Environmental Influences on Health

Environmental Influences on Physical Activity

• Modern environments often promote inactivity, making it easier to choose escalators over stairs, drive-through windows over cooking, and rely on car washes and automatic garage door openers.
• Spending most of the day sitting, even while meeting minimum physical activity requirements, is linked to high death rates.
• Excessive sitting time increases the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, independently of body weight and physical activity.
• For every hour of sedentary TV watching per day, life expectancy decreases by 22 minutes.

Environmental Influences on Diet and Nutrition

• Reasons for overeating in the average American diet include:
  • Daily food supply exceeding calorie needs
  • Prevalence of eating out, offering variety and appealing choices
  • Growing portion sizes
  • Disregarding hunger cues, leading to snacking
  • Prioritizing cost over nutrition
  • Free soft-drink refills

Barriers to Behavior Change

• Barriers that hinder behavior change include:
  • Lack of core values
  • Procrastination
  • Preconditioned cultural beliefs
  • Seeking gratification
  • Risk complacency
  • Complexity
  • Indifference and helplessness
  • Rationalization
  • Illusions of invincibility

Self-Efficacy Promotes Behavior Change

• Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to perform a given task.
• The sources of self-efficacy, ranked by influence:
  • Mastery experiences
  • Vicarious experiences
  • Verbal persuasion
  • Physiological cues

Motivation and Locus of Control Promote Behavior Change

• Motivation is the internal drive directing, energizing, and persisting in behavior, influenced by external factors.
• Locus of control refers to the extent to which an individual believes they can influence their environment.
  • Internal locus of control promotes change.
  • External locus of control presents a greater challenge to behavior change.

Three Barriers to Taking Action

• Barriers to taking action:
  • Problems of competence: Solution - master required skills.
  • Problems of confidence: Solution - Break down tasks.
  • Problems of motivation: Solution - Increase knowledge and set goals.

Five Approaches to Behavior Change

• Approaches to behavior change:
  • Stopping a negative behavior.
  • Preventing relapse to a negative behavior.
  • Developing a positive behavior.
  • Strengthening a positive behavior.
  • Maintaining a positive behavior.

Behavior Change Theories and Models

• Learning Theory: Behaviors are primarily learned and maintained through reinforcement and anticipated outcomes.
• Social Cognitive Theory: Behavior change is influenced by the environment, self-efficacy, and behavior characteristics.
• Humanistic Theory of Change: Individuals are unique in their pursuit of personal goals, with self-actualization as the ultimate goal.
• Problem-Solving Model: Many behaviors result from decision-making processes used to address problem behaviors.
• Relapse Prevention Model: Anticipates high-risk situations and develops strategies to prevent lapses and relapses.
  • Lapse: A temporary slip into unhealthy behaviors.
  • Relapse: A longer-term return to unhealthy behaviors.

Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change

• The Transtheoretical Model postulates that behavior change is a gradual process involving multiple stages.

Overview of Common Processes of Change

• Common processes of change:
  • Consciousness-Raising: Increasing knowledge of the problem behavior.
  • Social Liberation: External influences raising awareness of the problem behavior.
  • Self-Analysis: A decisive desire to change behavior.
  • Emotional Arousal: Experiencing and expressing feelings about the problem and solution.
  • Positive Outlook: Maintaining an optimistic perspective and self-belief.
  • Commitment: Accepting responsibility for change and believing in one's ability to achieve it.
  • Behavior Analysis: Assessing frequency, circumstances, and consequences of the behavior.
  • Goal Setting: Establishing specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
  • Helping Relationships: Surrounding oneself with supportive individuals.
  • Self-Reevaluation: Analyzing feelings about the problem behavior including pros and cons.
  • Countering: Substituting healthy behaviors for problem behaviors.

This quiz explores how modern environments impact physical activity and dietary habits. It delves into the consequences of inactivity and unhealthy eating choices, highlighting critical factors that influence our daily decisions. Understand the relationship between our surroundings and health outcomes through a series of questions.