Making Healthy Changes – A Reflective Journal

Making Healthy Changes – A Reflective Journal

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Making Healthy Changes – A Reflective Journal

Each of the behavior of the individual positively or negatively impact the health of the person. A healthy lifestyle leads to a healthy body, and this is only possible when the person will decrease health-compromising behavior and increase health-enhancing behavior. For this journal, the behavior that I want to change is to do a cardio workout six days a week for 45 minutes. Cardio workout is a series of exercises that increase the heart rate. The exercises burn calories and keep the muscles of the body strong and in-shape ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"sSHpnKZS","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ballantyne, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Ballantyne, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":161,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/GER32LX5"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/GER32LX5"],"itemData":{"id":161,"type":"book","title":"The Great Cardio Myth: Why Cardio Exercise Won't Get You Slim, Strong, Or Healthy-and the New High-Intensity Strength Training Program that Will","publisher":"Fair Winds Press (MA)","ISBN":"1-59233-739-2","author":[{"family":"Ballantyne","given":"Craig"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ballantyne, 2017). A 45-minute workout can aid in burning 500 calories per day which is a great way to stay fit and healthy.

For this behavior, the baseline frequency that is set by me is a workout for 45 minutes 6 days a week. The chart for my changed behavior is below.

Chart for Baseline Frequency

Day

Frequency= Minutes per day

Monday

25

Tuesday

30

Wednesday

45

Thursday

45

Friday

45

Saturday

30

Sunday

Rest

Present above is the sample chart for the baseline frequency that I have set for adopting a positive health behavior. Since cardio workout is an intense workout and needs commitment, therefore, I believe that it is a difficult change that I can bring in my life. I have been thinking about doing workout daily from the last few weeks because of my unhealthy food consumption pattern. My water intake is also low, and lastly these days I get tired very often which means that my body muscles are getting weak because of lack of physical movement. Three weeks ago I was motivated enough to begin cardio, and I was successful in doing it for 30 mins, the experience was good, and I felt very fresh and energetic at that time, but the pain in my muscles next morning demotivated me, and I failed to do it again. I was unable to walk properly or move my hands, and because of this, I felt so tired all day that I quit working out, despite the fact that I know that pain subsides in two-three days. Thus this is my experience of making a change in my behavior previously which was unsuccessful.

It is a well-said maxim that a healthy mind and a healthy body is key to a happy life. Bo-mi Kim, Kyeong-lae Kim, Se-hwan Park, and Kwang-hee Lee in their article have created a link between physical activity and mental health. According to their article physical activities increases the blood flow in the mind and body and when the brain receives more oxygen the performance of the brain is enhanced ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"3kuXLClK","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kim, Kim, Park, & Lee, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Kim, Kim, Park, & Lee, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":163,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/VZKRWSKR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/VZKRWSKR"],"itemData":{"id":163,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Effect of HHIM Program on Health Related Physical Fitness and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Elementary Students","author":[{"family":"Kim","given":"Bo-mi"},{"family":"Kim","given":"Kyeong-lae"},{"family":"Park","given":"Se-hwan"},{"family":"Lee","given":"Kwang-hee"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kim, Kim, Park, & Lee, 2016). Hence this shows the importance of physical workout on the body, brain, and personality. By keeping this fact under consideration, I believe that there are many reasons which motivate me to make a positive change in my life by doing cardio workout daily. The first reason is that cardio workout is capable of burning body calories quickly. Lane Goodwin in his article “10 Benefits of Burpees for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, Cardio, and Efficiency" have said that cardio increases the heart rate and with this the demand of oxygen in the body increases. When the body needs more oxygen, the body uses fats to obtain this energy ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"DuXFwcc1","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Goodwin, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Goodwin, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":162,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/FWYD3ABY"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/FWYD3ABY"],"itemData":{"id":162,"type":"article-journal","title":"10 Benefits of Burpees for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, Cardio, and Efficiency","author":[{"family":"Goodwin","given":"Lane"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Goodwin, 2016). Thus fats in the body are reduced and keeps the body in shape. Another reason is that it keeps the muscles of the body strong which is beneficial for a healthy body at old age. Thus because of these reasons I want to include a cardio workout in my life on a daily basis.

It will have a positive impact on my life because it will make my body and my mind healthy. In addition to this, another positive consequence of this behavior in my life will be that I will become more conscious while eating junk food. I will take some time out of my busy life for a workout which is a positive step for loving myself. Likewise working out daily will make my muscles strong and I will feel more energetic and healthy. I will not feel tired like I do most of the time and above all more intake of oxygen during a workout and increase consumption of water daily will impact my skin and eyes positively. My change behavior will not only affect my life physically but also psychologically. According to the Transtheoretical approach to health-behavior change, a change in one action creates a difference in all spheres of life and in the whole society. Under the light of this theory, I believe that change in my health-related behavior will make me a better person because I will be more confident for my appearance and this will make me a confident person. Likewise, I will be able to take out time for some social work when I am feeling energetic, and thus the whole society will be benefited from a simple change in my behavior. Therefore Transtheoretical approach is an inspiration for me to change my health behavior because this makes me realize that just by working out for 45 minutes can transform my life and also the whole society.

So to cap it all, the above discussion elucidates a notion that a simple change in health behavior can transform the life. Adding a health-enhancing behavior in life will make the mind, body, and personality strong.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Ballantyne, C. (2017). The Great Cardio Myth: Why Cardio Exercise Won’t Get You Slim, Strong, Or Healthy-and the New High-Intensity Strength Training Program that Will. Fair Winds Press (MA).

Goodwin, L. (2016). 10 Benefits of Burpees for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, Cardio, and Efficiency.

Kim, B., Kim, K., Park, S., & Lee, K. (2016). The Effect of HHIM Program on Health Related Physical Fitness and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Elementary Students.