Self-Change Project It took a bit of thought to come up with something that I could change about myself in this project. I do not mean there are not things to change, there definitely are. But, I find myself usually catering to my family when it comes to my behavior, their wants and needs. I decided to try to make my mornings more efficient with the way I start the day because that usually is the only time I have to myself. I chose to drink more water and do yoga each morning to center myself. I was hoping that by doing so would also help with weight loss without focusing strictly on that. First, I found if I did not get up super early I was guaranteed to get interrupted. These were not just your normal interruptions that could wait either. …show more content…
I chose to work on my morning routine but I work Saturday evenings 7pm to 7am. This leaves me exhausted Sunday morning. I do not go to bed until Sunday evening. This means Monday morning I am still utterly exhausted and no cookie in the world is going to encourage anything from me. Those two days out of the week made making this a habit very hard. On the days that I was able to complete this project successfully, I did notice I felt more awake and calmer when I started my day. The yoga helped ease the general aches and pains of getting out of bed and the water made me less hungry for breakfast which allowed me to control what I chose to eat better. But I do not feel like I have made a habit out of anything. It was simply something I did when I wasn’t tired and had the time. I loved the idea of the self-change project. I think healthy decisions and lives are essential for happiness. I am not sure if I let my everyday problems get in the way of if these were valid issues that I must deal with daily. The project was successful in the sense that I know I really need to look at what I do each day and figure out how I can work on myself in addition to those around me. I let people and situations take the wheel when it comes to me and my
“I’m sorry I am late, I overslept” or “I can’t make morning appointments, I have a hard time waking up in the morning.” These are the infamous excuses and reasoning’s I have abused time after time for my repetitive failure to accept the help my alarm clock offers every morning. For the longest time, I have shared a deep passion with sleeping in. However, this passionate habit of mine has cost me a lot of losses from losing responsibilities that were entrusted to me as well as losing valuable time each day. Having accustomed myself to this comfortable habit, I have neglected the fact that I am being given twenty-four glorious hours each day to accommodate my responsibilities as a human being. With each day wasted, I tend to live a more stress filled lifestyle because after I wake up each afternoon, I anxiously spend the remaining hours of my day trying to make up for lost time. After being fed up with my delayed lifestyle, I had no one to blame but myself. To help me battle my habitual sleeping in, I turned to the help of Laura Vanderkam’s book, What The Most Successful People Do before Breakfast.
The project ended up not being particularly valuable for me in the sense that the change was never really able to become permanent. This is most likely directly because I did not strictly adhere to my change plan either by choice or by extenuating circumstance. The project has shown me that in order for a difficult change to be made it has to be an incredibly high priority. My change ended up not being as high on my priority list as studying for exams or going out with friends when I had limited time around exams which was ultimately the downfall of my change.
Yoga and Meditation being used as a form of physical therapy has been going on for thousands of years. We, the western society, have picked this up and created a yoga boom doing researches with results showing that it can improve physical health.
When the mind’s need of rest is not met, it accumulates “sleep debt” that cannot be fixed by a single sleep period. “The brain keeps an accurate count of sleep debt for at least two weeks” (Myers, DeWall 107). Many college students experience sleep deprivation which results in fatigue during the day. Whether or not it’s because of roommates, or your own habits, sleep deprivation is a problem. Although sleep is often overlooked and not considered a significant event--since it should normally occur every day--it is a necessity for all humans as well as animals. “It is said that young animals can go longer without food than sleep” (Johnson 88). This statement shows just how important of a role sleep is in life. “Approximately 70% of college students report disturbances in sleep including poor sleep quality, insufficient sleep, and irregular sleep patterns” (DeMartini, Fucito 1164). Most of the time college students experience difficulties with sleep because of their varying schedules. On the weekdays, students will sleep between classes, and stay up late trying to get work done. On the weekends, they stay up late and wake later in the day. “According to the National Sleep Foundation, 59% of adults 18 to 29 years of age describe themselves as night-owls” (Gaultney 91). Our bodies are synchronized with the 24-hour cycle due to the circadian rhythm (Myers, DeWall 100). If students cannot fall asleep early because their “biological clock” is messed up due to stress or other reasons, they cannot get enough sleep by the time the morning comes. Research has shown that typically people who get up earlier perform better in school, have more initiative and are less likely to be depressed (Myers, DeWall 101). Other factors of sleep deprivation could fall into the social category. College students tend to like to enjoy life, and party. This is something a college student can
Nutrition, I have learned plays a big part in our life. To be honest I was clueless about how much nutrition affected our everyday lives. I love going to the gym working out, now that I know what should go into my diet I think I will see a lot more improvement. I occasionally follow the latest diet fads because I believed it would be better for my health, but in turn it really hurt more than it helped! This Diet Analysis project has been extremely useful course because I can personally relate to it and can use much of the information learned to my daily routines. The Diet Analysis project was a real eye opener because it let me see what exactly I was putting into my diet.
