GOOD HABITS SYNONYM HOW TO

We propose that simple advice on how to make healthy actions into habits - externally-triggered automatic responses to frequently encountered contexts - offers a useful option in the behaviour change toolkit. Opportunistic health behaviour advice must be easy for health professionals to give and easy for patients to implement to fit into routine health care. Brief advice on how to change, engaging automatic (‘System 1’) processes, may offer a valuable alternative with potential for long-term impact. 4 However, the effects are typically short-lived because motivation and attention wane. Psychologically, such advice is designed to engage conscious deliberative motivational processes, which Kahneman terms ‘slow’ or ‘System 2’ processes. 2 Furthermore, even when patients successfully initiate the recommended changes, the gains are often transient 3 because few of the traditional behaviour change strategies have built-in mechanisms for maintenance.īrief advice is usually based on advising patients on what to change and why (for example, reducing saturated fat intake to reduce the risk of heart attack).

2 However, many health professionals shy away from giving advice on modifying behaviour because they find traditional behaviour change strategies time-consuming to explain and difficult for the patient to implement. Patients trust health professionals as a source of advice on ‘lifestyle’ (that is, behaviour) change, and brief opportunistic advice can be effective. take every opportunity to prevent poor health and promote healthy living by making the most of healthcare professionals’ contact with individual patients.’ 1 The Secretary of State recently proposed that the NHS:

Good habits synonym