How Health and Wellness Coaching May Help You!

Many of us struggle to make time in our day or week for health and fitness schedules. Crunched with work responsibilities, household chores, and family responsibilities, it is too easy to push off health and wellness activities with the excuse of later. Unfortunately, for many of us, later turns into never. The good news is that by partnering with a health and wellness coach, you’ll find it much easier to reach your goals.

 

What is Health and Wellness Coaching?

Health and Wellness coaching is individualized guidance that helps you on your journey to strong physical and emotional health. Health and wellness coaches, like myself, are trained professionals who help you find the motivation, energy, and strategies to make healthy choices every day.  Together you and your coach develop a personal wellness vision, with goals, plans and accountability.

 

Benefits of Health and Wellness Coaching

 

1. Coaching Helps You To Overcome Blockers

Do you ever feel like there’s something standing between where you are right now and where you actually want to be? I call these blockers. Sometimes, it’s a physical blocker, like a sweet tooth-fueled sugar addiction being your blocker to losing weight. Other times, it’s a psychological blocker, like fear, shame, or embarrassment while at the gym. Whatever your blocker is, it benefits you not to tackle it alone. Research shows that the odds of success increases when you tell someone whose opinion you value your goals¹.  A Health Coach helps you to get transformational results by showing you tips, and tricks needed to remove those blockers.

 

2. Coaching Provides Guidance and Accountability

One of the greatest benefits of having a health coach is knowing that you have an accountability partner on your side. It’s easy to get discouraged or want to give up when you feel like you’ve tried everything on your own.  A health coach will encourage you to stay on track. They’ll support you to continue moving toward your vision.  Additionally, they’re equipped with practical experiences and are knowledgeable of best practices that’ll help guide you to success. Making health changes are not easy but having a coach that considers your preferences, lifestyle, and cultural background can make it more attainable.

 

3. Chronic Disease Management is improved

Some of the top public health problems in the United States include chronic conditions like Type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, and more². However, what many of these conditions have in common is that they’re sometimes caused, or at the very least exacerbated, by people’s lifestyle choices. When you improve your health by adopting healthy behaviors, you can reduce your risk of developing or even reverse chronic conditions³.

 

4. Long-term Healthy Habits are formed

Often, we tend to think about our health and fitness journey like a sprint rather than like the marathon that it really is. We see this most clearly around New Year’s when gyms become jam-packed in January, and then by February, the influx of gym-goers begins to trail off. The reason for this is short attention spans and the expectations for immediate results. What we need most of all when transforming our health are good habits and routines.  A health coach will help you establish healthy, long-term habits that eventually become automatic.  Your new lifestyle becomes embedded into who you are.

 

5. Reduce Your Health Care Costs With a Coach

People often question the affordability of hiring a coach because of the perceived costs.  One would argue that this is only looking at a small part of the equation.  Research indicates that investing in health coaching is money-saving for both the individual who is being coached and the health care system⁴. When individuals compared pre-and post-coaching, both their inpatient and outpatient medical costs were significantly lower. By helping build healthier habits, there is a lower need for costly medical interventions.

 

Begin Your Health Transformation Today

Many people struggle to turn their dreams of a healthy, vital, and active life into reality. A coach helps you to stay focused, so distractions don’t get in your way. Knowledge becomes the fuel that propels you to realizing your goals. By working with a coach, you will be able to see that by having someone who understands your challenges, creating a customized plan of action, and helping you to eliminate negative behaviors, you are on your way to a healthier you!

 

Sources:

• (1) https://hbr.org/2021/02/what-does-it-really-take-to-build-a-new-habit
• (2) https://onlinedegrees.unr.edu/blog/top-public-health-problems-concerns-unr-online-degree/
• (3) https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/physical-activity.htm#:~:text=Regular%20physical%20activity%20helps%20improve,depression%20and%20anxiety%2C%20and%20dementia
• (4) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25588134/