**I imagine there could be several ways a textbook or
teacher could categorize "lifestyle changes" so my first advice is to double check the
text that will be tested, your notes, or another student's notes. Very often, teachers
give an exam study guide that is specific to class discussion, lecture notes, and the
text.**
Generally speaking, in psychology, lifestyle
changes are often categorized as either health attitudes or
health behavior. Making a change in health attitudes is a
mental change while a change in health behavior is a
physical change. It is noted that behavioral lifestyle changes
often cannot be sustained unless a change in attitude occurs
first.
An example of this is the common desire to lose
weight. It is common knowledge that short term dieting is not a permanent solution to
obesity. Dieting typically means abstaining from or limiting certain foods. Let us use
carbohydrates as an example. Cutting out carbohydrates is a behavioral change
that often results in immediate weight loss, but the weight comes back as
soon as the diet ends. The health attitude, in this case, only considered caloric
intake in the process of losing weight.
In order to make a
complete lifestyle change here, the health attitude must encompass more than simply
cutting out carbohydrates for a while. The health attitude change would look at overall
healthy eating habits (not just foods to avoid, but foods to increase, times to eat,
number of calories per meal, eating from a every food group, etc.), exercise habits,
sleep habits, stress levels, and outside factors such as smoking and drinking. When
making a lifestyle change to lose weight and keep it off, it is more effective to
consider the healthy attitude that will then sustain the behavioral
changes.
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