Changing Habits

Have you ever felt trapped by unhealthful habits you know you should change? You are not alone. Here is a short, practical video that will inform and help you understand the basic principles of how to break harmful behaviors. Watch it now! PositiveTip: Add to these principles the promise of Philippians 4:13: "I can do everything through…

The Slippery Slope of Dishonesty

A fascinating series of computer-based experiments on 55 participants discovered that with each successive lie, MRI evidence showed progressively decreasing activity in the amygdala. This decreasing emotional response illustrated that small acts of dishonesty tend to become ever more blatant and less disturbing. An early health reformer once stated: "One wrong act prepares the way…

“Cold Turkey” More Effective Than Gradual Approach

It is not easy to change a long established habit--even when we know it is harmful like smoking cigarettes. Often we think it will be easier to cut down gradually. British researchers found smokers were more likely to succeed when they set a date and stopped when compared to cutting down gradually. The 6-month cessation rate…

Lifestyle and Cancer Risk

According to British researchers, almost 40% of cancers are due to avoidable life choices. Tobacco causes 23% of cancer cases in men and 15.6% in women. The next largest cause of cancer in men is a diet lacking in fresh fruit and vegetables, and for women, it is being overweight. The use of alcohol is…

Healthy Habits Reduce Risk Of Cardiovascular, Cancer, And All-Causes Mortality

The Shanghai Women’s Health Study followed approximately 71,000 Chinese women aged 40-70 for 9 years. Among participants, common lifestyle risk factors of early death included physical inactivity, abdominal obesity, being overweight or obese, exposure to spousal tobacco smoke, and eating few fruits and vegetables. When participants reversed these risk factors, they exhibited a striking life-extending effect, especially in…

The Right Tools for Habit Change

All of us want to change things about ourselves! Some want to change many things. But what are the tools we need to use to accomplish our goals? I would like to suggest five that have helped me in my pursuit of change:

The Complexities of Forming Habits

For the last couple of weeks we have examined willpower and habit change in this column. It is important to understand how habits are formed so we can avoid establishing the harmful ones! All habits are laid down in nerve pathways in the brain. Extending from each nerve cell are many little fibers called dendrites and…

It’s Never Too Late to Prevent Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most rapidly growing diseases in the world today. It is not only costly and debilitating, but deadly as well. Statistics on this disease are sobering indeed.However, a newly released study released by Harvard researchers reveals that it is never too late to lower your risk of diabetes by implementing a few simple…