New year, new you, am I right? Only a month and a half into the new year, we all still have plenty of time to keep those New Year’s Resolutions from collecting dust. Use this article as a reminder to take another look at your goals and aspirations for this year.
One goal that is common at this point in the world and society’s development is a focus on our own physical and mental health.
Staying fit and active, eating the right foods (so much of what we find in today’s stores are processed and full of chemicals and artificial sweeteners!), but also finding time for relaxation, meditation, and self-care.
Especially kick-started during the pandemic in 2020, the focus on these aspects has finally become an important part of our lives.
Pre-2020 we would show up to work and school even if we were sick and suffering, and never took days off for our mental health. We let ourselves get stuck in jobs and activities we didn’t care for and just did without thinking.
But during the pandemic, and now emerging from it, we’ve all had time to ourselves to think about what we care about and what we’d like to get out of life. We had time to find new jobs, start or pick back up hobbies we are passionate about, and get in touch with what brings us joy and what doesn’t.
Perhaps you’ve got some decluttering of your life you’d like to do. You’ve got a list of goals for this new year concerning what you’d like to achieve in your career or personal life but are struggling to get a start on it.
Well, hiring a health coach may be the move for you. Read on to learn more about health coaches and what they can do for you in 2022!
Table of Contents
What Is a Health Coach?
A health coach is a certified member of the industry of healthcare that deals with helping their clients using behavior change science.
Health coaches help their clients identify their strengths, values, and passions; set goals around what they would like to accomplish; find intrinsic motivation (motivated by wanting to do something or enjoying doing it instead of being forced or feeling forced to do so) to achieve their goals, and develop new behaviors that better support their desires in a sustainable way.
Health coaches can also be hired when clients are needing help learning to manage an ailment, possibly when first diagnosed or going through an especially rough patch of their illness.
For example, diabetes, Crohn’s Disease, and metabolic syndrome are diagnoses that often health coaches are requested to help with.
How Can They Help Me?
Are you feeling lost in your life, caught up in a routine that no longer serves you? Perhaps you’d like to take a step back, explore what you love, and find something you’re passionate about to spend your time doing.
Perhaps you’ve already identified what you’d like to change or start in your life over COVID, but you’re having trouble figuring out the “how” or the next step.
Or, perhaps you know what you’d like to do and how to accomplish it, but you’re having trouble with mental resistance.
A lifetime of doing things just because you were expected to, or doing things that you had no interest in, can develop serious resistance and procrastination that is hard to overcome even when working on something you love.
Why is it so hard to get yourself to do the things you want to do?
Well, a life coach can help you figure that out!
With your life coach, you can discuss what you feel is missing in your life and they can help you identify the key thing you need to have a big positive change.
After identifying this change, they can help you research, plan and execute the steps to achieve that goal.
They can help you overcome your personal resistance and procrastination and find the motivation to do things because you like doing it and it is fun, rather than feeling you have to. And, in helping you identify, plan and achieve your goal, they can help you learn how to maintain it consistently for the long run!
It’s so easy to do something for a couple of days, a week, a month, but then completely forget it and settle back into your old, unhappy life again.
Health coaching will help improve your overall health for the next phase of your life, something we would all appreciate!
Where Can a Health Coach Practice? What Types of Health Coaches Are There?
The location of a health coach practice can be anywhere. If they are treating a medical condition, they can be found in hospitals, health departments, and medicinal practices or offices.
Health coaches can be found at universities, colleges, and schools. They can have their own private practices and an office you can go to for a meeting, or they can even come to your own home!
Depending on what type of health coach they are, they will be found in one of these places. Clinical coaches, transitional coaches, and disease coaches will be found in hospitals and medical buildings, or people’s homes as they help them settle and adjust.
Integrative coaches and care coordinators can have their own practices, be found at schools and universities, or pay visits to your home. They will know where they are most comfortable meeting and communicate that to you, and you may do the same.
Together you can find a meeting place that will give you the most comfort and ability to get done what you want to get done – and in coordinating this, you’ve worked together for the first time! This is going to be fun and easy!
What Are the Health Behaviors?
These are just three areas to focus on in health coaching, but there are more.
The first: life balance and daily rhythm. This focuses on your daily routine and making sure you are getting the right balance in your daily activities.
Ideally, you should have a routine that you are excited to wake up to every morning. It should be balanced with your main focus/passion/career, time for hobbies, time to spend with family and friends, time to eat, time to move and exercise, personal time to unwind and relax, and plenty of sleep every night.
The second is exercise, movement, and play. This specifically deals with the movement part of your life. In this virtual age, we have become more and more sedentary, opting to work in chairs at desks or on the living room couch rather than physical, active jobs.
Because of this, our health can suffer without proper movement throughout the day and exercise during the week.
In health coaching for this specific area, you may focus on building habits of movement and activity throughout the day, such as taking midday walks or getting up and moving periodically during work.
It may also help you find what mode of exercise (walking, jogging, gym, dance, swimming, etc.) you like best and find a way to incorporate it into your schedule at least three times a week.
For play, active hobbies such as a sport you like to play for fun, going on hikes or out for picnics and adventures will help you connect with your inner child and find fun activities that will keep you healthy and moving.
Next is nutrition, specifically the food you eat and how it is nourishing you.
If you find yourself eating too much and not knowing how to stop it, not eating enough because you don’t have time, or perhaps eating the wrong foods that leave you tired rather than energized, a health coach can help you fix it!
Properly nourishing your body is essential for having the energy you need to get through the day, and for feeling good in your body and ready to tackle anything.
Often, if we tend to overeat, it is because we are bored and not living fulfilling enough lives. With your health coach, you can see where you are lacking. If you are doing your passion and filling your day with it, time with the people you love, and relaxation periods, you should never feel the need to turn to food to cope.
If you’re not eating enough, perhaps you need to cut down your schedule to only the things you care about to put in enough time to nourish yourself.
Relationships, environment, spiritual nourishment, and rest are also areas you can focus on in health coaching, but the three above are the biggest ones.
Final Word
Health coaches are great tools for identifying and achieving your greatest dreams, which will get you the most out of life. If any of what was said in this article resonated with you, consider finding one today!