Drinking Sufficient Amount of Water for Good Health

Health behavior change can be defined as the behaviors that need to be changed by an individual in order to protect him or herself from any disorders and ailments and to maintain a fit and healthy life (Prestwitch, Webb & Conner, 2015). Every individuals need to identify the inappropriate behavior that has the potential to affect the health of the individual in the near future and accordingly set strategies to change them to ensure safe and secured life physically and mentally. This assignment would be mainly based on identification of one of my unhealthy behaviors and accordingly setting goals for four weeks to ensure modification of the behavior and adoption of healthy lifestyle. The present barrier that I might face is my busy schedule that might prevent me from concentrating on the goal and its fulfillment. However, the enabler that might be helping me is my urge to lead the healthy life and strong determination.

The healthcare researchers state a number of symptoms that show that an individual is not drinking enough water. These signs and symptoms in course of time become worse and interfere with daily lives affecting both mental, physical as well as cognitive performance and health. Researchers are of the opinion that people who drink less water are more prone to feelings of tiredness. The body fluids in the body are comprising of water. When individuals drink less water, blood becomes thicker and so hart has to use more energy for keeping oxygen and the nutrients moving through circulatory system. Less drinking of water is also associated with different digestive problems (Ligman et al., 2016). Eyes also become sore and might also become dry, irritated and blood shot. The risk for kidney disorders also increases to a huge extent resulting in the formation of kidney stones. It also results in the formation of bad breaths. Many of the researchers are also of the opinion that less drinking of water results in joint aches. Joints need fluids to remain hydrated and lubricated in order to function properly. Therefore, getting plenty of water to drink will keep the cartilages soft and this will result in reduction of the development of arthritis and joint problems chances. Drinking less amount of water is also intricately associated with headache, cholesterol levels are also seen to stay higher than the normal concentration levels drop, and simple exercises become difficult to complete (Egberg et al., 2016). Hence, to overcome all these symptoms, it is important for drinking larger number of glasses of water.

Negative Symptoms of Not Drinking Appropriate Amount of Water

After thorough analysis of the behavior of drinking water, it was realized that the consumption of water was not enough to meet the appropriate levels of drinking water. I tend to drink only two to three glasses throughout the day which is indeed very less and might exposed me to various practical symptoms d disorders as mentioned above. Therefore, I need to change this behavior. As per the recommended levels of healthcare professionals, it is important for me to drink 8 ounces glass of water that accounts to about 1.5 to 2 liters of water. Therefore, I would set myself a SMART goal of drinking 8 glasses of water by increasing it from 2 to 3 glasses of water. This is the specific goal and I could measure it by following a tallying procedure. I would tally the number of glasses of water every time by ticking it in my personal pocket diary. This is attainable, as I would carry 2 lire bottled water with me even when I go out or in home along with a glass like container. This would help me to maintain each glass of water every time I drink it and would set myself a time schedule and set reminders on my Smartphone. This is relevant, as it would help me overcome all the negative symptoms described above. This would be completed within 4 weeks timeframe. I would be also maintaining diary to keep up the note of everyday experiences and thereby measure and evaluate my progress.

Setting rewards help in keeping individuals motivated to the achievement of the goals. I am not having calorific food to stay fit and I am hitting the gyms to keep up with a healthy body weight. I do not like going to gym at all. Therefore, if I become successful each day, I would keep a reward of two chocolate cookies per day. At the end of the successful week, I would be keeping two days off from gym as a reward. These are good motivators for me to during water as per the goal set. The barriers and enablers may be of different types and would be noted down in a table format for better understanding.

Baseline: achievement of four glasses of water per day

Overall goal: achievement of 8 glasses of water per day

	Did I achieve it	barriers	enablers	comments	adjustments
Tuesday	no	Will power		Needs to set rewards	*
Wednesday	no	Will power		Needs to set rewards	*
Thursday	no	Will power		Needs to set rewards	*
Friday	no	Will power		Needs to set rewards	*
Saturday	no	Will power		Needs to set rewards	*
Sunday	yes		determination	Keeping it up	*
Monday	yes		determination	Keeping it up	*

I was not at all feeling like taking up the huge task of changing my health behavior. I did not feel motivated and was feeling lazy to take on new responsibilities. I felt this would be an additional burden to my academic and job stress. I realized that I was mainly in the pre-contemplation stage. This stage of the trans-theoretical model shows that individual in this stage does not intend to take action to change (Edward et al., 2017). One fine morning, I met with my mentor personally and discussed with him the issue, his motivating words filled me with determination and I got ready to change.

Identifying an Unhealthy Behavior of Drinking Less Water

Baseline: achievement of four glasses of water per day

Overall goal: achievement of 8 glasses of water per day

	Did I achieve it	barriers	enablers	comments	adjustments
Tuesday	No	Time constraints and lack of systematic approach		More focus	Set up schedules in diary
Wednesday	Yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Keeping it up	*
Thursday	Yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Good work	*
Friday	Yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Good work	*
Saturday	Yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Good work	*
Sunday	Yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Good work	*
Monday	yes		Proper tallying in diary, reminder on phone	Good work	*

After the meeting with my mentor, I was highly motivated and determined to take the goals seriously and try my best to achieve them. I was determined to focus on the goals as I developed the idea that drinking of less water may make me feel tired, develop headache and develop physical disorders. This would have affected my professional as well as academic lives. Therefore, this determination helped me to stick to the goals and initiate my health behavior change. I realized that I was in the contemplation stage. This stage shows that individuals have intentions for taking action and planning to do so in the future (Willet 2017). I have already prepared my mind and wanted to stick to the decision and focus on behavior change.

