Reflective Essay on Behavior Change Exercise

Introduction

My objective to start drinking less coffee and more water is to improve my health. If I drink more water than coffee daily for ten days I believe I will have health changes. I want to improve my digestion and have hydrated skin. This will be achieved by completing the ten days of exercise.

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Decision Balance Sheet

After filling the balance sheet, it shows that I am at contemplating stage. In the confident ruler, I am about 7 a bit confident on my ability to start and stay with the new routine. This is because am more aware of the benefits that will come with taking more water and less coffee. I am contemplating on making this change and maintaining it. Although am used to drinking more coffee than water I think that water will keep me healthy. The only challenge will be minimizing the coffee intake because am used to the routine. That why am not completely confident that I will be able to make the necessary changes and maintain without relapsing.

Behavioural Change Journal

Day 1

Today I started my 'health behavior change' activity. I drank about two glasses of water only in the morning. I had no coffee or caffeine based drink until in the afternoon. This was a challenge because am used to taking coffee the first thing when I wake up. I had to throw away the remaining coffee in the morning to avoid any temptations. I also had to buy water which will distract me and keep me focused when drinking water. I figured using a mug would remind me of my coffee and I wanted to stick to the change. This was one way of stimuli control and to help me keep on track. I think my day was successful because at the end of the day I had taken four glasses of water and on one cup of coffee. I will explore a better technique to maintain this change.

Day 2

Today in the morning I drank a cup of coffee during breakfast. This was not according to my plan since I wanted to take one in the afternoon. My strategy did not work I guess the coffee control was too much. Regardless, I still managed to take two glasses of water after that coffee in the morning so I feel positive to maintain this health change. Today was a busy day for me I was up and down so by the end of the day I had taken only three glasses of water and a cup of coffee. I take positively because the water intake still exceeded the coffee.

Day 3

Today I woke up feeling great I am more adherence to the change so immediately after I woke up, I drank two glasses of water and no coffee. Although the temptation was too strong to take coffee, I made sure we're on track by not taking liquid in breakfast other than water. This helped to keep my mind off the thoughts of having coffee. After lunch, I took another two glasses of water after a meal but I also took a cup of coffee. Told me the aim is to take more water than coffee. Still, don't think I can go a whole day without taking coffee. I will have to increase water intake. At the end of the day, I had taken five glasses of water and one cup of coffee. I consider that a successful change in health behavior.

Day 4

From the time I woke up today, I knew this day would not be great. I have so much to do in my work and am not sure I will manage to drink more water as I aspired. Since I woke up earlier than normal, I had breakfast in the office which was inclusive of a cup of coffee. Because of being super busy I did not get a chance for water intake until late in the afternoon when I took two glasses of water. After work, I was so tired that my body was craving coffee and I took it to feel a bit relaxed. So, today I ended up having the same amount of water as coffee. I really wanted to maintain this exercise buy today being so busy I sort of relapse. Am hoping to do better tomorrow.

Day 5

Since I feel like I have failed for yesterday's relapsed, today am going to put more effort and stay on track. I woke up early as usual and took two glasses of water before breakfast. I also tried so much not to take coffee during breakfast to maintain this behavior change exercise. After lunch, I took another water which I had to buy. I think it was about a glass and a half since it was bottled. To my surprise, I seem to like the bottled water more than the one I am used to. This day is already looking good for my exercise progress. After dinner, I took a glass of water and a cup of coffee. It is a good day since o took more than four glasses of water and a cup of coffee which a good day's exercise.

Day 6

Yesterday I found out that I liked the bottled water more so I bought a few bottled and stored them in the house. After waking up I drank one bottle of water before taking any breakfast. Since am looking forward to having a busy day ahead, I included coffee in my breakfast. This will help me be more alert during the day and concentrate on my daily work. During lunchtime, I took another bottle of water after a meal. My aim is to keep this schedule and to avoid more coffee. Being busy sought to helped to keep my mind off things. after work, I drank another bottle of water after dinner totaling to about glasses of water for the day. I managed to achieve the goal of drinking more water than coffee.

