Offering financial incentives for exercise may be one way of stimulating, and sustaining, a more active lifestyle. Research suggests that even after rewards stop, exercise gains mostly persist.
The fresh flavors taste good now – a here-and-now reward that’s more motivating than potentially avoiding health problems in the future.
kajakiki/E+ via Getty Images
Long-term goals can be hard to stick to if the benefits are only way off in the future. Research suggests ways to focus on the here and now to help you ultimately achieve your more far-off targets.
Strategies like setting SMART goals and enlisting social support can help turn resolutions into habits.
(Shutterstock)
Resolutions are like goals and putting time into planning your resolution can increase your success. Using scientific strategies can increase your chances of sticking with your resolution.
The new rating system shows that eating the right amount of vegetables can lower your risk of heart disease by nearly 20%.
Westend61/Getty Images
Health guidelines can feel contradictory and hard to interpret. But a new star rating system should help consumers and policymakers better parse the evidence behind health risks and outcomes.
Many people attribute their coffee drinking to the need to feel more alert, but research shows that habit is just as big a driver behind caffeine consumption.
Westend61/Getty Images
Asaf Mazar, University of Pennsylvania e Wendy Wood, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Understanding and changing the environment in which habits form is a critical step when it comes to breaking unwanted behaviors and forming healthy ones.
Exercising with loved ones is one way to support mental well-being.
Commercial Eye/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Research highlights the importance of daily meditation, exercise and sleep for improving executive functioning, a component of attention that helps people focus.
As COVID-19 public health measures begin to relax, reflecting on routines and their value is useful when moving toward a ‘new normal.’
(Shutterstock)
Routines can be powerful tools to help people build a ‘new normal’ as pandemic restrictions lift. Routines can support creativity, boost health and provide meaningful activities and opportunities.
Behavioural change techniques frequently used in in-person fitness training were often absent from YouTube videos.
(Shutterstock)
Over half of people who intend to make healthy lifestyle changes fail to do so. Understanding the automatic tendencies that prevent people from enacting a new health habit can help them stick to it.
Even in ordinary times, going back to school is a stressful time.
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
COVID has made the usual jitters about returning to school that much more intense. Parents can support their children by listening carefully and prioritising healthy habits
During lockdowns, we live our lives through our screens. Here, tech experts share their tips on when - and how - to switch off.
New guidelines for health-care providers advise supporting every individual to achieve their best health, rather than focusing on weight status.
(Shutterstock)
New Canadian clinical practice guidelines for obesity aim to help reduce the prevalence and impact of weight bias and stigma in clinical care, and also encourage the public to advocate for change.
Gathering supplies and indulging in sweet baked treats can make us feel better temporarily. Why do we seek out certain foods in times of stress and should we give in to cravings?
Commuters jam a Toronto subway platform. Widespread adoption of habits that help prevent infection may boost behavioural herd immunity.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Large-scale adoption of simple, individual actions — like disinfecting our germ-laden phone screens — can limit the ability of COVID-19 to get a foothold.
Research suggests that couples who exercise together, stay together.
(Shutterstock)
How a technique to instil healthy habits can prevent those recovering from depression from relapsing.
Before you go for seconds after your meal, have a glass of water and wait five minutes before checking in with your hunger again.
from www.shutterstock.com