HealthyLife Articles

Tag: HealthyLife® Weigh

  • Seek Downtime Daily 2

    SleepWell® Program

    Week 4

    Image of man sitting on couch.

    Downtime is idle time between activities. Examples are the moments you have waiting at a red light, the time spent riding in an elevator, and the extra time during a lunch break.

    Idle time allows your brain to rest and process and store information (how you learn and form memories). If you’ve ever had a great idea come to you in the shower, you know how creative your mind is during this time.

    Often, multi-tasking steals this time away. The resulting “addiction to activity” does not let your mind rest during the day. The result can be a feeling of being busy all the time. You may feel like you need “time to think.” If you go all day without downtime, it can be harder to quiet your mind at night and go to sleep.

    Practice letting your mind rest every day. If you are used to filling your time with multiple tasks at once, the following exercise may be eye-opening!

    Try this: Sit in a room for 15 minutes and do nothing. Don’t look at your phone or seek any other distractions. Let thoughts enter your mind.

    Reflect:

    How did you feel at the end of 15 minutes?

    Natural Ways to Include Downtime Daily

    *  Turn off notifications on your phone. Set aside time for social media during the day-and avoid it at other times.

    *  Listen to music instead of the news or talk radio while driving. Or, sit in silence and let your mind wander.

    *  Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to take five minutes of “blank space” time in your day.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Address Anxiety 2

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 2

    Zen garden with massage stones and waterlily.

    Anxiety is a feeling of dread, fear, or distress over a real or imagined threat to your mental or physical well-being. Smoking, chewing, or vaping may be a way that you have coped in the past with these feelings. At all stages of change, you can learn to address anxiety in healthy ways.

    First, try to calm your body physically. Calming the physical body can make working through what is in your mind easier.

    *  Breathe deeply and evenly.

    *  Take a walk or get some other form of exercise.

    *  Take a long, warm bath or shower. Or, go for a swim.

    *  Listen to soothing music. Or, go somewhere quiet.

    *  Connect with people. Visit or call someone who will listen to you and support you.

    *  Drink a warm cup of decaf coffee or tea-avoid caffeine, which can make anxiety worse.

    As you take a step back, use these tips to manage the thoughts that are causing your anxiety:

    *  Ask: is your thought based on facts?

    *  Identify what you are trying to do. Know your purpose.

    *  Consider many different outcomes and their effects.

    *  View the situation from many perspectives.

    *  Don’t assume a situation will have the same outcome as it did in the past.

    *  Have good evidence for a generalization before you make it.

    *  Avoid assuming one event caused another just because they happened at the same time.

    You will likely feel calmer after you quit. Nicotine only makes you more nervous. Nicotine is a stimulant. After you get over the initial stress of quitting, you’ll find that without all that nicotine in your body, you feel calmer and more relaxed.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Set Goals 2

    SleepWell® Program

    Week 2

    Image of wood blocks with letters spelling "smart."

    View sleep improvement as a long-term project, especially if you have had poor sleep for a long time. First, define small steps you want to take. Continue to reflect on your efforts.

    Small Steps

    Think of the actions you take on a daily basis as small steps towards your bigger goal. This guide has already given you many ideas for small steps. Examples are limiting caffeine and dimming the lights one hour before bedtime. Identify your next change and use the following guidelines to improve your goal. All goals should be:

    Chart on S.M.A.R.T.

    Stay motivated with the small successes you achieve along the way. Use your SleepWell® Tracker every day for feedback on the effect your actions have on your sleep.

    Reminder:If your sleep issues are chronic (last longer than three weeks), your primary goal should be to schedule an appointment with your doctor or a sleep specialist.

    Practice Goal-Setting

    Strengthen your goal using the S.M.A.R.T. tool. Start with a simple statement about what you want to accomplish. Next, write how your goal will be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

    Barriers to Change

    As you think more about your goal, roadblocks may appear. You may need tools or skills to achieve your goal. Identify what is making it difficult for you to change. Barriers do not mean you can’t make the change. Identify challenges that must be overcome to succeed.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Be Assertive 2

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 5

    Image of cigarettes and money.

    Learn the differences between passive, aggressive, and assertive communication.

    Passive

    *  You lack expression for yourself.

    *  You do not stand up for your rights and needs.

    Result: You usually do not achieve your goal. You may feel like someone is walking all over you.

    Aggressive

    *  You stand up for your rights and needs, but at the expense of someone else.

    Result: You usually put down or hurt someone else. You gain no respect and may even start a conflict.

    Assertive

    *  You stand up for your rights and needs without putting down or hurting someone else.

    Result: You build self-respect and feel good about yourself. You are likely to achieve your goal.

    Example

    Your co-worker offers you a cigarette, saying that you can have just one, even though you recently quit. This person wants to smoke with you for old time’s sake. You know this could send you back to using tobacco.

    Passive Response:“All right, I’ll have a cigarette with you, but just this one.”

    Aggressive Response:“You really have some nerve offering me a cigarette. I hate cigarettes and I think it’s disgusting that you smoke. You should smell your breath. Don’t ever come near me with a cigarette again.”

    Assertive Response:“No, thank you. I have quit smoking and I plan to stay that way. Even one can trigger my old addiction. You can help me remain an ex-smoker by not offering me any.”

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Get Enough Sleep 2

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 5

    Women sleeping.

    Not getting enough sleep can affect nearly every aspect of your day:

    *  Less energy and desire to work on your goals

    *  Feeling down, anxious, or other negative feelings

    *  Decreased creativity, making it harder to solve problems or imagine doing things differently

    *  Increased cravings for tobacco/nicotine to stay alert

    *  More unstable blood sugar levels, leading to less healthy eating and stronger cravings for nicotine

    Tips for Improving Sleep

    *  Get to bed a little earlier than normal when quitting. This may help cut out an evening cigarette and can help your body recover.

