Personal Health Project Part 1
For the Personal Health Project, I have been working with Megan Green. While talking to Megan about some ways she should like to improve her lifestyle to promote her health, Megan expressed interest in consistently exercising every day. If possible, she mentioned that she would either like to go swimming or attend triathlon workouts in the morning before class. However, she would be content with going to the gym and doing some type of cardio exercise such as running in intervals, using the elliptical, or cycling as well as doing some type of strength training or stretching. These goals were set because Megan already enjoyed going to the gym but she wasn’t able to do it as often as she would like to and she wanted to get back into the routine she had as a first year. As a first year, Megan went to the gym at 6:30am at least 3 times a week.
While working with Megan during the PHP, I often texted her to ask if she was sleeping early to go work out or whether she had already worked out. In addition, I tried to find her a partner to workout with at triathlon practices. I had her document time she spent walking, exercise activities, time spent doing each activity, and angle of her straddle. Throughout the course of the project, Megan only exercised once in the morning because she had meetings or slept in due to late nights up studying. Looking back, Megan thinks that the biggest hurdle to exercising early was her sleep schedule. Whereas first year she went to sleep at 10pm, as a third year Megan has been scheduling meetings much later in the night and regularly sleeps at 1am or later. Because her sleep schedule has shifted, she is more comfortable doing things in the night which led her to work out later in the day.
Initially, possibly due to the snow, Megan didn’t work out for the first week in which data was collected. However, during the final ten days, Megan worked out for seven of the days, which was relatively consistent. At first her workouts mostly consisted of cardio, but by the end of this part of the Personal Health Project, Megan’s workouts were balanced pretty evenly between cardio and strength exercises/stretching. I found that if she made arrangements to exercise with a partner or had a prior commitment, such as an intramural team, Megan had a 100% turnout rate. However, if Megan was only going to exercise by herself, whether she went or not mostly depended on her schedule. She confirmed that being held accountable pushed her to go to the gym. When I texted her to ask if she was going or if she had gone to the gym, it was not as powerful as actually going to the gym with her because there was no one physically waiting for her so she didn’t feel as if she was letting someone down as much. Aside from the time Megan spent deliberately exercising (typically 60-90 minutes each day she exercised), Megan spent an average of 83.5 minutes a day walking. Whether Megan goes to the gym or not, Megan usually exercises at least the 30 minutes recommended by experts.
From this experience, Megan said that she grew to really enjoy wearing her PolarA300 watch to track her physical activity. She would set an activity level goal and felt really proud and happy when she saw herself reach it. In addition, it wasn’t difficult for her to go to the gym. Through this project, Megan carried an extra pair of shoes around with her for the first time and found that keeping workout clothes on hand was not as much of a hassle as she expected. In addition, she learned that spending only one hour at the gym could allow her to get in a great workout.
Looking back on this experience, as someone trying to help another person reach a goal, I learned that it is important to constantly stay in contact with the person and receive feedback from him/her. I should have asked Megan more questions about her workouts and used that information to adjust interventions as needed. I hope to improve upon this on the second part of the project and provide a more structured plan for Megan to help her relieve the tightness in her hamstrings.
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