The Psychological Treatment Of Sedentary Behavior, In 9 Steps
We live in a sedentary society Although exercise and sports have become popular in recent times, most people have a basic routine that requires them to spend a large part of the time sitting in a chair without making much physical effort. Also at the level of leisure, a large part of the population barely moves (for example, they spend much of their time watching television or on the networks), leading a very passive life on a physical level.
A sedentary life can be a major problem: not carrying out any type of physical activity is dangerous and can be a significant risk factor for suffering from medical diseases and mental disorders. It is even possible that people who want or need to stop leading this type of lifestyle do not know how to do it or are not qualified to do so. This is why in many cases it will be necessary carry out psychological treatment of sedentary behavior
Although it is a concept already known to most of the population, it never hurts to review the meaning of the term sedentary lifestyle in order to know what we are going to discuss.
A sedentary lifestyle is defined by the World Health Organization as lifestyle that involves the absence of regular physical exercise or that tends toward the absence of movement understood as carrying out less than half an hour of daily physical activity.
It is a lifestyle that began to originate with the birth of agriculture and livestock but that has become increasingly accentuated with the passage of time, as technological advances made it unnecessary to make large trips and minimized the effort necessary to carry out our tasks. Today, Even for something as desirable as leisure or social relations we barely have to move becoming increasingly inactive.
Although it is not technically considered a disease or disorder, a sedentary lifestyle is one of the main modifiable risk factors for a large number of diseases, since it weakens the immune system and makes it difficult for the body to function optimally. In fact, around two million premature deaths could be caused by this factor.
Some of the medical disorders with which been linked are heart disease in general, obesity and hypertension, various types of cancer and metabolic disorders such as diabetes (especially type II). Derived from the previous disorders, it may also be found that the risk of suffering from strokes increases.
In addition to this, it also has an effect on a mental level: a sedentary person is much more likely to develop anxiety, stress or depression. Also facilitates and accelerates neuronal degeneration in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
The advantages of sport
A relevant element when dealing with a sedentary lifestyle is to point out, on the one hand, the disadvantages it has and, on the other hand, the multiple advantages that playing sports has.
In this sense, it is worth noting that playing sports generates endorphins, which improves the subject’s mood. Improves the health of our muscles and heart, strengthens our immune system and improves quality of life. Likewise, it also increases the capacity for memorization and the level of energy and attention that we can put into play.
It also improves sleep and sexual relations. It reduces levels of anxiety and depression and is even a protective factor for suffering from dementia. It also tends to generate a feeling of control and increase perceived self-efficacy. Finally, it slims the figure and improves physical fitness in general, which can help increase self-esteem in some people.
Psychological treatment of sedentary behavior
The aspects discussed above indicate that Sedentary behavior poses a risk and a disadvantage for our body That is why many people consider the need for a change for which they may not see themselves capable, or in many cases they have not even considered their lifestyle and they go to psychological consultation for another reason but in which it is a very relevant factor (such as subjects with depression), which may require professional help.
Below are some aspects and techniques that can be used in the psychological treatment of sedentary behavior
1. Analysis and evaluation of the initial state and maintaining factors
Before starting psychological treatment for sedentary behavior, it will be necessary evaluate to what extent one is sedentary, if there are causes for this and what they are or if there are factors that prevent its behavior from changing. The subject’s beliefs regarding exercise, health status (through medical examination), preferences, context, expectations, the possible presence of emotional problems and the history of physical activity that the subject has had, among others, must be evaluated. factors.
Some of the most common reasons for having and maintaining a sedentary lifestyle or not doing any type of sport are lack of time, the presence of a low sense of self-efficacy (that is, the belief that they will not be able to doing sports or maintaining it over time), the lack of self-esteem in general, the discomfort or comparison with other people in daily life or in sports centers, the presence of disability or even the existence of entertainment methods or the most comfortable and easy to carry out distractions
All these factors must be taken into account and treated differentially in order to be able to carry out a successful psychological treatment of sedentary behavior.
Once evaluated, you can begin to apply a series of techniques that help the patient increase their level of activity It is necessary to take into account that during this process different aspects must also be evaluated and plans modified according to the circumstances of each case.
2. Psychoeducation
Many people are not aware of the risks that a sedentary life entails, or even though they know that it is not positive, they do not see a reason to change their behavior. In this sense, psychoeducation can be useful, showing advantages and disadvantages of both physical activity and inactivity. You can use graphic elements such as creating pros and cons tables
3. Cognitive restructuring and discussion of beliefs and thoughts
This technique may be necessary at any time. And there are many irrational beliefs and expectations about what and how one should be, what sport entails or how the world may react to it. Stating them as a hypothesis, generating alternatives and carrying out behavioral experiments to contrast each of them can generate behavioral change.
Cognitive restructuring allows, for example, to combat Dysfunctional beliefs about self-worth and self-efficacy that generate a depressive position and passive helplessness. For example, various types of records can be used to compare initial expectations with the results of a behavioral experiment and observe whether or not your beliefs fit what you expected.
4. Elaboration of objectives
If the subject agrees to introduce behavioral changes, they must be established jointly with the professional so that planned, gradual and realistic objectives are established.
5. Generation of activity plan
If the subject agrees, a physical activity plan can be made. Together with him, the circumstances, what he is willing to do, and his preferences and objectives will be analyzed to form a coherent and achievable plan. It must be taken into account that basic conditioning must first be done and then increase demands and maintain them over time
It is important to keep in mind that performing physical exercise requires a certain level of effort. Although it will depend on each case, someone who is not used to it cannot start with excessively demanding exercises or they will find it complicated and tiring and will end up quitting. It is because of that Exercise should be considered gradually inserting small physical activities (although not excessively easy but rather a small challenge) into daily life.
7. Behavioral contract
One way to encourage patient commitment is to make behavioral contracts, in which the patient commits to carrying out a certain activity, generally in exchange for a reinforcer It may be useful to associate, for example, the performance of physical activity with the achievement of an activity that is highly enjoyable for the subject.
8. Self-instruction technique
A technique widely used in different areas in which a behavior must be learned or established, is based on the use and modification of self-instructions or self-verbalizations that we carry out when we do some behavior (for example: I have to buy… / I’m going to go and I am going to tell you that…) so that these are more positive than the previous ones and induce us to act.
9. Self-control training
The feeling of having little ability to control what happens to us or that our behavior hardly has positive consequences in achieving our goals is one of the aspects that causes many people to remain in a state of passivity and lack of physical activity. Self-control training through Rehm’s self-control therapy It can be very useful by helping the subject to self-monitor, evaluate themselves in a positive way and self-reinforce themselves for their behavior.
10. Relapse prevention
A final step to take into account when treating sedentary behavior is the idea of ​​trying to maintain the behavioral change over time and make it difficult for sedentary lifestyle to re-emerge as a habit In this sense, it is necessary to take into account the existence of factors that can generate this relapse and try to prevent it and generate alternatives for action. Likewise, the subject’s autonomy and sense of self-efficacy are promoted and reinforced.
11. Evaluation and monitoring
Depending on the subject, changes are introduced and once the treatment is finished, it is necessary assess whether the objectives have been met contrast previous expectations with the results obtained and observe if at any point there have been difficulties and why.
