Psychological treatment of sedentary behavior, in 9 steps

Dealing with extreme sedentary behavior can be complicated without professional help.

We live in a sedentary society. Although in recent times it has become popular to do exercise and sport, most people have a basic routine that requires them to spend a large part of their time sitting in a chair with little physical effort. Also at the leisure level, a large part of the population hardly moves (for example, they spend much of their time watching television or on the networks), having a very passive life at a physical level.

A sedentary lifestyle can be a major problem: not engaging in any kind of physical activity is dangerous and can be a major risk factor for the development of medical illnesses and mental disorders. It is even possible that people who want or need to stop leading this type of lifestyle do not know how to do it or do not see themselves capable of doing it. This is why in many occasions it will be necessary to to realize a psychological treatment of the sedentary behavior.

• Article related: "The sedentary lifestyle causes changes in the brain".

Sedentary lifestyle: definition and risks

Although it is a concept already known by most of the population, never is of more revisualizar the meaning of the term sedentarismo of face to know what we are going to treat.

A sedentary lifestyle is defined by the World Health Organization as a lifestyle that involves the absence of physical activity. lifestyle that implies the absence of regular physical exercise or that tends to the absence of movement.This is understood as the performance of less than half an hour of physical activity per day.

It is a lifestyle that began to originate with the birth of agriculture and livestock farming but has become more and more accentuated with the passing of time, as technological advances have made it unnecessary to travel long distances and minimize the effort required to carry out our tasks. Nowadays, even for something as desirable as leisure or socializing, we hardly have to move at all, becoming more and more inaccessible.and we become more and more inactive.

Although not technically considered a disease or disorder, a sedentary lifestyle is one of the main modifiable risk factors for a large number of diseases, as it weakens the immune system and hinders the optimal functioning of the body. In fact, about two million premature deaths may be caused by this factor.

Associated disorders

Some of the medical conditions with which has been linked to heart disease in general, obesity and hypertension, various types of cancer, and metabolic disorders such as Diabetes (especially type II).various types of cancer, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes (especially type II). Derived from the above disorders, it may also be found to increase the risk of stroke.

In addition, it also has an effect on the mental level: a sedentary person is much more likely to develop anxiety, stress or depression. Also It also facilitates and accelerates neuronal degeneration in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

The advantages of sport

A relevant element when dealing with sedentary lifestyles is to show on the one hand the disadvantages of sedentary lifestyles and on the other hand the multiple advantages of doing sport.

In this sense, it is worth mentioning that the practice of sport generates endorphins, which improves the mood of the subject. Improves the health of our muscles and heart, strengthens our immune system and improves our quality of life. and improves the quality of life. It also increases the capacity of memorization and the level of energy and attention we can bring into play.

It also improves sleep and sexual relations. It reduces anxiety and depression levels and is even a protective factor against dementia. It also tends to generate a sense of control and increase perceived self-efficacy. Finally, it slims the figure and improves overall fitness, which can contribute to increased self-esteem in some people.

The psychological treatment of sedentary behavior

The aspects discussed above indicate that sedentary behavior is both a risk and a disadvantage for our organism. That is why many people consider the need for a change for which they may not see themselves capable, or even in many cases have not considered their lifestyle and who come to psychological consultation for another reason but in which it is a very relevant factor (such as subjects with depression), so they may require professional help.

The following are some of the aspects and techniques that can be aspects and techniques that can be used in the psychological treatment of sedentary behavior are as follows.

1. Analysis and assessment of the initial state and maintaining factors

Before starting a psychological treatment of sedentary behavior, it will be necessary to evaluate to what extent one is sedentaryif there are causes for it and what they are or if there are factors that prevent your behavior from changing. The subject's beliefs about exercise, health status (through medical examination), preferences, context, expectations, the possible presence of emotional problems and the history of physical activity that the subject has had, among other factors, have been evaluated.