    *  Create a comfortable place to sleep. Make sure your bed, pillows, and bedding are comfortable.

    *  Maintain a slightly cooler temperature in the bedroom.

    *  Avoid looking at a screen (TV, laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc.) 30 minutes before bed.

    *  Create a bedtime and waketime routine.

    *  Reserve the bed for sleep and sex. Avoid doing other activities in bed, like work or having a tough discussion.

    *  Have a small snack before bed if you are hungry.

    * Avoid foods high in sugar or refined carbohydrates just before bed. The rise in blood sugar can provide a burst of energy that keeps you alert and makes it difficult to fall asleep.

    *  Avoid foods that are likely to cause acid reflux (heartburn), gas, cramping, or indigestion if you are prone to these problems. Fatty or spicy foods, beans, garlic, peanuts, and dairy cause discomfort for some people.

    What action can you take tonight to improve your sleep?

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Mindfulness 2

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 2

    Image of man walking his dog.

    Mindfulness means you are fully aware of what you are sensing in the current moment. Mindfulness can help you get through a stressful or uncomfortable time without your usual tobacco/nicotine use. It can also:

    *  Give your mind a chance to think creatively and come up with the answers to tough questions.

    *  Help you gently pull yourself back to the present when your mind wants to go somewhere else.

    *  Exercise greater control over your actions and your energy.

    *  Understand yourself more.

    *  Lower inflammation in the body.

    *  Activate areas in the brain that give you feelings of calmness.

    Mindfulness Exercise

    Practice mindfulness while you listen to music, walk, run, eat, or sit in traffic. You can also try this the next time you feel the desire to have a cigarette, dip, or puff from your vape:

    *  Try to physically pause your body. Sit or stand still. Maybe you can lean against the back of a chair or a wall. Get comfortable.

    *  Focus on your breathing or anything in the present, such as the sounds you hear or an object in your sight.

    *  As thoughts pop up in your mind, notice them without judging them. Picture your thoughts like clouds floating by-let them go by. Return your focus to what you see, hear, and feel.

    *  Notice the feelings you have about smoking/your habit and what may be making you feel that way. Be aware of what is helping you do what you want and what is not helping.

    *  When your mind starts to drift, imagine gently guiding it back to the present, as if you’re helping a child that has strayed off the path.

    The craving may have gone away or is now much less. If this is the case, try to do something else while the craving continues to fade.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Review And Prepare 7

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 4

    Image of hand crushing a bunch of cigarettes.

    This section provided strategies to manage urges that you have for tobacco/nicotine. You also learned tools to manage yourself in a demanding, often stressful world.

    *  Which urge tamers and other strategies have you practiced already?

    *  Which tools have worked well for you? Add these to your quit plan.

    *  What gaps do you have in your quit plan? What is still a big challenge?

    Review this section often. What may have helped you get started may not be what takes you all the way to quitting completely. You may need to use new strategies as your life changes, new stressors arise, or new people enter your life. As you feel more and more ready to take action, strengthen your action plan by assigning urge tamers to triggers.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Plan Problem-Solving 2

    Healthylife® QuitWell™

    Part 2

    Image of smiling women at desk.

    Your worries and concerns take up time in your day. Many issues cannot simply be ignored or brushed aside. To avoid letting these thoughts trigger smoking or chewing habits, plan time to address them.

    Steps to Address Your Worries

    1. Write a worry at the top of a piece of paper. It may seem old-fashioned to write this down on paper, when so much is done on the computer or a smartphone. However, writing things down can be powerful.

    2. Divide the paper into three columns:

    a. What I can’t do. Recognize what is out of your control.

    b. What I can do. List possible actions that are within your control. Write things you know how to do and that are realistic actions for you to take.

    c. What I will do and when. Decide which action you are ready to take first. This action may not solve every part of the problem, but it is a small step toward a solution. Write when you will do this.

    3. After you have taken an action towards a solution, repeat this process the next day or when you are ready to take another step.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Banish Black & White Thoughts

    Healthylife® Weigh

    Part 4

    Three friends enjoying lunch at rooftop restaurant.

    Consider a thought that you tend to see as black and white. Consider some alternative thoughts or ideas you could have instead. Or, when one comes to mind, return to this page and complete the following chart to practice banishing black and white thinking.

    Black & White Thought

    Example: I can’t go to restaurants because I always overeat and ignore my healthy goals.

    Alternative Thoughts

    I can choose restaurants that have healthy choices that I find tasty. I can have a healthy snack before I go out to eat to help prevent overeating at the restaurant.

    As you make changes to your way of thinking, be self-kind, not self-critical. Thinking rationally is like putting on a new, clear pair of glasses. What looked blurry or confusing before may seem more clear. New solutions to a challenge may appear once you look at it differently.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine

  • Dairy 2

    Healthylife® Weigh

    Menus & Recipes

    Dairy products.

    The dairy group includes milk and foods made from milk, including yogurt, cheese, ricotta cheese, and cottage cheese. Milk alternatives  (e.g., soy milk) are included if they are fortified with calcium, one of the key nutrients found in dairy.

    Chart showing dairy sources and ideas.

    If you don’t tolerate dairy or choose not to consume it:

    *  Try smaller servings of dairy or non-milk sources of dairy, such as yogurt.

    * Take lactose enzyme tablets or drops to help digest the lactose in milk.

    * Choose non-dairy foods for calcium, such as calcium-fortified juices, tofu and other fortified soy products, or leafy greens.

    © American Institute for Preventive Medicine