Make Healthy Choices by using Long-Term Thinking
April 13, 2010
I am sure you have heard there is no “quick fix” in health and fitness or there would already be a Patten on the “Magic Pill”. According to researchers from Kansas State University, people who use long-term thinking have a greater capacity for implementing healthier behaviors and choices than those who rely on short-term solutions.
In a study printed in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, researchers discovered how people’s perceptions of time correlate with health behaviors, and which measures of time best predict those behaviors. The recipients were given questionnaires to complete about long and short-term thinking around current health behaviors like smoking, nutrition, and exercise habits.
The results showed the people who were more short-term thinkers preferred instant gratification and engaged in less healthy behaviors regularly. Those participants who understood the future benefits or rewards of present decisions were more likely to participate in healthier behaviors.
Long-term thinkers have a tendency to evaluate the effects of their current behavior on future situation and make insightful decisions. If a person is thinking ahead, and how the results of their choices now will affect them later, they will be able to ultimately make a better decision for themselves.
When I am working with a client, new or old, I have to know what they want to get out of exercise. I ask both short and long term goals of exercise. This way I can tweak the program to meet their needs. It often engages the client to take a moment to really decide what is important to them.
Here are a few ways to promote more long term thinking in healthy living:
1. Instead of allowing yourself to make impulsive decisions, ask yourself a few questions first, such as, “How this will affect you tomorrow or next week”. This is especially applicable with food tendencies. Many times we think we have to eat something because of an urge, emotion, or lack of planning. By taking a moment to think what is really important in the long run, a smarter decision can be made that you will feel good about.
2. If you have many short-term thinking friends, they will not help you become more long-term thinker – “Birds of a feather flock together”. You don’t have to lose your friends but try to be conscious about those who are short-term thinkers, help them make long-term decisions. Include more long-term thinkers in your circle of friends.
3. Delay an impulsive decision with time. Do you really need to have another serving of food because you are hungry or is it just because you think you are hungry? Give yourself ten minutes to decide if this craving
is really necessary. This is a way of practicing delay of gratification, and a way that short-term thinkers cane more effectively evaluate the influence that current behaviors have on future outcomes.
What are some ways you incorporate your long-term thinking in your daily lives as it relates to health and fitness decisions? Please leave a comment.
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