Behavior Change and Health News


Are You Ready?

Have you been wanting to become physically active, but just don’t know how to take that next step? Knowing more about how your readiness to change will help you achieve an active lifestyle.

The stage of readiness to change model is designed to help people adopt health habits. According to this model, people progress through several stages as they change. These are the five stages of readiness to change:
  1. Precontemplation – if you are in this stage, you’re not even thinking about becoming physically active; you have no intention to do so.
  2. Contemplation – in this stage, you are thinking every once in awhile about becoming physically active. You may recognize the benefits of change, but feel stuck.
  3. Preparation – in this stage, you might be making plans to be physically active. You may even start trying out physical activity, but not consistently.
  4. Action – in this stage, you have been physically active consistently, but for less than six months.
  5. Maintenance –in this stage, you have been physically active consistently for six months or longer.
Knowing what stage you’re in helps you to understand the steps you should take to move on to new stages. You can break the process of becoming physically active into smaller portions that are more attainable. This model has helped people make many changes, including becoming more physically active.

For instance, if you’re in the contemplation stage, the next step is to start making plans and adding an activity once a week, moving you into the preparation stage. This move from the contemplation stage to the preparation stage is much more achievable than jumping to the action stage of doing something every day. Working up to the maintenance stage by gradually incorporating activity into your life is a better recipe for success.

The stages of readiness to change model helps you see that no matter what stage you’re at, positive change can occur. You can move forward to a more active life at each level. The Active Living Every Day (ALED) course helps to guide you through the process of moving from stage to stage. As a participant, you’ll regularly assess your current stage. Your facilitator or the Online Study Guide then offers information and strategies based on your stage to help you start moving toward an active lifestyle.

The Active Living Every Day book and the Online Study Guide give class participants (or you, as a participant) access to this proven strategy for behavior change. You learn how to move forward, as well as how to recover when you hit a barrier or setback. It’s important to know that as you move through the stages, your progress may not always be straight forward. Sometimes you’ll skip or return to a stage. That’s okay. This is a normal part of the change process and does not mean that your work has been in vain. Using the Active Living Every Day method, if you do have a setback, you’ll have the tools and the past experience to find solutions and start moving forward again. Would you like to know what stage of readiness to change you’re in? Click here to asses your readiness to change.

A special part of the Online Study Guide is the stage-matched online partners. After your stage of readiness to change is determined, you’ll be matched up with one of five “online partners.” Each partner corresponds to a specific stage of readiness to change. Your partner accompanies you throughout the course, offering advice and support from their journey through ALED. If you change your stage, you’ll receive a new partner. Click here if you would like to meet the online partners.

So are you ready? Armed with the tools that the stage of readiness to change model offers, prepare to embark on a new and healthier life through Active Living Every Day!





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