While some embrace change, others just find simple habits hard to break.

We can fight it, but we can't always stop it. While some embrace change, others just find simple habits hard to break.

Books, half-day or full-day workshops, week-long retreats, longer-term clinics and regular psychological therapy all compete to help the world-weary human stuck in old patterns that no longer work for them. But how many of them actually work, and how long does real change take?

The myth of 28 days to create a new habit or change no longer applies. When study participants at the University College in London tried to create new habits, the average time to create a new habit was 66 days and some were predicted to take more than 200.

Dr Timothy Sharp of the Happiness Institute.

The time it takes to change will vary, considerably, from person to person and behaviour to behaviour, says Dr Timothy Sharp, a clinical psychologist and executive coach who also responds to the title of Chief Happiness Officer from the Happiness Institute.

Advertisement

Some changes can be initiated immediately whereas, obviously, others will take time. It depends on what's trying to be changed, sometimes more intensive and longer-term work is needed. But I would never underestimate the impact that a seminar or workshop (or even reading an article in a newspaper) can have.

Michelle Duval is the author of Coaching Change and the director of business, executive and life coaching company Equilibrio. She believes humans are wired to consistently create new neural pathways.

We see this in all the things we learn in our development and in our adaptability, and in how brain-damaged people adapt and function, she says. Even in difficult life circumstances (such as death of a loved one, loss of a job, divorce, illness, car accident, etc) we are capable of change, though only when we finally accept the events.

View post:
How many days does it take to change?

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Have you ever had a friend or family member tell you to just get over it when you felt sad or worried? If getting rid of negative emotions is so easy, why is it thatmore than 21 million children and adults get diagnosed with depression each year and that depression is the leading cause of disability for adults age 15-44?Why is it that 40 million adults in the United States suffer from an anxiety disorder? The truth is we cant just get rid of negative emotions whenever we feel like it. Sometimes we can distract ourselves or think more positively, but at other times the emotions grab hold of us and cling on.

The reason it is such a struggle to combat negative emotions is that they are there for a reasonto warn us of danger and gear up our minds and bodies for escape or self-protection or to help us withdraw and conserve energy when we face a loss. But sometimes these reactions are unwarranted, too intense, or interfere with effective coping and problem-solving. Below are five reasons why negative emotions are so hard to manage.

1.Your brain is wired for survival, not happiness. That is why it keeps bringing up negative emotions, past mistakes and worries about the future. Because of this wiring, you canget stuck in repetitive cycles of self-criticism, worry and fear that interfere with your ability to enjoy the present moment.

2.It doesnt work to just shove negative emotions down or pretend they dont exist. Your mind will keep bringing them up again as a reminder that you have an ongoing problem that needs to be handled (even when there is nothing you can actually do to make it better). Research by Daniel Wegner and colleagues suggests that suppressing thoughts while in anegative mood makes it more likely that both the thoughts and the negative mood will reoccur.

3.Your body and mind react to mental images and events as if they are events happening in the real world. Try thinking about smelling and then biting into alemon. You will likely feel a change in saliva in your mouth. Now think about putting your hand on a hot stove. Do you feel your heart pounding a bit faster? You can get just as stressed by thoughts about an event as by the event itself. When negative feelings become chronic, they wear out your mind and body, causing inflammation, hormonal imbalance, or impaired immunity.

4.Negative thoughts feed on each other. You may worry about not having enough money. Next you think, What if I lose my job? Then you wonder you could ask for help and next thing, youre feeling alone and unsupported. Rumination can turn a controllable problem into a set of insurmountable difficulties.

5. The things you do to avoid or try to cope with feeling negative emotions may be more counterproductive than the emotions themselves. You may turnto alcohol, marijuana, or excess use of prescription drugs to escape feeling bad. These substances can have long-term negative effects on mood and motivation and have addictiveproperties. Turning to food excessively can lead to overweight or obesity and low self-esteem associated with weight gain. Getting angry and blaming othersfor your negative emotions can strain your relationships. Retail therapy can lead to debt.

What You Can Do

Read the rest here:
5 reasons why anxiety is so hard to manage (and what you can do to cope)

Instructor knows firsthand the benefits of in-water aerobics program

Roxanne Ryland

Aquafit instructor Rose McKay performs an exercise in the pool at the Hodder Memorial Recreation Complex in Deer Lake.

Rose McKay knows something about how fitness can help with health.

She started teaching aquafit classes in Deer Lake a few years back and has personally seen the benefits, both for herself and those taking her courses. Exercising wasnt as easy to begin for McKay as it was for others. She was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease for which there is no cure, and suffers from fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and diabetes. The resulting pain, exhaustion and stiffness made exercising difficult and it was suggested to her by a rheumatologist to try aquafit, a type of aerobics done in the water.

Its a lot of fun, its low impact, you can do things in the water that you cant do out of the water,she said. Its something that no everyone seems to know about, but it can help a lot of people.

McKay saw results. Her heart function went from 30 to 50. She was able to stop taking some of her heart medications and could also discontinue her diabetes medication.

She said although they have celebrated a few 80th birthdays at her classes, McKay considers aquafit something for everyone. Some choose to do high-intensity work during a session, others socialize and slack off, but she said as long as they are doing the work, they are getting exercise.

McKay recalled a time hearing about one person losing weight which he had been unable to accomplish before. Struggling with weight issues, he managed to get down to 200 pounds from approximately 240, something he could never do.

Now that might not be all aquafit doing that, but its at least part of it, she said. Once you start taking care of yourself, if you have the will power to exercise, you might have the will power to eat less or eat healthier.

View original post here:
Get aqua-fit