WEBVTT - Summer series: Two people, same health goal: why does one achieve it & the other not?

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<v Speaker 1>Oh hello, welcome to healthy Ish and a happy new year.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you for joining us on the podcast from Body

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<v Speaker 1>and Soul. I am your host, Felicity Halle. Yes, the

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<v Speaker 1>healthy Ish team is ooo out of office. So to

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<v Speaker 1>celebrate the new year, we're dropping our top Healthish episodes

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<v Speaker 1>from last year. Now, this one we did drop a

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<v Speaker 1>long time ago, well, the beginning of last year. And

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<v Speaker 1>here's the scenario. You've got two people, same health goal,

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<v Speaker 1>so why does one hit it and the other doesn't? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>joining me was doctor Amantha Imba to tell us why.

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<v Speaker 1>The organizational psychologist, author and podcaster joined us from Melbourne

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<v Speaker 1>now listening to our sister podcast Extra healthy Ish, where

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<v Speaker 1>she talked about how to make health habits a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit easier, perfect for this time of year. You can

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<v Speaker 1>grab that one where we get your podcasts now the

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<v Speaker 1>perfect book to kickstart and year making habits stick. Before

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<v Speaker 1>we get to that, talk us through how habits work,

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<v Speaker 1>exactly what's going on with us in our brains.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, it's pretty simple.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, a habit is simply where a behavior becomes automatic.

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<v Speaker 3>But why it becomes automatic is the easiest way to

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<v Speaker 3>think about it is.

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<v Speaker 2>There's some kind of a queue or a trigger in

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<v Speaker 2>your environment.

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<v Speaker 3>Like let's just say you're in the middle of a workday,

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<v Speaker 3>it's got to three o'clock and you're starting to feel

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<v Speaker 3>that three o'clock slump of energy.

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<v Speaker 2>So that might be the trigger out for the habit

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<v Speaker 2>for me.

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<v Speaker 3>Then there is the behavior, or is some people say,

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<v Speaker 3>there's a craving for the behavior, and then the response

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<v Speaker 3>to the craving, which might be reaching for.

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<v Speaker 2>The chocolate at three o'clock.

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<v Speaker 3>And the reason why that becomes a habit is because

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<v Speaker 3>there's a reward for doing that behavior, and in the

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<v Speaker 3>case of chocolate, the reward is about a twenty minute

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<v Speaker 3>boost of energy, and then of course youre slump again.

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<v Speaker 3>But we don't think about that when we're feeling really

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<v Speaker 3>exhausted in the middle of the afternoon.

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<v Speaker 1>No, So, in terms of New Year health goals, you've

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<v Speaker 1>got two different people. I mean, let's say me and

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<v Speaker 1>you we've got the same health goal. Let's carry on

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<v Speaker 1>with that great example of three pm reaching for the chocolate,

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<v Speaker 1>which happens to be me, although I'm not chocolate and

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<v Speaker 1>I'm more sugar. You know, you kind of get that deep,

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<v Speaker 1>don't you. I want some sugar. We have this health

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<v Speaker 1>goal that we want to achieve. Stop eating so much

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<v Speaker 1>sugar at three pm. You achieve it. I don't what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on here?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, this is the thing because there are a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of books about.

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<v Speaker 3>Habit change and the kind of assume that there's this

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<v Speaker 3>formula to change a habit. But what I discovered when

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<v Speaker 3>I was doing my research for the health habit is

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<v Speaker 3>that there are actually four different barriers that can get

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<v Speaker 3>in the way of when we're trying to change a

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<v Speaker 3>habit or form something new. And one of the things

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<v Speaker 3>that happened to me when I was going through the

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<v Speaker 3>Melbourne lockdown, which were I think. I think we took

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<v Speaker 3>the prize for worst in the world.

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<v Speaker 2>We I think. So I had a.

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<v Speaker 3>Couple of friends and they were both trying to adopt

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<v Speaker 3>a new healthy habit of walking walking for an hour

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<v Speaker 3>a day. And you know that that seemed pretty realistic

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<v Speaker 3>and achievable as a goal given that as Melbourne and

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<v Speaker 3>we were allowed outside for one hour a day. I thinks, right, exactly, yes,

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<v Speaker 3>but within our five k radius, So you know, achievable.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know, both of my friends they started off strong,

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<v Speaker 3>like in that first week they both walked for one

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<v Speaker 3>hour a day, every single day. But then in the

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<v Speaker 3>second week they both began to encounter problems where their

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<v Speaker 3>habit basically got broken. So, for one of my friends,

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<v Speaker 3>what happened is that a major project hit at work

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<v Speaker 3>and she had timed her walk for something that she

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<v Speaker 3>did in the evening at about six or seven o'clock.

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<v Speaker 3>But what was happening in her life is that she

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<v Speaker 3>was she was on Zoom meetings all day and then

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<v Speaker 3>by the time six or seven o'clock was coming around,

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<v Speaker 3>she was still working and trying to feed the family,

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<v Speaker 3>and the walk just went by the wayside. Then I

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<v Speaker 3>had another friend who was also doing this walk, and

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<v Speaker 3>she had decided to do her walk in the morning.

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<v Speaker 3>But what happened with her is that in the second week,

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<v Speaker 3>her partner was getting a bit aggravated at her because

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<v Speaker 3>she would wake up early for her walk, but in

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<v Speaker 3>the process of getting ready for the walk, she would

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<v Speaker 3>also inadvertently wake.

