Why making just two lifestyle changes can have positive and far reaching affects on health

A recent study, at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, found that changing one bad habit can have a positive knock on effect on other behaviours.  A simple step such as watching less television, can simultaneously reduce the amount of time one spends snacking on unhealthy foods – as these two behaviours are closely related.   As such, the notion that you must radically transform your life in order to be healthier is not necessarily true and often hard to maintain.  Making just a couple of small changes, as the study demonstrates, can have a real and long lasting impact on people’s health.

The study was conducted by Bonnie Spring, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in an attempt to find out the most effective way to spur people to change common bad health habits.  204 adult patients with unhealthy habits, were given the following treatments; an increase in vegetables/fruit and physical activity and decrease in fat and sedentary leisure.  Over the course of the three weeks, the patients had to record their daily data into a personal digital assistant in order to establish if they met their goals. 

After the three weeks, patients no longer had to maintain their “healthier” lifestyles, but were still required to send data three days a month for six months.

After the completion of the six months, the study found that the patients kept to their new healthier lifestyle changes rather than reverting back to their old habits.  Around 86% of the participants said that once they had made the initial change, they tried to maintain it.  By incorporating fruits and vegetables in their diet empowered them to believe that they were in fact capable of change. 

The results indicated that the most effective way to improve health required two key behaviour changes, namely cutting the amount of time spent watching TV or on the computer and eating more fruits and vegetables.  It is believed that these two simple changes could have long lasting results.   

Spring said, "Just making two lifestyle changes has a big overall effect and people don't get overwhelmed."

The majority of the population, where obesity is most prevalent, often lead unhealthy and sedentary lifestyles, putting them at high risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer.  Spring argues that it is often hard for doctors to know where to initiate change in unhealthy habits, without discouraging or offending patients.   Thus this “two way” simple approach enables others to make realistic and manageable changes by giving them confidence to carry it out.

“With this simplified strategy, people are capable of making big lifestyle changes in a short period of time and maintaining them”  


Photo by Sina Bahrami http://5127.co.uk/

Why talking is good for our well-being

I'm sure we are all familiar with the expression “a problem shared is a problem halved”.  Now recent research affirms that communicating our thoughts and experiences to others, actually stimulates cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with reward and hence makes us feel better.   

The study, “Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding” was carried out by Harvard neuroscientist Diana Tamir and Harvard colleague Jason Mitchell and focused primarily on brain functionality associated with talking about oneself.  The evidence demonstrated that self disclosure was strongly linked with increased activation in brain regions that form what is known as the mesolimbic dopamine system. 

This system is recognised as the pathway in which dopamine is carried from one area of the brain to another and is responsible for controlling the brain’s pleasure and reward centers.  It is also associated with the functions of movement, preservation and compulsion. 

An MRI scanner was used to monitor the subjects’ brain by picking up changes in neurons activity as well as blood flow.  As a result, the scientists were able to distinguish the part of the brain that was responding to what the subject was talking about.  The experiment found that when people talked about themselves, which included beliefs and opinions, blood flow to region became significantly prominent. 

The study highlights that humans have a tendency to convey information about personal experience, because of the intrinsic value associated with self disclosure.  Whenever we face a problem, sometimes sharing our concerns or just simply relaying a fond memory to someone, can make us feel better and hence have a positive impact on our mental well-being and health.  Moreover, Tamir points out that by openly discussing our beliefs and opinions with others, has the added value of building social bonds and social alliances between people.

Perhaps we shouldn't underestimate the power of a conversation and the benefits of simply taking the time to listen and talk to someone.