Evaluation and reflection on lifestyle management plan
Smoking is a lifestyle habit formed by people and this is deleterious to human health. It poses a burden on the society. The health effects might be masked for several years before the clinical manifestations. Addiction to the habit is a major issue and the essence of the lifestyle management plan for smoking is aimed at setting up goals and implementation of those goals to achieve a reduction in the use of the tobacco.
The lifestyle management plan that was outlined for a period of 4 weeks was strategize to minimize my daily smoking rate. This in turn will have a contributory effect in reducing the associated augmentation of the related health issues such as the lung cancer (Foulds, 2007). My strategies were outlined into weekly plans. Those plans will then be followed for just one week each to achieve the aim of reduction.
My experience with this plan is that it does not actually consider the realistic approach towards achieving those plans. I discovered that compliance to a daily plans would have been better than a weekly plan. The whole essence of my plan was to cut down the idle time but I discovered that my smoking rate is not majorly influenced by my idle periods. It is my addiction and a form of psychological want towards the smoking that greatly influence the habit.
I also discovered that during that period, I was smoking even at public places or gathering. Overworking myself because of smoking rate reduction is another issue I discovered with the plan. This is because of the stress that overworking myself could cause. What I discovered about the week 1 and 2 plan was that I did not fully consider the stress pattern associated with lump of my duties together because of reduction of idle time.
The plan for the week 3 seems to be somewhat realistic considering the increased physical exercise rate and the need for rest. This tends to modify my habit and my compliance to the plan was good. I was able to do this because of the new love I found with the newly develop interest for sports and the need to improve my sporting ability which can only be effectively achieve with reduction in my smoking rate (Schneider et al, 2010). This creates a kind of new environment for me and relating with new set of people improves my relationship status with new people.
I also concluded that instead of trying to lump my activities together to achieve a longer working time, I could have tried to institute a basic plan that will consider disabling my main behaviors that are associated with smoking. Some of those related behaviors such as smoking early in the morning, during stressful conditions, after eating or when angry. These behaviors could have been focused on when I was designing my lifestyle management plan.
I could have tried to institute a plan that would replace the smoking habit with other behaviors such as having soft drinks when stressed, taking exercise early in the morning, taking fruits after meal, or trying to talk to people when angry (Mills, 2005). Those changes in behavior could have really helped in my lifestyle management plan (Mills, 2005).
My lifestyle behavior is yet to be modified by my plan because of the result of the plan and the newly found personal smoking reduction plan for individuals. The only modification I can point out to regarding the plan was that of the week 3 which focus on the exercise plan. This is because of the newly develop interest and effects of the exercises and sports on my personality. The long time continuation of these behaviors will definitely reduce my smoking rate and lifestyle.
My personal experience with the 4 week plan is that behavior modification must be focused on understanding the cause and effects of the behavior, approaching it first in a simple way, and then gradually changing with time to complex behavioral modifications that might involve therapist or psychological approach if need be (Mills, 2005).
If I were to repeat this lifestyle management plan on smoking, I would consider first, my related or dependent behaviors on smoking. I will also consider my environment factors and occupations status. I will also consider exploring various working options to develop a lifestyle management plan. One major strategy that I noticed from my research that could also help to build my lifestyle management plan is that of “trying to reduce the amount of cigarette to purchase day by day” (Mills, 2005). This strategy has been found to be effective and helped to reduce the smoking rate in “participant of smoking reduction plan”. This approach is a gradual reduction approach (CIGNA, 2011). I will also ensure taking health foods and drinks as part of my simple lifestyle management plan for my smoking habit reduction (ICAN, 2011).
Those factors will be put into place for me to develop the plan. I will ensure my plan is simple and workout for me to always see i.e. stating on my reminders or cardboard. All these approaches will encourage me to be focus on the outlined plan. I will also make the plan interesting substituting the smoking habit with interesting behaviors.
References
ICAN 2011, ICAN stops smoking Behavior Modification, ICAN,
Viewed 23 September 2011,
CIGNA 2011, One Smoke-free Day at a time, Behavior modification techniques, Viewed 23 September 2011,
Fould J 2007, Could Smoking reduction improve your health?, Healthline, Viewed 23 September 2011,
American Respiratory Alliance 2011, The 21-day personal smoking reduction program, Do-it-yourself. Viewed 23 September 2011,
Mills H 2005, Smoking Reduction Programs, Smoking, Mentalhelp, Viewed September 22 2011,
Mills H 2005, Gradual Reduction in smoking, Mentalhelp, Viewed 23 September 20112011,
Schneider et al 2010, Sport and smoking: A Contradiction, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelber, Viewed 23 September 2011,