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<v Speaker 2>Up her partners. Yes, yeah, so he got grumpy and

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<v Speaker 2>the walks stopped. And you know, when you're locked down

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<v Speaker 2>with someone, you kind of want to keep the peace.

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<v Speaker 3>So very like the same habit, but very different reasons

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<v Speaker 3>as to why they stopped. One stopped really because of

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<v Speaker 3>like complete exhaustion, and the other stopped because of the

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<v Speaker 3>social relationships in her environment.

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<v Speaker 1>So what were the how did they then? How would

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<v Speaker 1>they work with that and make it more okay? So

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<v Speaker 1>that is obviously the barrier right to the habit. How

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<v Speaker 1>do we overcome this? How do different barriers? How do

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<v Speaker 1>we identify our barriers and then overcome it?

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<v Speaker 3>So firstly, it's a matter of identifying which of the

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<v Speaker 3>four main barriers or habit hijackers as I refer to them,

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<v Speaker 3>is going on.

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<v Speaker 2>So there are four types.

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<v Speaker 3>One is motivational, where we kind of feel like we

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<v Speaker 3>should do something, but we don't want to do something,

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<v Speaker 3>like we know it's good for us, but we're not

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<v Speaker 3>really feeling that pull.

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<v Speaker 2>The second hijacker is relational.

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<v Speaker 3>How I described in that story, the partner of the

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<v Speaker 3>person that was trying to form this habit, it just

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<v Speaker 3>wasn't working well in the relationships in her life and

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<v Speaker 3>that's why it inevitably stopped. Then there are environmental hijackers,

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<v Speaker 3>where something in our environment is making it really hard

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<v Speaker 3>to change a habit, Like if we're trying to eat

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<v Speaker 3>less chocolate, for example, but our pantry is full of chocolatey.

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<v Speaker 2>Goodness or not goodness. In the case of chocolate, it's

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<v Speaker 2>going to be hard.

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<v Speaker 3>And the fourth hijacker is cognitive hijackers, where we're just

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<v Speaker 3>feeling so tired and exhausted it becomes really hard to

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<v Speaker 3>have any mental reserves to have the energy to create

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<v Speaker 3>a change. So we need to identify that hijacker. And

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<v Speaker 3>then in the book, I talk about different habit heroes

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<v Speaker 3>that you can apply depending on your specific barrier.

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<v Speaker 2>And really what it is is it's like changing a habit.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not a one size fits all thing.

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<v Speaker 3>It's about identifying this is my barrier and so for

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<v Speaker 3>therefore this is how I need to change it. So

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<v Speaker 3>in the case of motivational, we need to make the

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<v Speaker 3>habit desirable something that we want to do. In the

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<v Speaker 3>case of relation or we need to make it social,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, engage to people around us to.

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<v Speaker 1>Help us make that out of the bed and then okay,

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<v Speaker 1>let's go together and walk.

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<v Speaker 2>That's exactly right. Yeah. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>In the case of environmental things, we want toe our

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<v Speaker 3>physical environment so that it's just natural to perform the habit.

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<v Speaker 3>And in the case of cognitive barriers, like my friend

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<v Speaker 3>that was overworked, we just need to make it easy

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<v Speaker 3>to engage in that habit.

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<v Speaker 1>So do you have a habit that you're hoping to

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<v Speaker 1>implement this year and how are you going to stick

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<v Speaker 1>to it?

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<v Speaker 2>I do, I do.

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<v Speaker 3>So something I learned when I was researching the book

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<v Speaker 3>is the importance of probiotics. And when we think of probiotics,

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<v Speaker 3>we think of going to the chemist, and we think

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<v Speaker 3>of that special exclusive fridge that sits behind the desk

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<v Speaker 3>and getting some really expensive tablets that are apparently going

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<v Speaker 3>to transform our gut But when I interviewed professor Tim Specter,

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<v Speaker 3>who's at King's College London, he's amazing, so he's one

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<v Speaker 3>of the world's experts on gut health. And when I

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<v Speaker 3>interviewed him, he said, eat your probiotics.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought, what is it? What does he mean like

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<v Speaker 2>crush up the tablets and.

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<v Speaker 3>He said, no, fermented foods. If you can eat small

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<v Speaker 3>amounts of fermented foods throughout your day, So this might

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<v Speaker 3>be things like yogurt or kefer or fermented vegetables or kimchi,

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<v Speaker 3>that is going to do wonders for your gut health.

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<v Speaker 3>So for me, I don't have many of those things

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<v Speaker 3>in my diet, but one of the things that I'm

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<v Speaker 3>trying to do this year is to regularly have fermented

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<v Speaker 3>foods in my diet. So that is a habit that

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<v Speaker 3>I am trying to change.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, good luck with that. Well, we'll check in perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>in a couple of months and see how you're going

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<v Speaker 1>me that. Thank you for coming on healthy Ish thgs.

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<v Speaker 1>Amantha's new book is called The Health Habit and it

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<v Speaker 1>is out now, perfect for January reading. If you did

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<v Speaker 1>enjoy this chat, make sure you rate and review it

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<v Speaker 1>or New Year's resolution. You must subscribe to this a

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<v Speaker 1>podcast or share it with a friend. For more info,

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<v Speaker 1>head to body and sooul dot com dot you follow

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<v Speaker 1>us on socials. Grab our print edition, which is out

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<v Speaker 1>in your local Sunday paper and until tomorrowtay healthy Ish