Wellness, fitness, and lifestyle
management
Chapter 1
Test your knowledge
1. Which of the following lifestyle factors is the
leading preventable cause of death for Americans?
a. excess alcohol consumption
b. cigarette smoking
c. obesity
b. Smoking causes about 500,000 deaths per year;
obesity is responsible for more than 100,000; and
alcohol, as many as 85,000.
2. The terms health and wellness mean the same thing.
True or false?
FALSE. Although the words are used interchangeably,
they actually have different meanings. The term health
refers to the overall condition of the body or mind and to
the presence or absence of illness or injury. The term
wellness refers to optimal health and vitality,
encompassing six dimensions of well-being
3. Which of the following health-related issues
affects the greatest number of college students
each year?
a. stress
b. colds/fl u/sore throat
c. sleep problems
d. concern for a friend or family member
a. About 32% of college students suffer so much stress
that it affects their academic performance. High stress levels affect
overall health and wellness, making it important to learn effective
stress-management techniques
HEALTH vs WELLNESS
 Health:
 Absence of illness or injury
 Influenced by factors beyond your control: genes, age, family
history
 Wellness
 Determined by your own decisions about your life
 Involves making conscious decisions to control risk factors:
eating sensibly, exercising, having regular screening tests.
The 6 dimensions of wellness
Physical: your body’s overall condition, fitness
level, and your ability to take care of yourself.
Emotional wellness:Your ability to understand
and deal with your feelings.
Intellectual: your ability to challenge your mind,
seek out new experiences and challenges.
Social – Interpersonal:Your ability to develop and
maintain satisfying and supportive relationships.
Spiritual: Set of guiding beliefs, principles and
values that give meaning and purpose to your life.
Environmental – vocational – occupational:
livability of your surroundings. Your personal health
depends on the health of your surroundings and
your planet.
The wellness continuum
Low levels of
wellness
High levels of
wellness
Physical, mental,
emotional
symptoms
Change and
growth
Lab 1. Your Wellness Profile
pg 23
 Consider how your lifestyle, attitudes, and characteristics relate to
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each of the six dimensions of wellness. Fill in your strengths for
each dimension.
Use the examples provided to guide you.
Once you’ve completed your lists, choose what you believe are
your five most important strengths, and circle them.
Next, think about where you fall on the wellness continuum for
each of the dimensions of wellness. Indicate your placement for
each – physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual,
interpersonal/social, and environmental – by placing Xs on the
continuum below.
Complete the rest of the lab and find out about your level of
wellness.
New opportunities, new responsibilities
 Before 1900
 Infectious diseases
 Poor environmental conditions
 After 1900
 Chronic diseases
 Lifestyle choices and behaviors
o Smoking
o Diet
o Inactive lifestyle
o Alcohol use
 Leading causes of death US.
o Heart disease
o Cancer
o Stroke
o Chronic lower respiratory disease
o Unintentional injuries
What is being done?
 National Healthy People Initiative
 National goals
 Prevent disease
 Increase quality and years of healthy life
 Eliminate health disparities among Americans.
Objectives
Estimate of
Current Status (%) Goal (%)

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Increase the proportion of people age 18 and older who engage regularly in moderate
physical activity.
Increase the proportion of people age 2 and older who consume at least 3 daily servings
of vegetables, with at least one-third being dark-green or orange vegetables.
Increase the prevalence of healthy weight among people age 20 and older.
Reduce the proportion of adults 18 and older who use cigarettes.
Reduce the proportion of college students reporting binge drinking during the past 2 weeks.
Increase the proportion of adults who take protective measures to reduce the risk of skin
cancer (sunscreens, sun-protective clothing, and so on).
Increase the use of safety belts by motor vehicle occupants.
Increase the number of residences with a functioning smoke alarm on every floor.
Increase the proportion of persons with health insurance.
30
50
3
32
21
39
50
60
12
20
71
82
90
84
85
92
100
100
Behaviors that contribute to wellness
 Be physically active
 Choose a healthy diet
 Maintain a healthy body weight
 Manage stress effectively
 Avoid tobacco and drug use and limit alcohol consumption
 Protect yourself from disease and injury
 Take other step toward wellness
Lab 2. Lifestyle evaluation
 How does your current lifestyle
compare with the lifestyle
recommended for wellness? For each
question, choose the answer that best
describes your behavior; then add up
your score for each section.
Reaching wellness through lifestyle
management.
 Getting serious about your health
 Examine your current health status
 Choose a target behavior
 Find help
 Build motivation towards change
Examine the pros and cons of change
Boost self efficacy, believe in your ability to succeed
Find a locus of control, take control of your life.
Use visualization and self talk: visualize yourself enjoying the
benefits of your lifestyle change.
 Identify and overcome barriers to change
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Moving forward in the cycle of behavior
change
 Pre-contemplation: you don’t think you have a problem and don’t
intent to change your lifestyle.
 Raise your awareness
 Be self aware
 Seek social support
 Identify helpful resources
 Contemplation: you know you have a problem and intend to take
action within 6 months
 Keep a journal
 Do a cost – benefit analysis
 Identify barriers to change
 Engage your emotions
 Create a new self-image
 Think before you act
Moving forward in the cycle of behavior
change
 Preparation: you plant to take action within a month or may already
begun to make small changes in your lifestyle.
 Create a plan
 Make change a priority
 Practice visualization and self-talk
 Take short steps
 Action: you modify your behavior and environment. You are at risk of
reverting that behavior.
 Monitor your progress
 Change your environment
 Find alternatives to your target behavior
 Reward yourself
 Involve your friends
 Don’t get discouraged
 Deal with relapse
Moving forward in the cycle of behavior
change
 Termination: you have succeeded in changing your lifestyle.
 Keep going
 Be prepared for lapses
 Be a role model
Creating a plan
Monitor your behavior and gather data
1.
 Keep a journal
 Record every occurrence of your behavior
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What was the activity
When and where it happened
What were you doing
How you felt at that time
Analyze the Data and Identify Patterns
2.
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Note relations between your feelings and external factors: day,
location, situation, influences.
Creating a plan
3.
Be “smart” about setting goals
 Your behavior changes should be
Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Realistic
 Time frame – specific
 As you work toward meeting your long term goal, you may find it
necessary to adjust your short term goals.

Creating a plan
Device a plan of action
4.
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Get what you need
Modify your environment
Control related habits
Reward yourself
Involve the people around you
Plan for challenges
Make a personal contract
5.
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Include a statement of your goal and commitment in reaching it

Date when you will start
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Steps you will take to measure your progress
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Strategies you plan to use to promote change
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The date you expect to reach your final goal
Putting your plan into action
 Remember all the reasons you have to make the change
 Use all your strategies to make your plan work
 Make sure your environment is change – friendly.
 Get support and encouragement from others
 Keep track of your progress
 Give yourself regular rewards
Stay with your plan
 Expect problems and have a back up plan
 Make changes when needed
 Connect with others that can support you but focus in
yourself
 Be sure you have a high level of commitment
 Look at all the sources of stress and find healthy ways to
manage them
 Avoid procrastinating, rationalizing and blaming
Be fit and well for life
 Being well takes extra effort, but the paybacks in energy and
vitality are priceless.
 Once you’ve started, don’t stop
 Health improvement is forever
 Deal with easier problems first, use what you know to tackle
more difficult problems later.