Making healthy choices -- without thinking

CNN.com ^ | October 18, 2012 | Theresa Marteau

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

(CNN) -- Would you be more likely to take the stairs if the elevator doors were slower to close? Would you be more likely to eat healthy foods if the unhealthy selections were harder to reach?

You might -- and you might not even be aware of it.

Humans, as well as other animals, are motivated to conserve energy and have a built-in preference for the shortest or easiest way of doing something over a longer or more difficult way.

Our behavior is guided by two systems: a reflective system, in which we act in a conscious way, working toward goals while aware of our motivations and actions; and an automatic system, in which we act without reflection, responding to our surroundings and performing behaviors we have performed countless times before.

Targeting automatic behaviors could be a key way to fight disease.

Worldwide, more than half of deaths are due to four diseases: cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease.

The main causes of those are smoking, overeating, excessive alcohol consumption and a sedentary lifestyle. It's estimated that 75% of diabetes and heart disease cases and 40% of cancers would be prevented by changing the behaviors that cause them.

Past approaches have focused on persuading people of the risks faced by not changing behavior -- not curbing their drinking, for instance, or increasing their physical activity.

But even if the risks are personalized, evidence has shown, such information has little or no impact on behavior.

More intensive behavioral programs, those aimed at weight loss or stopping smoking, are more effective. But their effect is still limited, as only a small proportion of those who might benefit enroll in these programs, and of those who do, only a minority succeed in changing their behavior.

[Joe 6-pack]

One of the best purchases I've ever made was my recumbant exercise bike. I can set it for anything between short, intense, high resistance, grueling rides, and long, loping endurance workouts, without ever leaving my home, sucking exhaust, dodging cars, stopping for intersections, or any of the other annoyances.

Now, I can workout, get up into my target heart rate and sustain it while listening to my tunes, talk radio, FReeping, etc.

I use to be an avid runner, but over time the pounding on the knees and back started to take their toll. If I had the spare change laying around i'd love to get an endless pool.

[Fire_on_High]

Stationary bicycles don’t get hit by cars.

[CSM]

Yep, we are simply animals to be herded by our overlords! Sadly, we have FReepers who agree!