Making minor changes and committing to simple habits can lead to great achievements. A few minutes daily practising a new healthy habit can yield remarkable results for health. Lifestyle medicine can be applied to support this.

In the following interview, Dr Fatima Habash, Consultant in Family Medicine and Nutrition - Certified International Consultant for Lifestyle Medicine at King Abdullah Medical City, Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine - Arabian Gulf University, introduces us to lifestyle medicine and how it can be applied positively to health.

Dr Fatima initially clarified that lifestyle medicine is a relatively new speciality defined by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine as a medical discipline based on using therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary method for treating chronic conditions. Lifestyle medicine practitioners apply evidence-based, guideline-directed lifestyle change emphasising holistic health for treatment. When applied intensively, this often leads to reversing these conditions. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. 

The six pillars of lifestyle medicine - a whole food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, healthy sleep, stress and tension management, avoiding harmful substances like smoking and drugs, and developing positive social relationships - also provide effective prevention against many health problems and chronic diseases and have a positive impact on overall health and quality of life.

She added that at the start of a new year, many people seek to adopt new healthy habits such as improving dietary practices, starting an exercise regimen, improving sleep, quitting smoking, or even spending quality time with family and friends. However, changing behaviours and making changes in our daily routines can seem like a huge task, and we might pressure ourselves to make drastic changes, setting big and often unrealistic expectations, potentially leading to discontinuation, disappointment, and self-criticism.

Scientific studies by behavioural science researchers have shown that several factors assist in starting and continuing behaviours that, over time, become healthy habits, reflecting positively on life quality and well-being. Factors hindering the adoption of healthy behaviours might include finding them difficult, forgetfulness, procrastination, lack of time, or absence of motivation and incentives. Scientific evidence indicates that several supportive factors can help not only start healthy habits but also maintain continuity. 

- The ideal time to start a healthy habit, like beginning an exercise regime, is often with a new beginning—such as the start of the year, a new week, or a birthday. New beginnings always offer the perfect timing to start.

- To reduce the difficulty of starting and continuing, set small goals—such small behaviours that can eventually become habits. The idea is to make these behavioural changes so small that they are easy to do. Creating habits and initiating change is easier than most people think. Implementing small, achievable habits is the best way to build any sustainable behavioural habit, especially healthy ones. Begin by deciding on the habit you want, then reduce its size until it is very small. For example, if you wish to start with a sports programme, you might commit to a brisk 15-minute walk daily or even a two-day-a-week half-hourly gym session. This way, it's made so easy that there is no reason not to do it. Even when in a rush, sick, or busy, it's so small that you can still manage it. Over time, you can develop this habit gradually and sustain it.

- Identify the place and time that naturally suits your current routine. Ask yourself what follows this habit? For example, you might walk during lunch breaks or immediately upon waking in the morning. This may be the ideal time for you to exercise.

- Make it enjoyable and try always to associate these habits with positive emotions, through celebration and reward—whether cheering out loud for your achievement, singing an encouraging motivational song, or receiving a simple reward that makes you happy like enjoying your favourite drink, a warm shower, or even buying new sports shoes. Whatever helps you feel successful and accomplished, this is what will help you adopt the habit.

- Three things usually come together simultaneously to initiate any change in our health behaviours. There must be motivation to perform the behaviour. Secondly, possessing the skills that enable you to perform the behaviour. Thirdly, having a continuous reminder to perform this behaviour. When these three things come together at the same moment, behaviour change occurs and, over time, becomes a habit. Our motivation to engage in the health goals and behaviours we aspire to won't always be high. The way to overcome this is by making the behaviour very easy to perform.

- Creating an environment conducive to change and the inclusion of healthy behaviours is essential and necessary. If you want to quit smoking, for example, share your decision with family and friends, inform them of your quit date, and try to avoid places and gatherings where this habit is prevalent. Some may find it challenging to commit to exercise, but having a friend or family member to work out with can make exercise time enjoyable and provide support as there is someone constantly encouraging you.

- Including sustainable healthy behavioural habits requires positive thinking and outlook, learning self-compassion, changing the negative critical talk in our heads, and embracing positive self-talk, which boosts confidence to continue adopting and changing habits. Take two minutes to list all the ways you criticise yourself when you do something wrong. Now take another two minutes to note all the ways you tell yourself you did a good job. Usually, the list of self-criticism is long and rich, and the list of celebrations is very short. An important point is that you may experience some setbacks when starting a particular healthy habit, and it's crucial to comprehend that and not let it be a reason for discouragement.

Ideas for Starting Healthy Habits with the New Year:

- Reduce restaurant meals rich in saturated fats, salt, sugars, preservatives, and processed ingredients, replacing them with homemade meals. It might seem daunting for some, but you can tell yourself: "I will enjoy spending quality time preparing and consuming homemade healthy meals for five days a week, limiting restaurant meals to no more than two a week." Eating fruits and vegetables offers numerous health benefits as they contain fibre, vitamins, minerals, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, which many may overlook consuming in sufficient quantities. To start including sufficient vegetables and fruits, you might say: "I will ensure I add one to two servings of vegetables to lunch and dinner; I will make it enjoyable by trying new and appetising salad recipes to avoid boredom. I will ensure that the snacks I have include one to two servings of fresh fruits."

- Start an exercise regimen. Make your golden rule "Move more and sit less." You can set the larger goal of engaging in 150 minutes of aerobic exercises weekly, such as brisk walking or swimming, which translates to about 30 minutes over five days a week. At the start, aim for 15 minutes daily and gradually increase to reach the desired goal. Incorporating resistance exercises is very crucial for maintaining and building muscles, as the body loses 5% of muscle mass every decade after age 35. This might seem challenging to start with resistance exercises, so to ease it, begin and learn the proper way of doing resistance exercises with a trainer at the gym twice a week as a start. To reduce sitting time, attempt to move every 50 minutes, as studies have shown prolonged sitting times are linked to numerous health issues like early mortality and the onset of heart disease and diabetes.

- Do you find it difficult to get enough sleep? Sleep quality impacts overall health, including weight regulation, sugar control, skin health, general activity, concentration, and mental health. Make improving sleep quality a goal to achieve with the new year by ensuring 7-8 hours of sleep nightly for adults and sticking to a regular sleep and wake schedule throughout the week.

- Smoking has several health hazards and has been classified by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen. If you are a smoker, the new year might be an excellent starting point to quit smoking. Consult your doctor and work with them on a clear plan to help you quit smoking and invest in your health.

- Studies have shown that spending quality time and interacting with family and friends significantly impacts mental and physical health and life quality. Let one of your goals for this year be setting aside time to connect with them through personal meetings or even phone calls.

Be your first encourager, start with small beginnings, celebrate your achievements even if they seem simple, and work gradually over time to let them grow to be sustainable healthy habits that enrich your life and support your health.