By decreasing stressful behaviors and increasing healthy behaviors, you can better manage the stress in your life.
To decrease stressful behaviors, it is useful to identify the barriers that prevent changing these behaviors. Once the barriers are identified, strategies can be developed to eliminate or reduce them.
Perceptions of control over your health influence whether you engage in healthy behaviors. If you perceive you have control over your health, you are more apt to engage in healthy behaviors than if you believe your health is a function of luck, chance, fate, or powerful others.
Self-monitoring is observing and recording your behavior. Self-monitoring health and lifestyle behaviors can increase your awareness of your behavior, which is the first step in decreasing stressful behaviors.
Tailoring a health-behavior program offers a way to maximize your success by allowing you to fit the program into your particular circumstances.
The use of material and social reinforcement, or rewards, increases the likelihood that healthy behaviors will be repeated.
Self-contracting and contracting with a significant other formalizes a commitment to engage in a particular behavior. Contracts have proven to be an effective means of decreasing stressful behaviors.
Shaping a behavior is the gradual introduction of various components of a program. This technique is particularly helpful when a person has difficulty carrying out a total program—for example, a weight control or exercise program. A reminder system can also be helpful.
Self-help groups have been formed to offer emotional support and information to individuals with similar health and lifestyle problems. Professional help has also been found valuable in assisting people to decrease their stressful behavior.
There are several Behavior Change theories that can be used to explain and change health behavior. Among these are Stages of Change Theory, Self-Efficacy Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Theory of Planned Behavior.
Stages of Change theory postulates people are at different points in motivation to change. These points—stages of readiness to change—are precontemplation, contemplation, decision/determination, action, and maintenance.
Self-efficacy theory states that the more confident people are that they can perform a behavior, termed their self-efficacy, the more likely they are to perform that behavior.
Theory of Reasoned Action recognizes that behavior is a result of attitudes, norms, and intentions. Behavioral intent, the perceived likelihood of performing the behavior, has been shown to be the best predictor of the behavior actually being performed.
Theory of Planned Behavior adds the construct perceived behavioral control to the Theory of Reasoned Action. People's perceptions of whether have control over situations influences their intent to engage in a particular behavior.
