Paramedics and emergency care workers are regularly exposed to high levels of stress, which may lead to decreased wellbeing and poorer physical and mental health if not effectively managed.
In healthcare currently, there is an increased awareness and investment in preventive measures, as well as in social prescribing, and lifestyle interventions in favour of what had become our conventional reliance on pharmacological approaches, followed by, more recently, an increase in non-pharmacological treatment options. However, when considering the mental health of paramedics, ambulance staff and emergency care personnel, recognition is growing, and support measures are increasingly being implemented, but often approaches are still largely reactive, rather than also being preventive.
In the current issue of the Journal of Paramedic Practice, Hutchinson et al explore the role of health behaviours and lifestyle in ambulance workers (p. 367). The evidence related to this population's lifestyle, health and wellbeing, and thus preventive interventions, is currently lacking as the authors highlight. It is however an area that warrants further attention and there is reason to believe that mental and physical health outcomes in emergency care workers and prehospital care providers could be improved with the development of evidence-based preventive lifestyle interventions.
While the beneficial effects of a healthy diet and regular physical activity on a person's wellbeing and health outcomes are well known, true behaviour change is difficult to achieve. So the question becomes: why is it so hard to break old habits and create new ones?
One reason is that the person making the change needs to deeply want to make the change and understand their motivation or their ‘why’ for the goal they are setting. Another reason is that the change—the ‘what’—needs to feel congruent with ‘who’ the person is—or whom they believe themselves to be.
Nearly a year ago now, I surprised myself by signing up to participate in a 5k fitness obstacle course challenge called Tough Mudder. I've never regarded myself as a ‘physical’ person and viewed my strengths as mental, maybe emotional, possibly even spiritual, but never physical. However, when invited along by a supportive group of people who assured me that the challenge was for everyone, while skeptical, I began thinking to myself, ‘I have a body. My body moves. Why not me?’ Two weeks later, I found myself on a team, trekking through mud, and feeling oddly energised, strong and physically more able than I could have ever imagined.
Other obstacles we encounter may relate to the ‘how’ or process of behaviour change. Examples include trying to change too many things at once with an all-or-nothing approach; focusing on what's being lost through the new lifestyle change rather than what's being gained; and perhaps not using strategies that work in alignment with our habitual nature as humans. For instance, it would be much easier to replace one habit with another, to make the new habit an enjoyable one, or to couple a new habit with an already well established habit in our routine (a concept coined ‘habit stacking’ by habit guru, James Clear), than to try to create a brand new habit and then struggle to squeeze it into the comfortable flow of our lives.
So dear readers, what small change can you make to your current lifestyle?