active, park farther away from the doors of stores or take the stairs instead of elevator. There are simple ways to add more movement to your life. I recently did a post on this subject you can check out here.
- Be patient in your health journey. Track your positive changes. There are apps you can use for this or journaling in a notebook, whatever works for you.
There are four stages of that we go through when wanting to make healthy habits.
- Stage 1: Contemplation – you are thinking about making some changes; this is when you are looking at the pros and cons of making this change.
- Stage 2: Preparation – you have decided to make the change and now is the time to take action. This is the time to make your plan and set the goals. Remember small goals can lead to big changes. You also want to anticipate any roadblocks that may come up and make a plan for these.
- Stage 3: Action – you have started the plan; you are making changes. It is important to review your plan regularly. Are you meeting your goals? Again, this is why it is important to track your progress. When setbacks happen, remind yourself these are not failures just setbacks. It can be helpful to have rewards along the way, but don’t make them food related if you are trying to change your diet! Other options for rewards are a massage, day at the spa, new clothes, a new book, or whatever else would be a positive incentive for you.
- Stage 4: Maintenance – you have established your new habit; it is a part of your routine. It is important to find creative ways to stick to your routine, maybe add variety to stay motivated.
Back to my goal of building my strength and improving my balance. I obviously have done my contemplation stage; this week I am working on the preparation stage. I am writing the plan, setting my goals, preparing for the roadblocks, and writing out my rewards when I meet my goals. I will start stage 3 next week and begin to take action. I will have to let you know when I get to stage 4! Hopefully that will only be the average 66 days.
Do you have some health changes you would like to make? Do you believe you can affect how your genes are expressed?
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Heather
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