The importance of setting a health goal

Personal health goals are important because they enable you to focus on a specific aspect of your lifestyle. Remember, a small change in your behaviour can have a large positive impact on your health. For example: regular, moderate exercise has been found to be the best way to prevent Type 2 adult onset diabetes.

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Be SMART

To be truly effective, goals should be SMART:

• Specific (e.g. increase physical activity through brisk walking)
• Measurable (e.g. walk three kilometres - five days per week)
• Achievable (e.g. will take less than 30 minutes per day)
• Realistic (e.g. start with two km, every second day, then increase distance/frequency)
• Time-bound (e.g. aim to achieve the goal within three months)

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Record your Goal

It’s very important that your health goal is recorded on paper. This gives you a tangible reference, helping you measure your progress.

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Understanding obstacles

When you are contemplating a lifestyle change (such as increased exercise, losing weight or quitting smoking) it is important to identify the challenges that could keep you from starting and maintaining a lifestyle change:

• Time (e.g. “I’m too busy to exercise”)
• Resources (e.g. “I can’t eat low fat foods because they’re too expensive”)
• Support (e.g. “I can’t quit smoking because my partner smokes in the house”)
• Skill (e.g. “I can’t control my asthma because I can’t use the puffer properly”)
• Knowledge (e.g. “I can’t follow a low-salt diet - I don’t know what foods have salt in them”)
• Psychological (e.g. “I can’t drink low alcohol beer - my friends would laugh at me”).

Once these challenges and specific high-risk situations have been identified, you can devise strategies to overcome them. When reviewing these obstacles, think about the importance placed on the behaviour change and the benefits gained, as this may give you a new perspective on your proposed lifestyle change. For example, if you rated increasing exercise as very important, then you will set aside time to exercise and work it into your daily routine.

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Finding rewards

Some of the benefits of managing a new change may seem a long way off, so it’s useful to give yourself some short-term rewards to keep you motivated. Rewards can differ between people and come in a variety of forms. They could be related to a sense of achievement in carrying out your plan each week, having fun whilst doing it, or the satisfaction of seeing results such as weight loss, improved wellbeing, or better blood pressure control. You could even treat yourself to a reward; for example, buy yourself a new piece of clothing if you keep to your weight loss plan!

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Anticipating and preventing setbacks

You may not be able to prevent situations that may cause you to sway from your plan, but you can be prepared for them! Knowing what these situations are likely to be and when they are likely to occur can reduce the chances of experiencing a setback.

By developing your own ways to deal with these situations, you will reduce the likelihood of setbacks. For example:

• Walk alternate routes instead of the same walk every day
• Place a note on the fridge encouraging yourself to have a drink of water or some fruit instead of sweet or high fat treats
• If you anticipate time being an issue, be sure the duration and time you are choosing to exercise fits in with your social and family commitments.

Above all, assess your plan before you begin and be sure you that will be able to maintain it.

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Did you know....

• Strategic eating helps you lose weight! By eating a healthy meal before you shop, you can avoid having fatty foods available in the house to decrease the likelihood that you will eat those foods.
• Walking helps keep the mind young! Older people who walk regularly are less likely to experience memory loss and more likely to have better mental function in old age.
• Doing nothing makes you tired! Inactivity can lead to increased feelings of fatigue, so it’s important to try doing more activities to raise your energy levels, which will help reduce your fatigue.

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ahm Members

To set a health goal or to complete your Total Health Assessment, you need to login through the ahm Member Services area or you can login here

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