The Importance of Sustainable Behaviour Change For Achieving Health Goals
Being physically and mentally healthy forms the core of our fast-paced lives today. Lifestyle risk factors are now recognised as leading contributors to morbidity and mortality. Many chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obstructive lung diseases, diabetes etc. are strongly linked with lifestyle. There are convincing evidences that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a longer and healthier life-span and includes regular exercise, a balanced diet, and habit and behavioural changes.
Factors of Sustainable Behavioural Change
Behaviour plays an important role in people’s health, and the different patterns of behaviour are deeply embedded in people’s social and material circumstances. Sustainable behavioural changes are crucial in changing long-standing habits, which can cause various health hazards. It is thus important to identify effective approaches and strategies that motivate change and sustain newly-adopted healthy behaviour. The two main factors of behavioural relevance, when it comes to health and wellness are:
- Self-Regulation: Self-regulation is central to effective human functioning. In order to achieve certain goals, or to meet certain standards, it is imperative to direct our behaviour and control our impulses. It helps in achieving short-and-long term interests, consistent with our deepest values.
- Habits: Habits are powerful, and they shape our existence, future and are key to our wellness. For better or worse, habits very much influence health, well-being, and quality of life. If you are striving to improve these, you need to think about habits, because if you change your habits for the better, you change your life for the better.
Impacts of Behavioural Changes In Terms of Health & Wellness
It’s important to implement effective behavioural changes in your lifestyle and routine to see its impact on your health and wellness. The various impacts that one can look forward with healthy and sustainable behavioural changes are:
- Encourages a positive attitude
- Better health outcomes & overall well-being
- Anchor all dimensions of physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellness
- Builds self-confidence
Reasons Why Sustainable Behaviour Change is Hard to Achieve
Changing a behavioural pattern is difficult as it requires a person to disrupt a current habit while simultaneously fostering a new, possibly unfamiliar, set of actions. The process takes time to become a consistent, habitual behaviour. The various reasons why sustainable behaviour change is hard to achieve are:
- Lack of Motivation
- Not Enough Willpower
- Lack of Management of Setbacks and Lapses
- Impatience
- Not Enough Education
How Can a Health Coach Help with Sustainable Behavioural Change?
It’s important for a wellness coach to understand the internal strengths of his/her clients and guide them towards a better life. They get to the intrinsic, internal motivation of what a person wants and why they want. A health coach helps to attain healthy, sustainable behaviour change by challenging you to:
- Listen to your inner wisdom
- Live by your values
- Transform your goals into actions
They effectively pave your path to maintain health behaviour and have a broad knowledge about health and wellness. They create personalised and effective programs, matching your lifestyle, habits and health goals. A health coach works closely with you to assess your daily habits and determine the reasons impacting your long-term health. They provide you with emotional support and encouragement and help you change your lifestyle and habits.
Why Weljii?
Where most wellness coach training programs are information-oriented, it’s also important to have them people-oriented for long-lasting behavioural impacts. Weljii offers health and wellness programs that weigh on teaching the neuroscience of coaching to all. We offer health and wellness coaching services, and programs for individuals and organizations for sustainable lifestyle habit change focused on preventive health and proactive wellness. At ‘Weljii,’ you can pair up with your coach to help you create your personal road-map to recovery and wellness all holistically and naturally. This is done by using the science of behavioural change, matched with evidence-based nutrition, exercise, and stress management techniques. Visit our website for more information.
