The QueenI am conducting experiments on habit formation, with the goal of reaching lower blood pressure by the end of 2021, and ultimately changing my life without the use of medication.
After just a few months in, I reached my first goal.
You can read my full health history here, but here’s a summary:
In 2019, I was in my early 40’s and started having intense chest pressure during high-impact workouts. I saw a cardiologist and, after running several tests, he said his best guess was the pressure I was feeling might be from high blood pressure. And there was nothing I could do except 1) continue upping my medication until I saw lower blood pressure results and 2) come back for a CT scan every five years, to make sure I didn’t need surgery. He also said, given my family history with heart disease, surgery was likely in my future.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
I had an unexplained problem with my heart, and was particularly vulnerable to an unexplained virus killing millions of people worldwide. After nine months of staying home with my family, eating popcorn and binging Gilmore Girls, I decided to use my time more wisely in 2021 and tackle the key threat to my health. In addition to my concerns, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had diagnosed my husband with type 2 diabetes.
Clearly, a lifestyle change was in order.
I started with habits.
After doing some research, I came up with a plan to implement small actionable habits into our daily lives that would eventually add up to lower blood pressure for me, lower glycated hemoglobin (A1C) for my husband, and overall better health for my whole family. The plan was to use controlled experiments, introducing a new independent variable every month for a year, building on these habits over time, and recording my blood pressure during each stage, to track my results.
Common suggestions from the internet on how to lower blood pressure include “reduce stress” and “lose weight” and “get more sleep.” I think most doctors would agree those are good things. And I’m not suggesting they are wrong.
But those are not actionable goals.
Reducing stress, losing weight and getting quality sleep are not actions you perform, but rather the body’s reaction to behavior choices. And I’m willing to bet you’ve TRIED to do all those things before. If it were that easy, why would we need help?
We’re not actively trying NOT to reduce stress, lose weight or get more sleep.
But here’s the problem: your doctor isn’t there to help you with habit formation. That’s not how the western medical model works. “Many health professionals shy away from giving advice on modifying behaviour because they find traditional behaviour change strategies time-consuming to explain and difficult for the patient to implement,” according to the British Journal of General Practice.
Your MD is there to diagnose you with a medical problem. And possibly give you drugs for it. While I would have liked it if my doctor had told me exactly what to do on a daily basis to reduce my blood pressure, I’m willing to bet the majority of his patients just want a prescription and to get on with their lives.
For those of us who want more, we have to do our own research. Instead of waiting for a white-coated knight to save us, we have to take our own action.
We have to save ourselves.
What we need is a plan with actionable goals, things we can repeatedly do in order to reach health benefits. And these things have to be easy. Cutting out everything but carrots and kale is not going to be sustainable. Or, I assume, actually healthy. The things we do have to be DOable. Or we won’t do them.
Using this blog to track my results, I’m creating new habits, one each month, and reporting the results. I won’t meet every goal. I won’t be perfect at any of it. That’s not how humans work. But anything I try will push me forward in some small way, and in the end, I’m hoping all these small changes will build up to lower blood pressure and a healthy heart for the long-term.
Every month, I’m incorporating something new into my life to inspire lower blood pressure. Some of these are things I do already. But I don’t do them consistently. And my goal is to make them into solid habits.
According to the above article on habit formation, to create a new healthy habit, you have to:
- Decide on a goal.
- Choose a simple action that will move you toward that goal. One that can be performed on a daily basis.
- Plan when and where you will do that action. Be consistent. Choose a time and place that works in your daily life.
- Every time you encounter that time and place, do the action.
It should get easier over time. Within 10 weeks, the article says, you should find you are doing it automatically, without thinking.
My husband and kids are going to join me for some of these habits, because the goal is to change our lives, so we need to do things we can incorporate slowly, in a sustainable way, that will stick for the long term. And that doesn’t happen without support from everyone in the household.
Preventing high blood pressure is a long con.
And so is reversing type 2 diabetes. It’s not something that will manifest overnight. Just like getting to this moment took some time, getting away from here will also take time.
Below is the habits we’re incorporating, one at a time, one per month, in 2021. Click through to see the plan and results for each.
January Habit: Practice Yoga
January Results
February Habit: Cut Out Refined Sugar
- 10 Sugar-Free Breakfasts
- Sugar-Free Valentine’s Day
- We Quit Sugar: This is What Happened
- Eating Out Sugar Free
- Recipe: Sugar-Free Breakfast Cookies
- Recipe: Sugar-Free Chocolate Oatmeal
- Recipe: Sugar-Free Chocolate Pudding
February Results
March Habit: Meditate
March Results: EXCITING NEWS
April Habit: Drink More Tea
April Results: MORE EXCITING NEWS
May Habit: Eat More Salmon
May Results
June Habit: Take a Break
June Results
July Habit: Workout More
July Results
August Habit: Take Magnesium
August Results
September Habit: Have More Fun
September Results
October Habit: Probiotics
October Results
November Habit: Flaxseed
November Results
December Habit: Potassium
December Results
Important Habits I’m Not Including
I will not be including “quit smoking or chewing tobacco” or “consume alcohol in moderation” on this list. In our own health journey, these habits are unnecessary because we practice them already. However, if you need them on your list, may I suggest that these are also not actionable goals. Just like losing weight, controlling addiction is a seriously difficult process. My husband quit tobacco a few years ago and I’d be happy to share his story if you are interested. I have friends who have quit smoking with hypnosis, and others who have stopped drinking with AA. I won’t pretend I know the answers to any of that. But whatever your goal, be sure to break down some practical habits you can incorporate into your daily life. Here’s a few resources to help get you started:
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