Say you’re a guy that wants the best health and future for your kids, your family and friends. You’ve been working on some great lifestyle changes yourself that seem to be working for you, you feel you’ve got some great advice to give, but you have this funny feeling no one is really going to listen to you, and they’re even less likely to try out any of your ideas for themselves. What if we told you that you have that funny feeling for a reason?

A significant chunk of money is invested in health research looking at why people don’t do what’s good for them. Leading experts on human behaviour – Dan Ariely and David Asch - explain there is this weird thing with humans, that it doesn’t matter how high up the ladder we think we sit, we can all be irrational with our health decisions, and we often act on our feelings and not our hefty bank of knowledge when it comes to making these decisions. It doesn’t mean we don’t know better, Asch says, we just find it hard to do better.

There is a funny, but true, quote mentioned on the Laughter Online University by Comedian Steven Wright that says “Hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays of right now”. When stressed, perhaps when under the pump from work and life, we might default to ‘what’s easiest right now’ decision making.

Why?

There is a funny, but true, quote mentioned on the Laughter Online University by Comedian Steven Wright that says “Hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays of right now”. When stressed, perhaps when under the pump from work and life, we might default to ‘what’s easiest right now’ decision making.

*Photo by* *christian buehner* on *Unsplash*

So how do we make it easier to do better?

A basic interpretation and exploration of the work of Dan Ariely lets us know that trying to change people by giving them still more information possibly won’t work, we must try to change the environment the persons decision is made within. We can think of ‘changing the environment’ in so many ways, but as Ariely suggests, it might help to think as if we’re blasting a rocket into space: Get everyone on board; reduce friction; and maximise fuel (or motivation).

GET EVERYONE ON BOARD.

We are social animals, we see what others are doing and it changes what we do. Even doctors change their behaviour based on what they see other doctors doing. When we are boarding a train, or a plane (and no doubt if we ever get the chance to - a rocket!!!)…if you move, I move…we follow the activity, we follow the lead. If you have a lead you want to follow, don’t be afraid to bring those you care about with you for the ride. Their behaviour may change based on what they see you actually doing, not necessarily what you’re talking about.

REDUCE FRICTION.

Lower the friction and make the movement easier. Small things really matter. If you can see a way of making the easy behaviour a closer match to the better behaviour - try and act on it. Say your teen needs to spend less time on a screen and they want to spend more time with their friends. They’ve got some local mates that always enjoy a kick around the park with you, but they’ve never played on a soccer team. And you, you need to have less ‘couch slouch’ straight after work…What could happen if you started a weekly super casual social game connecting with others through, maybe, a flyer at the park where you play, on social channels, or maybe a Futsal League? Not the big leagues - just a fun, fit, friction reducing evening out.

*Photo by* *Sabrina Wendl* on *Unsplash*

MAXIMISE FUEL (or MOTIVATION)

What really gets someone going and motivates them to change will be incredibly unique to them. It can help to understand what might work if you know them very well, but even then you’re far from knowing everything. Experienced Clinicians can look at your brain in detail, the seven key brain areas for motivation - and this can be very useful and can guide brain-based interventions to help your motivation improve - but they still won’t know everything about everything that motivates you either. The science of motivation is getting an overhaul and some of the findings might surprise you.

Here’s an obvious one that pops up often in the science – we like to be rewarded. But it’s the science of how that seems to be evolving. The pleasure of the reward connects most to how long we will do things for, how much effort we will put in, and the number of times we will do it. Seems if it feels good we will do it, and if it feels really good we will do it for longer. The biggest insight here is that it’s not cash or stuff that gives us our biggest internal get-up-and-go (or intrinsic reward), we are more likely to do things because they matter to us, they are interesting, or because it is part of something bigger - like the future for the planet, or our kids.

The personal brain science of motivation can be found within literature from Harvard University in research that distinguishes the major differences between the ‘wanting’ and the ‘liking’ of the reward. They explain that the ‘wanting’ refers to ‘the intense desire for experiencing the pleasure’. Where the ‘liking’ refers to ‘the actual sensation of the pleasure’.

The article goes onto explain that the brain networks responsible for wanting actually connect the deep emotions that you feel with the reward itself, as well as whatever you did that led to the reward. Your brain makes memories and links the emotion and action so powerfully that even when the reward is reduced, or (can you believe it) not experienced at all, the brain still nudges us to repeat the action that once-upon-a-time led to the experience of pleasure.

How profound is this understanding when it comes to detangling why some of us continue to repeat once pleasant behaviours, perhaps long beyond when they are enjoyable anymore, like eating too much chocolate or drinking too much alcohol. Sheds some light on the ‘harder to do better’ bit when it comes to our health decisions doesn’t it.

This, in turn, is changing policy and practice around response to addiction to focus increasingly on treatments delivered at a neuroscientific and neuroplastic level rather than with punishment, because craving addictive substances is part of this ‘wanting’ brain behaviour that happens below the conscious level. It’s very useful to know that our brains at this unconscious level are capable of great change with the right tools too.

So, do we have you on board?

Can we launch a rocket of renewed motivation together?

If you’ve got mate who’s struggling, and you want to help, we’d recommend the step-by-step resources of the Australian Men’s Health Forum. Should these thoughts on how to stick to health goals have you thinking more about yourself and the brain health of your Family and friends, The Perth Brain Centre is available to help. You can watch, read, call or email, to find out more today.

About the author - Ms. Emily Goss (Occupational Therapist, Senior Clinician, The Perth Brain Centre).

Breaking Down The Barriers To Wellbeing - Men's Health Awareness Week 2023

Why?