Chapter 4 Part 2: Health Psychology

Diet

Dietary factors contribute to many diseases

• Unhealthy eating contributes to 300,000 deaths/year

• <50% of US adults meet recommendations for decreased fat and sodium and for increased fiber, fruits, and veggies

The good news:

• Healthy diet is a controllable risk factor for many causes of death

• Changing one’s diet improves health

  • Protects against obesity, CVD, lowers cholesterol

MyPyramid.gov: Integrates the balance of food groups with physical activity

Mediterranean Diet

• Has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and CHD

• People who have been able to maintain it have been able to live longer and healthier

• Eating lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and fish rather than red meat

Recommendation vs. Consumption

• Grains- At least 50% are recommended to be whole, but usually only 13% whole grains are consumed

• Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: SC, AL, MS, OK- less than 10% of us are consuming what’s recommended (in adults)

Resistance to Modify Diet

• People switch to healthier diets more often to improve appearance than to improve health

• Maintaining change is tough; long-term monitoring and relapse prevention are key

  • Society of high stress

  • Tastes are difficult to alter

  • Dietary changes may affect mood/personality

  • “Fad diets” are overwhelming

• Helpful factors to make changes:

  • High self-efficacy, social support, perception that dietary change has important benefits, social norms

Interventions to Modify Diet

Address interventions at all levels

• Community Interventions

• Cognitive Behavioral Interventions

• Stages of Change

• Family Based Interventions

• Community Based interventions

• Social Engineering/Policy

Individual Interventions

• Portion Control, snacking, sweetened beverages

• Can tailor interventions to people’s ethnic identity and culture

  • Use deep structural tailoring where you try to target their values and modeling to their kids

Cognitive Behavioral Interventions

Key is you monitor and look at stimulus control and focus on high risk situations

Stages of Change

Thinking about how motivated you are. Are you thinking about changes?

Family Based Interventions

Is important because of adolescents- They are developing and vulnerable

• Easier for target member to change when other family members change also

• Wives usually shop and prepare food

• The husbands’ food preferences are likely to determine what the family actually eats

Community Based Interventions

Initial success rates, but no long-term change

More effective- intervention directed toward at-risk groups

Collective Efficacy: Feeling that you can trust neighbors

Accident Prevention

• Most common cause of death and disability among children under 5

  • Parent training/child safety skills

  • Environmental restructuring

  • Poison is probably one of the leading causes

• Falls in older adults

  • Dietary and medication intervention/physical activity training to prevent bone fractures

  • Environment: better lighting, non slip bath mats, shower grab bars, and hand rails in homes

Cancer-Related Health Behaviors

Prevention is key

• Screening is important to catch it early

  • Compliance is low

• Exposure: Smoking, UV Rays (wear sunscreen), environmental

  • What you did as an adolescent is important

• Obesity: Associated with lots of cancers

Attitudes, education, accessibility of health care, self-efficacy, physician recommendations, social norms

Leading Cancers

1. Lung and Bronchus (men and women)

2. Breast (women) Prostate (men)

3. Colon and Rectal (men and women)

Vaccinations

Convenience and free access promote uptake

Sun Safety

Skin cancers are among the most common and preventable cancers

• The chief risk factor: excessive exposure to UV light

• Living or vacationing in southern latitudes, participating in outdoor activities without wearing sunscreen/protective clothing, and using tanning salons all contribute to UV exposure

• Knowledge, emphasizing gains of sunscreen is better than scaring

• Parental Influence

Food Deserts

Areas where people have limited access to healthy and affordable food; they are more likely in high poverty areas

Healthy Eating

A diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, peas, beans, poultry, and fish, and low in refined grains, potatoes, red and processed meats, lowers the risk of CHD

• Switching from trans fats (fast foods/fried food) and saturated fats (from meat and dairy products) to polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats is helpful

• If you eat fruits and vegetables high in potassium, that will help get rid of excess sodium

• Foods high in fat and sugar help turn off stress hormones like cortisol

• Eating after 8pm is tied to CVD

USDA Diet Recommendations’s

2000 calories a day made up of the following components

• Dairy: 3 cups

• Fruit: 2 cups

• Vegetables: 2.5 cups

• Grains: 3 oz

• Protein foods: 5.5 oz

• Oil: 6tsp

Unintentional Injury Prevention

The leading cause of preventable death-poisoning- far exceeds the other two major causes- motor vehicle accidents and falls

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death 19 and younger

Crashes are the leading killer of people 5-29 years old

Diet Change

Mostly implemented through cognitive-behavioral interventions

• Efforts begins with education and training in self-monitoring

  • Additional components are stimulus control and contingency contracting

Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM)

Consists of 4 stages

Stage 1 NREM

Lightest and earliest stage of sleep marked by theta waves. We begin to tune out sounds around us but are easily awaken

Stage 2 NREM

Breathing and Heart Rate even out, body temperature drops, and brain waves alternate between short bursts called sleep spindles and K complex waves

Stage 3 and 4 NREM

Deep sleep is marked by delta waves. Most important for restoring energy, strengthening the immune system, and prompting the body to release growth hormone.

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

• Eyes dart back and forth, breathing and HR flutters, dream vividly

• Marked by Beta waves

• Important for consolidating memories, solving problems, and turning knowledge into LTM

Ideal Sleep

Newborns- Preschoolers: 10-17 hours

6-12 years: 9-12 hours

Adolescents: 8-10 hours

Adults: 7-10 hours

Chronic Insomnia

People have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting good quality of sleep

Sleep Apnea

Breathing stops and starts repeatedly during sleep

Narcolepsy

Overwhelming daytime drowsiness and falling asleep suddenly

Benefits of Sleep

Prevent weight gain, regulate blood sugar, improve mood, decrease stress, improves cognitive functioning

Reasons for Lack of Sleep

• #1 reason: people with insomnia

• Stress, high levels of hostility or arousal

• Usage of maladaptive coping strategies

• Worrying about causes of stress

• Consuming alcohol

Insufficient Sleep Affects

Cognitive functioning

Mood

Job performance

Quality of Life

Health

Sleep and Weight Issues

1999 study: Restricting sleep (about 4 hours) impairs the ability to process glucose

Sleep deprivation (about 6.5 hours or less) leads to glucose intolerance

• These lead to an increased risk of diabetes

Ghrelin and Leptin: Hunger hormone are dysregulated when sleep deprived