Baseline: achievement of six glasses of water per day

Overall goal: achievement of eight glasses of water per day

	Did I achieve it	barriers	enablers	comments	adjustments
Tuesday	No	Gradual lessening of motivation and determination		Need to set motivators	Brainstorm for setting motivators
Wednesday	No	Gradual lessening of motivation and determination		Need to set motivators	Brainstorm for setting motivators
Thursday	yes		Set reward for myself	Good work	*
Friday	Yes		Set reward for myself	Good work	*
Saturday	Yes		Set reward for myself	Good work	*
Sunday	Yes		Set reward for myself	Good work	*
Monday	yes		Set reward for myself	Good work

With the passing of day, my determination was beginning to reduce. I could not keep myself motivated and was falling apart of the goals set for third weeks for having six glasses of water. Setting up rewards played an important role in developing motivation and enthusiasm once again. I realized that I was in the preparation stage. This says that an individual has intention to take actions and some steps had been already taken (Prusustun et al., 2014). I have already initiated the steps to increase drinking of water and I have successfully steeped from 4 glasses a day to 6 glasses a day. I had successfully done them in the later part of the week and therefore rewarded misled by having cookies.

Baseline: achievement of eight glasses of water per day

Overall goal: achievement of eight glasses of water per day

	Did I achieve it	barriers	enablers	comments	adjustments
Tuesday	yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Wednesday	yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Thursday	yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Friday	Yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Saturday	Yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Sunday	Yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*
Monday	yes	*	Reminders, rewards, self-determination	Good work	*

I realized that I had already entered into the momentum of the health behavior change and was no longer procrastinating. I was highly motivated and focused and it was also getting easier for me unlike the previous week, when it was difficult for me to maintain the set objectives. I realized I was in the action stage. The behavior had changed in me for the short time and I was helping to maintain it for rest of life.

I realized that change health behavior change is not as easy as it seems theoretically. Huge determination, self-regulation, and awareness are important for individuals to align and stick to the strategies developed. It was becoming very difficult to take an extra pressure beside professional and academic stresses. With the gradual passing of day, I entered into the grove and it was no longer difficult for me. Moreover, setting up of the rewards was the most interesting part as it changed my focus towards the better. I also realized that the trans-theoretical model to be extremely helpful. It shows steps that help in guiding and explaining the psychology that plays in individuals towards change. I also successfully completed the last two stages of the model. Maintenance of the present behavior and termination of the old behavior was successfully achieved. This would help me understand the psychology of the patient and thereby help the patients to stick with their individual goals successfully when I work as health care professional. The assignment also helped me to understand the different barriers and enablers that affect such health behavior change of the individual patients. This would help me to guide them with strategies by which they can overcome the barriers and more encouraged with the enablers.

Conclusion:

The above description shows that an individual can successfully undertake health behavior change if they are enough determines, self-regulated and self-aware and follows the trans-theoretical model successfully.

References:

Edwards-Stewart, A., Prochaska, J. O., Smolenski, D. J., Saul, S. F., & Reger, G. M. (2017). Self-Identified Problem Behaviors and Stages of Change Among Soldiers. Military Behavioral Health, 5(3), 203-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2016.1272023

Ekberg, K., Grenness, C., & Hickson, L. (2016). Application of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change for identifying older clients’ readiness for hearing rehabilitation during history-taking in audiology appointments. International journal of audiology, 55(sup3), S42-S51. https://doi.org/10.3109/14992027.2015.1136080

Ligmann-Zielinska, A., Grady, S. C., & McWhorter, J. (2016). Combining a Spatial Agent-Based Model with a Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change. Handbook of Applied System Science, 49. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZzslDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA49&dq=health+behaviour+change+transtheoretical+model&ots=52sDIPru3n&sig=C7-Zhs7TddVhrMS-PJOGXFU6OxM#v=onepage&q=health%20behaviour%20change%20transtheoretical%20model&f=false

Prestwich, A., Webb, T. L., & Conner, M. (2015). Using theory to develop and test interventions to promote changes in health behaviour: evidence, issues, and recommendations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 5, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.02.011

Prüss?Ustün, A., Bartram, J., Clasen, T., Colford Jr, J. M., Cumming, O., Curtis, V., … & Freeman, M. C. (2014). Burden of disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in low?and middle?income settings: a retrospective analysis of data from 145 countries. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 19(8), 894-905. https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.12329

Willett, W. (2017). Eat, drink, and be healthy: the Harvard Medical School guide to healthy eating. Simon and Schuster. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ukk1DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP7&dq=importance+of+drinking+water+healthy+lifestyle&ots=6GPtStpjJX&sig=epAn6G_hRC3kWzaHS6fVig8m9jM#v=onepage&q=importance%20of%20drinking%20water%20healthy%20lifestyle&f=false