Day 7

Today is the seventh day of my behavior change exercise. in the morning I drank a cup of coffee during breakfast in preparation for a busy schedule. This was not according to my plan since I wanted to take one in the afternoon. My plan did not work I guess the coffee control was too much. Regardless, I still managed to take two glasses of water after the coffee in the morning so I feel positive to maintain this health change. Today was a busy day for me I was up and down so by the end of the day I had taken only three glasses of water and a cup of coffee. I take positively because the water intake still exceeded the coffee although I depleted on water intake amount.

Day 8

Am pleased with how I have managed to maintain the exercise. Today I plan to try and stay the whole day without coffee. I will avoid all the temptations that might make this plan unsuccessful. After breakfast, I took a bottle of water and instead of coffee I drank milk. I spent the day well without taking any coffee. In the afternoon after meal took another bottle of water. I am very positive I will manage to stay without coffee and I did. I had a good day and in the evening after the meal, I took another bottle of water. I realized am getting used to this routine and it will not be more challenging to maintain it. Today I have taken more than four glasses of water and stayed the whole day without coffee.

Day 9

Today I woke up feeling great for being more adherence to the change so after I wake up, I drank two glasses of water and no coffee. Although the temptation was too strong to take coffee since I didn't take any yesterday, I made sure we're on track by not taking liquid in breakfast other than water. I also engage in helping relationships which will help me succeed in this exercise. After lunch, I took another two glasses of water after a meal but I also took a cup of coffee. Still, don't think I can go a whole day again without taking coffee. I will have to increase water intake. At the end of the day, I had taken five glasses of water and one cup of coffee. I consider that a successful change in health behavior.

Day 10

Today is the last day of my behavior change exercise. After waking up I took a bottle of water and no coffee. I made sure that my breakfast did not caffeine also. In the afternoon after the meal, I took another bottle of water and I was ready to carry on with the day's work. I left the work feeling tired so I decided to take a cup of coffee in the evening. Before sleeping at night, I drank another bottle of water. Today I have taken more than four glasses of water and a cup of coffee.

Reflection

Through the behavior change exercise, I was able to achieve my goal of taking more water than coffee. This did not come easy because I faced many challenges on my journey. Many factors enabled me to succeed in my exercise. First, I had to buy a nice bottle for motivation and work extra hard to avoid coffee. I also bought the bottled water since I seemed to like them more. I was very careful to maintain this exercise.

In this assignment, I was able to integrate change. Most importantly, I have always had a digestion problem and since I started this exercise have better food digestion (S., & Sharp, R. L. 2013). This did not happen until around the eighth day when I noticed that am better and my skin has also improved. Everybody was able to tell that I was doing something different with my health. The change process required patient and dedication for better results.

For the change to occur, I changed my attitudes towards water and became more aware of the benefits that will come from the exercise. I changed my normal behavior of taking coffee after waking up and I became more realistic.

Conclusions

From the behavior change exercise, I have learned to give the right attitude if I want positive changes. It is also important to be consistent and never give up. This can be applied in dental hygienist to try until you find to achieve the set goals. As a change agent, I will be more patient while counseling others in oral health behavior change ( Rollnick, S., Butler, C., & Mason, P. 2007). The change will be successful if the client is doing the exercise voluntarily. Being willing to perform the exercise result in better performance hence better results. I will always apply this lesson to all my future practices.

References

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Johannsen, N. M., Sullivan, Z. M., Warnke, N. R., Smiley-Oyen, A. L., King, D. S., & Sharp, R. L. (2013). Effect of Preexercise Soup Ingestion on Water Intake and Fluid Balance during Exercise in the Heat. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 23(3), 287-296. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.23.3.287

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Armstrong, L., & Johnson, E. (2018). Water Intake, Water Balance, and the Elusive Daily Water Requirement. Nutrients, 10(12), 1928. doi:10.3390/nu10121928