Would you consider sending your child to a school that covers the whole K-12 English curriculum in grades 1, 2 and 3, all of math in grades 4, 5 and 6, history in grade 7, geography in grade 8, biology in grade 9, and so on?
Of course not! Kids need to learn different skills at the same time because one reinforces the other. Strong English skills help a child understand math problems, and strong math skills go hand in hand with science.
Similarly, your child’s maturity grows over time, and with that, his or her ability to understand complexity also grows. Shakespeare, Einstein, Newton, and Lincoln’s contributions are difficult to grasp for a 7 year old.
Academic ability is like a puzzle where all the pieces fit together, and the level of challenge needs to match the maturity levels of the students.
The same goes for our health skills. We need to learn how to walk before we can run, we need to learn how to cook at home before we can cut out junk food, and we need to control emotional impulses before we can successfully meditate through chaos. When we eat and sleep well, we have active minds which bolster our moods and active bodies that give us the energy to enjoy exercise. Being active makes it easier to fall asleep. Health skills go together and grow together.
This idea is so obvious and natural, I’m surprised we don’t see it applied to health promotion and management more often.
Simultaneous Growth Applies to Health Promotion
The fact that most wellness programs promote either food or exercise habits in isolation puzzles me. We intuitively know that when we sleep poorly, we are drawn to snacking and overeating. We also know that nothing gets rid of a crappy mood faster than a good sweat and that lower stress levels contribute to a better night’s sleep. So why are so many programs treating sleep, food, mood, and exercise as if they were separate topics?
Those who have been following me know where I’m going with this: our sleep, food, mood, and exercise habits are mutually reinforcing, not only because of how they make us feel, but because the biochemical activity that each generates in the body inspires greater health.
But hold on, there’s more!
Transtheoretical Model Agrees
New research headed by Sara Johnson, who is part of Prochaska’s Transtheoretical Model Team, finds that taking effective action on one health behavior increases the chances that we’ll also take action on another. They call this phenomenon co-action.
In one experiment, Johnson’s research team looked at the interactions between food, mood, and exercise directly. Here’s what they did. At baseline, participants who were not engaging or who had only been engaging for a very short time in regular exercise, healthy eating, and/or managing emotional distress received an intervention to help them improve those behavior(s). Participants then received tailored reports providing feedback on their stage of change for each behavior (Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, or Action), self-efficacy, and a few related topics. Following the results for up to 24 months, their study found that participants were roughly twice as likely as the control group to take action on a second behavior. To quote James Prochaska in another paper about multiple behavior changes, “Co-variation represents one innovative approach in which effective change on one treated behavior increases the odds of effective action on a second targeted behavior.”
How to Be Healthy
People ask me how they can become healthier every day. Here’s my answer.
Start with whatever is easiest for you, instead of what’s most difficult. If you have a hard time with your food habits, then food is your problem, not your solution. Work on sleep, mood, and/or exercise first, and food will become less of a challenge. You’ll get the ball rolling, feel in control and capable of change, and quickly build on initial victories. That’s much more energizing and sustainable than trying to fix your weakest area first.
For clear strategies on how to tackle each of sleep, food, mood, and exercise, check out our book. It offers 50 research-based avenues to better health.
Shortlist of Sources
- Photo courtesy of Roberta Romagnoli
- Johnson, S., Paiva, A., Mauriello, L., Prochaska, J., Redding, C., Velicer, W. (2013). Coaction in Multiple Behavior Change Interventions: Consistency Across Multiple Studies on Weight Management and Obesity Prevention. Health Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0034215.
- Prochaska, J. (2008). Multiple Health Behavior Research represents the future of preventive medicine. Preventive Medicine, 46(3), 281–285.
- Shaar, M.J. & Britton, K. (2011). Smarts and Stamina: The Busy Person’s Guide to Optimal Health and Performance. Philadelphia, PA: Positive Psychology Press.