Study Reveals Tips to Make Your Healthy Habits Stick

There are no shortcuts to living a long and healthy life. By now, it's common knowledge that exercise, a healthy diet, and abstaining from tobacco are critical lifestyle choices that help people maintain a healthy weight and reduce their risk of countless diseases, including heart disease—the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Still, Americans are getting heavier—and unhealthier—despite a growing library of scientific evidence telling us what we should and shouldn't do in order to prevent these problems.

We know what to do. We know which foods are healthy and which ones aren't. We know that we should exercise more, combat stress, stop smoking and get more sleep (among other things). The problem lies in actually DOING it.

How do people change a lifetime of poor habits? How do you lose weight when a toxic food environment tempts you with unhealthy fare to eat at every turn? How do you stick with an exercise plan when it's uncomfortable—or just plain easier to relax on the couch after a stressful day at work? WHY aren't we doing what we know we should be doing?

To answer these questions, the American Heart Association (AHA) looked at 74 published studies on weight-loss, physical activity, and dietary interventions to find out which behavior-change strategies helped people reach their goals and stay heart-healthy. They weren't looking for what to eat or how to exercise; they searched for the specific habits, behaviors and strategies that helped people adopt these healthier habits and stick with them. Their findings, released online last week (view the statement in its entirety here), will also appear in the July 27 issue of Circulation.

They discovered that adopting a healthy lifestyle could boost Americans' average life expectancy by almost 7 years—and doing so is easier than you may think.

A healthier heart starts with a healthy lifestyle that includes losing weight (or maintaining a healthy weight), healthy dietary habits and regular physical activity. The American Heart Association's research review discovered several common-sense steps that helped people achieve healthier lifestyles. Here are some of the takeaways that can increase your chances of success.

1. Set smart goals. Individuals who set goals had greater adherence to their programs than people who had no goals. But just any old goals won't work. They have to be specific, attainable, and realistic. "Lose weight," is generic, but "Lose 1 pound this week" is specific, realistic, and attainable. However, the AHA's review found that goals that focus on behaviors (such as eating more fruits and vegetables or exercising 3 times a week) rather than physiological targets (such as lowering your cholesterol) are even better because you feel more in control of them—and can see your progress.

2. Monitor your progress. Now that you have your goals, how do you know how well you're doing? Self-monitoring increases your awareness and helps you recognize when you make progress toward your goals, according to the AHA report. This can be as simple as writing down your food or tracking your workouts in a journal, although electronic and Internet-based tracking systems work just as well and have many advantages, says the AHA. Tracking is important—and a proven key to lifestyle behavior change. The AHA cited one study in particular showing that individuals who tracked their food lost twice as much weight as those who didn't self-monitor their food intake. Frequency matters, too. You have to track, and track often. Another study cited showed that a group who weighed in more often lost more pounds than a group of people who weighed in less frequently.

3. Find support. Individuals who had more frequent and prolonged contact with others (whether doctors, coaches or support groups) had more success in changing their lifestyle habits. The AHA says that contact can happen in many ways," including face-to-face, telephone, email or through the Internet." What seems to matter most is that people have a reason to come back (to a meeting, group, or website) to get support and accountability to adhere to their program.
Get feedback. In addition to goal setting and tracking, feedback is also important. This allows you to understand your current level of performance and set realistic goals to improve. In lifestyle behavior-change interventions, people who received feedback more frequently were more successful in adopting their habits. Feedback acts as reinforcement.

4. Believe in yourself. The technical term for your confidence in your ability to reach your goals—and perform all the steps necessary to do so, such as cooking, ordering a healthy meal at a restaurant, and exercising at the gym—is self-efficacy. According to the AHA's review of research, programs that helped people improve their self-efficacy had more favorable results than programs that didn't address it. So how do you boost your confidence in these areas? First and foremost by achieving a short and simple goal to boost your confidence and momentum to continue. There are other ways to boost self-efficacy, but this is the most effective way, say AHA researchers.

5. Learn from others. When you watch someone else perform a healthy behavior that relates to your own goals, like exercise, cook a healthy meal, or move past a slip-up, it's called modeling. In a way, modeling adds credibility—it shows you that these things work and that you can do them, too. It also helps build self-efficacy. According to the AHA report, programs that included modeling had higher success rates than those that didn't. Modeling can be done in-person, via videos or even through discussion with others who are doing the desired behaviors you hope to emulate.

6. Accept setbacks. When a person is "aware that it is normal to deviate episodically from the goal behavior, such as missing some scheduled exercise sessions or giving up on the program due to lapses," it can help prevent relapse, according to the AHA report. Instead of expecting perfection all the time, programs that teach individuals that setbacks are normal and can be overcome will result in greater success. Fortunately, none of this healthy living stuff is about being perfect. We recommend an 80/20 rule where you adhere to your program most of the time, but allow for indulgences and rest days, too. Our motivation resources offer plenty of tips and tactics to help you plan for potential setbacks and recover from them, too.

by SparkPeople.com