People in so-called developed contemporary societies have the opportunity to take advantage of unprecedented technological advances. However, as our life expectancy continues to rise, the quality of people’s lives is becoming an area of increased focus. It is becoming very evident that modern lifestyle choices are putting people at risk of being impacted by a number of common chronic diseases including diabetes (type II), various cardiovascular diseases, stroke and Coronary Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and even some cancers (prostrate, ovarian, skin). This cost burden associated with increased incidence of such diseases is forecasted to put an unsustainable strain on future health care services in Ireland and many other countries. There are a number of key lifestyle behaviours that, if changed, have the potential to dramatically reduce a person’s likelihood of being impacted by one of these or other chronic diseases. The proposed talk will outline the importance of diet (improved nutritional knowledge and food labelling awareness), exercise (tackling sedentary lifestyle) and stress management as being key components that could be prioritized for lifestyle behaviour change. The talk will suggest how psychology plays a role in facilitating such change.

1. Poweringhealth.ie
Seamus Power
Psychology Matters
Waterford IT
12 May 2018
Chronic Disease & Lifestyle: Why
Psychology Matters

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How are you feeling today?
Grand?
Fine?
Wonderful?
Not so bad?
Great?

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But, how are you REALLY feeling today?
People may open up a bit more, but generally and understandably usually not
prepared to share too much detail
Have a touch of the flu
Had one or two few too many last
night
There’s a chest thing going
around at the moment

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Is our Modern Lifestyle, on balance, helping us live a longer, happier and
more fulfilled life?
When you think about modern lifestyle what do you think?
Lack of exercise/sedentary Lifestyle
Fast pace of life
Stress
Convenience foods
Food Quality
Overweight
Obesity
Diabetes
Cardiovascular disease
Stroke
Some Cancers (Prostrate, Ovarian)
A Chronic Disease (CD) is one lasting 3 months or more.
Chronic diseases generally cannot be prevented by vaccines
or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear. CDs are
often referred to as non-communicable diseases or illnesses.
COPD

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We are living longer, but…
We tend be less active, more
stressed and eat very poor quality
foods (WHO, 2011)
Life Expectancy at birth by Gender, Ireland and EU-28, 2015
http://health.gov.ie/publications-research/statistics/statistics-by-topic/life-
expectancy/
~ 1 million people in Ireland today
suffer from Diabetes, Asthma,
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease (COPD) or Cardiovascular
disease (Diabetes Ireland, 2018)

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Chronic Disease impacts upon Quality of LIfe…
At 65 years of age a
staggering 64.8% of
people are impacted by
and managing at least 2
chronic conditions (TILDA, The
Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging, 2011)
Healthy Life Years and Life Expectancy at age 65 by Gender, Ireland and EU-28,
2015
CD
Contri-
bution
CD
contri-
bution
Action in earlier life years
will help increase chances
of additional Healthy Life
Years later
21
12
18
11
9 Years
7 Years

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Modern Lifestyle Change – How can psychology help?
The Triple A of Change – Awareness, Action, Adherence
Lack of exercise
Fast pace of life
Stress
Convenience foods
Food Quality
Overweight
Obesity
Commitment to making a number of small
permanent Lifestyle changes
• Regular exercise
(150 mins/week)
• Dietary awareness: Sugar/Salt Food
Content
• Fruit/Veg intake (5 a day)
• Fish/meat intake
• Mind de-clutter
Action
• Food Labelling education

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Scoring
0-3 – Urgent need to consider making changes to aspects of your lifestyle
Very Brief Lifestyle Assessment…How would you do???
 I sleep 7 or 8 hours per night
 I eat breakfast almost every day
 I rarely eat between meals
 I drink alcohol rarely or moderately (<= 11 units/week for females, <= 17 for men))
 I never smoke cigarettes
 I am at or near my appropriate weight (BMI between 20 and 24)
 I regularly get vigorous physical activity (at least 20 minute vigorous walk 4 days/week)
 I am active in my work and don’t sit for extended periods of time without exercise
8 Healthy Lifestyle habits
4-6 – You should consider making a number of specific changes to your lifestyle
7-8 – Encourage you to sustain this type of lifestyle

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The last word of wisdom from Hippocrates (~450BC)…
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not
too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health

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Thank You
Q&A

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Backup

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Obesity Trends in EU – Ireland’s rapid acceleration

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Self-Report Health Status – Ireland’s self-deception??

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Disease Prevention – lack of investment

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