The so-called optimism bias can get in the way of a healthy lifestyle.
Yes, media messages about nutrition hectare often confusing and inconsistent, but many Americans know what constitutes a healthy diet. I mean, does anyone really think that drinking brown soda is good for them? The thing is, they don’t seem to translate their knowledge into action.
Why do people have such a hard time it changes their eating behaviors? While ignorance and confusion may play a role, being motivated to change is probably far more important. Certainly, we live in a world where pushes to eat whatever we want, regardless of the long-term consequences. “One of the biggest problems in getting people to change their behavior it is the need to make them recognize the need to change.”
For example, if you Please How much meat people eat—or how much fatty food, eggs, sweets, alcohol, or butter—they claim to eat less than the average person. So if people believe they are at less risk than others, they may reject advice to eat healthier, thinking they already eat healthier. Could it actually be? No, people was graded their own eating behavior as healthier on average, even when their actual eating habits were terrible. Because of this, perhaps health promotion campaigns need to make people realize how badly they eat. But when this is done, a strange thing happens. When people are is disputed With the reality of what the average person actually eats, they change their answer to appear even healthier than average.
When people’s positive comparisons of risky behaviors are he threatenedthey tend not only to discount their estimates of how often they engage in these behaviors—“oh, I don’t eat that much meat”—but also to minimize the importance of the behaviors. “Meat isn’t that bad for you anyway.” It is the same “personal myth” as smokers say themselves. Studies show that smokers have a strong tendency to underestimate the risks associated with smoking, developing a range of illusions and false beliefs to support their choice to continue smoking.
Why so many people continue to light up despite the damage of smoking to their health? For many of the same reasons, people continue to eat unhealthy foods. First, they convince themselves that they are at less risk than others who engage in the same behavior. Adding to this optimism bias, smokers also underestimate how much smoking increases their risk of lung cancer, believing that two-pack-a-day smokers only have a five times greater risk of lung cancer when the actual risk is 20 times higher, as you can see below and at 3:10 in my video Why aren’t people eating healthier?.Also, many smokers believe Lung cancer is mainly determined by genetics.
Many dangers are related to the food we eat share that same “optimistic bias” like heart attacks and heart disease (our number one killer), obesity, diabetes and all the rest. People often can find very clever reasons for believing that their own risk is less than that of others. So perhaps public health advocates need to be just as smart about understanding where this unrealistic optimism came from and finding ways to help people gain a more accurate picture of their own vulnerability. All kinds of work it is is done by trying to reduce or eliminate this bias, “but we have to consider the possibility that reductions in optimistic bias may lead to a decrease in self-esteem and psychological well-being” if people begin to realize how much risk they really face and how much they have themselves to blame.
This reminds me of the tightrope that healthcare professionals have to walk, effective people how much power we all have to get cancer. There is one document that is often cited is calculated that we may be able to prevent about 90% of human cancers. Although his reference to “current trends” referred to the 1960s—when this paper was published— applies today, more than half a century later. “Genetic factors are not the main causes of chronic diseases.” Using identical twins to see how much disease risk was truly genetic, the researchers found that of the 28 chronic diseases, cancers had the lowest genetic component—only about 10% attributable to bad genes. What runs in families are bad habits.
But when you say all the good news about how much power we have in preventing cancer, what about the people who already have it? When people are diagnosed with cancer, they often ask, “Why me? Did I do something wrong? Is it my fault?” So you can imagine how the message of “well, yeah, kind of” could be devastating to patients or survivors. In other words, a message meant to empower people and promote prevention could just make cancer victims feel guilty.
But the truth remains the truth, no matter how difficult it is. So what doctors need to do is try to guide patients to “move from feelings of guilt to a ‘responsibility’ approach.” They have personal control. they can make different choices from here on out. Doctors must give them a sense of agency in their lives. Better, though, to try to take these steps before you get cancer.
Doctor’s note
For more on personal liability, see Why you should care about nutrition and Taking personal responsibility for your health.
