Description: UNIT 1. Promoting Healthy Behavior Change 1. How Does Your Life Measure Up?, Alice Lesch Kelly, Walking , March/April 1998 Alice Lesch Kelly provides an opportunity for you to examine your lifestyle and health behaviors to see just how well you are doing in your efforts to achieve a long and healthy life. 2. Bad Choices: Why We Make Them, How to Stop, Mary Ann Chapman, Psychology Today , September/October 1999 Why is it that people continue to engage in negative health behaviors despite knowing that such behaviors could have serious repercussions concerning their health? Key factors seem to be the need for immediate gratification and our desire to take the path of least resistance. The author suggests possible ways to change this pattern of thinking. 3. Why Do We Do the Things We Do?, Ellen J. Langer, Psychology Today , May/June 2002 Human behavior is rarely rational and in fact often goes against the very morals that we claim guide us in our actions. How do we reconcile this seemingly paradoxical situation ? And more importantly, what can we do to exercise more control over our own behavior? 4. Solving the Diet-and-Disease Puzzle, Bonnie Liebman, Nutrition Action Healthletter , May 1999 The constant flip-flopping on medical advice is enough to make most people believe that the medical experts do not really know what they are talking about. Who is at fault-the medical experts, the media, or John Q. Public? Bonnie Liebman explores this issue by discussing some of the most celebrated reversals in the area of nutrition recommendations. 5. How to Banish a Bad Habit, Consumer Reports on Health , March 2003 Adopting a positive attitude toward change is one of the best ways to break a bad habit. In addition to a positive attitude, several strategies are addressed that can help individuals banish negative health behaviors and replace them with positive ones. 6. Yet Another Study-Should You Pay Attention?, Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter , September 1998 How do you interpret your risk level for various illnesses when reading reports of late-breaking news that could affect your health? This article presents four questions to ask yourself that will help you make informed decisions regarding your lifestyle choices. UNIT 2. Stress and Mental Health 7. The Mind and the Heart: They Really Are Connected, Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter , August 2000 In the 1970s researchers believed that heart disease was linked to stress through one's personality, namely the Type A personality. Several recent studies support the connection between stress and heart disease, but the most important factors appear to be hostility, lack of social support, and mental depression. 8. The Value of a Healthy Attitude, Peggy Rynk, Vibrant Life , March/April 2003 Research has shown that the mind and the immune system exist as a single unit. When people are angry or bored, their health can be negatively affected. When they have strong spiritual feelings and use humor to cope with life's stresses, their health seems to be positively affected. 9. Taking Humor Seriously, Consumer Reports on Health , October 2001 A study from cardiologists provides empirical support that humor may protect the

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