Some of the most usual reasons for having and maintaining a sedentary lifestyle or not doing any type of sport are lack of time, the presence of a low sense of self-efficacy (i.e. the belief that they will not be able to do sport or maintain it over time), lack of self-esteem in general, discomfort or comparison with other people in daily life or in sports centers, the presence of disability or even the existence of entertainment methods or distractions that are more comfortable and easier to carry out..

All these factors have to be taken into account and treated differentially in order to be able to carry out a successful psychological treatment of sedentary behavior.

Once assessed, a series of techniques can be applied to help the patient increase his or her level of activity. techniques to help the patient increase his or her level of activity can be applied.. It is necessary to bear in mind that during this process different aspects should also be evaluated and plans modified according to the circumstances of each case.

2. Psychoeducation

Many people are not aware of the risks of a sedentary lifestyle, or although they know that it is not positive, they do not see a reason to change their behavior. In this sense, psychoeducation can be useful, showing the advantages and disadvantages of both physical activity and physical inactivity. Graphic elements such as tables of pros and cons can be used..

3. Cognitive restructuring and discussion of beliefs and thoughts.

This technique may be necessary at any time. There are many irrational beliefs and expectations about what and how one should be, what sport entails or how the world may react to it. Raising them as a hypothesis, generating alternatives and conducting behavioral experiments to test each of them can generate behavioral change.

Cognitive restructuring allows, for example, to combat dysfunctional beliefs about self-worth. dysfunctional beliefs about self-worth and self-efficacy that generate a depressed that generate a depressive position and passive helplessness. For example, various types of records can be used to compare initial expectations with the results of a behavioral experiment and to observe whether or not your beliefs are in line with what you expected.

4. Development of objectives

If the subject agrees to introduce behavioral changes, these must be established jointly with the professional so that gradual and realistic goals can be established.

5. Generation of activity plan

If the subject agrees, a physical activity plan can be drawn up. Together with him/her, the circumstances, what he/she is willing to do and his/her preferences and objectives will be analyzed to form a coherent and achievable plan. It should be taken into account that first a basic conditioning must be done and then the demands can be then increase the demands and maintain them over time..

6. Gradual exposure

It is important to keep in mind that physical exercise requires a certain level of effort. Although it will depend on each case, someone who is not used to it cannot start with excessively demanding exercises or he/she will find it complicated and tiring and will end up quitting. That is why exercise should be approached in a gradual mannerby inserting small physical activities (although not excessively easy, but which represent a small challenge) in daily life.

7. Behavioral contract

One way of encouraging the patient's commitment is to make behavioral contracts, in which he or she commits to perform a certain activity, generally in exchange for a reinforcer.. It may be useful to associate, for example, the performance of physical activity with the achievement of an activity that is highly pleasurable for the subject.

8. Self-instructions technique

A technique widely used in different areas in which a behavior must be learned or established, is based on the use and modification of the self-instructions or self-verbalizations that we carry out when we do some behavior (for example: I have to buy... /I am going to go and I am going to tell him that...) so that these are more positive than the previous ones and induce us to act.

9. Self-control training

The feeling of having little ability to control what happens to us or that our behavior hardly has positive consequences in order to achieve our goals is one of the aspects that causes many people to remain in a state of passivity and lack of physical activity. The training in self-control through Rehm's self-control therapy can be very useful in helping the subject to self-monitor himself, evaluate himself in a positive way and self-reinforce his behavior.

10. Relapse prevention

A last step to take into account when treating sedentary behavior is the idea of trying to maintain the behavioral change over time and to make it difficult for sedentary behavior to re-emerge as a habit. to make it difficult for sedentary behavior to re-emerge as a habit.. In this sense, it is necessary to take into account the existence of factors that can generate this relapse and try to prevent it and generate alternatives for action. Likewise, the autonomy and sense of self-efficacy of the subject is promoted and reinforced.

11. Evaluation and follow-up

As the subject introduces changes and once the treatment is finished, it is necessary to to assess whether the objectives have been achieved, to contrast the previous expectations with those of the subject.It is also necessary to contrast the previous expectations with the results obtained and to observe if at any point there have been difficulties and why.