- Health is a constantly changing state of being that moves along a continuum from optimal health to premature death and is affected by an individual’s attitudes and activities.
- Wellness means to engage in activities and behaviors that enhance quality of life and maximize personal potential by consistent balancing of physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and social health.
- Living a wellness lifestyle facilitates the development of health-related fitness, which includes cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and desirable body composition.
- Lifestyle diseases represent the major threat to health and quality of life among Americans.
- Personal motivation is the only way a person can adopt and maintain a wellness lifestyle. This motivation can be affected by family members and social pressure.
- For change to occur, knowledge alone is insufficient. Attitudes and beliefs are the catalysts of behavior change because the more highly a health benefit is valued, the greater the chance of making a change and adhering to it.
- An external locus of control is a belief that the factors controlling people’s lives are outside the people themselves and thus beyond their control. An internal locus of control is a belief in which people view themselves as being in control.
- Self-efficacy refers to the beliefs people have in their ability to accomplish a specific task or behavior. These beliefs specifically affect ability to perform and achieve. A strong sense of self efficacy is central to self-regulation.
- Many Americans now believe that it is possible to control many health-promoting and health inhibiting behaviors.
- The discrepancy between health knowledge and health behavior is greatest among young adults.
- Lifestyle change is one of the most pervasive human endeavors.
- A fundamental belief in lifestyle-change programs is that health behavior is a learned response and therefore can be changed.
- Health behavior is influenced by many complex forces, including family, role models, social pressure, advertising, and psychological needs.
- The four steps in a lifestyle-change program are assessing behavior, setting specific and realistic goals, formulating intervention strategies, and evaluating progress.
- Intervention strategies used in lifestyle change include behavioral contracts, stimulus control, positive and negative reinforcers, support groups, and behavior substitution.
- Lifestyle change should be viewed as a learning experience rather than a test of willpower.
Tags:cardiorespiratory endurance, Health and Wellness, health behavior, health related fitness, lifestyle change programs, lifestyle diseases, locus of control, motivation wellness lifestyle