Actually doing this project helped me to realize that the way I was living wasnt very healthy, and it helped me to make a change that i had been trying to make for myself for a long time. Honestly I probably wouldn't have made the changes i wanted to if i wasn't in any other way obligated to make some kind of change like i was for this assignment, and i am glad that i had the chance to take part in this life changing experience.
The first day without caffeine was pure torture. My usual morning routine is simple. It consists of three simple steps. As a boss, I like to be the first person to work each morning. This shows dedication and also sets the standard for my younger co-workers. The second thing I do is walk around the building and unlock the two entryway doors. Finally, before I go into my office, I stop by the snack-bar and purchase a Monster Energy Drink. This routine changed as soon as I gave up caffeine for 72 hours.
But as I thought about writing this paper, it was hard for me to choose one so I asked my sister for help. She said that the main personal health behavior I should change is the amount of sugar I consume in a day. At first I did not agree but then when I thought about it, I realized that I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. According to the Transtheoretical stages of change model I am on precontemplation. The precontemplation stage was described as “no current intention of changing” (Donatelle, page 9). At this point, I have not realized my problem of consuming too much sugar until someone pointed it out. This was not a behavior I was not planning on changing. It affects my daily routine because it makes me hype then causes a sugar crash soon after. I know acknowledge that I need to stop eating too much surgery things. I am going to change this habit by implementing a few things in my daily, weekly and monthly life. First, I am going to plan out the amount of sugar I can have in a day. Then I will bring prepackaged food and snacks from home. I can bring healthy snacks such as nuts, vegetables, and fruits. I also have the option of having snacks like Nature valley and other healthy snacks on campus. That will keep me away from sugary
Throughout every person’s life, there will always be moments in time where change will take place. This could range from a variety of events such as changing schools, jobs, or even one’s own home. However, there are some habits that help one stay healthy if they remain consistent. This can consist of altering one’s diet to a healthier one or even enhancing the number hours of sleep one gets per night. A health change behavior goal that I have taken the time to evaluate and accept is necessary will be composed of a ten day exercise program in order to completely change my physical fitness habits. Selecting this health change behavior was the best choice due to the fact that after starting my educational career here at UCI, I had abandoned the active lifestyle that I once had before college. For the past two
I felt changed in a good way. I think this is what I used as my criteria in seeing if my project was successful. I had a new experience. My outcome out of this project was an experience I will never forget and meeting great people, not only the people from the organization, but I had a chance to really talk to some of the homeless people and the majority of them were so kind and genuinely appreciative for the things we were giving them. Life is about the experiences we face and I 'm happy I got the opportunity to experience something so beautiful as giving to others in need. I decided on this criteria because there 's so many hateful people in this world and this experience was full of love and positivity. I think my whole objective in this project was to help others and make people happy and I really think I was able to make this a
Healthy living is a huge step in life, especially in this day and age. This whole course focuses on having healthy lifestyle, making the changes necessary to maintain one, and gives the learner step-by-step instructions of where to start. There are multiple reasons why someone should make a behavior change. Some could include health reasons, to support family members, or some decide to make the change because he or she wants to live healthy. Personally, my family affects a lot of the decisions in my life. Growing up, I was used to taking care of my older sister and I was used to changing my diet to fit what plan my mom had for the week. My behavior change was always dependent on them. During this course, I learned a lot of how the social cognitive
Describe any small or significant changes experienced during and after this process. Did this project help address your stress?
Any individual that leads a healthy lifestyle will say that healthy living is more than just a fad or goal, it’s a way of life. Changing certain aspects of one’s current lifestyle to become healthier is not the final goal, rather, the objective of setting these short and long term goals is maintenance. Therefore, I choose to change an aspect of my current lifestyle that I felt would facilitate the improvement of my health and would later become a change that I can maintain over the course of my life; I choose to increase the amount of water I drink per day to improve my inner bodily health. I decided on this change because I feel that setting a smaller goal that I could easily monitor and execute will expedite future changes to my lifestyle,
My personal health has been something I constantly think about. Whether it’s myself, my parents, my doctor, or others that bring it up, I’m reminded that I need to eat healthier or exercise more, etc. I know that I need to get better about what I eat and try to work more exercise into my daily routine, I just find it hard to find the motivation to go and actually accomplish what I know that I need to do. Especially in today’s society where we’re surrounded by a lot of non-healthy food, and getting access to healthy food is more expensive than the latter, it’s hard to make the better choice and choose the healthy option. I’m hoping now that I’m in college that I’m able to get better at taking care of myself than I have in the past.
There are a few reasons for me not wanting to get up early in the morning. The first is entirely my fault. It is because I find it hard