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CHAPTER 4
Technology & Habits BY DEAN HOVEY, President, Comprendo LLC (YHU\WKLQJVKRXOGEHPDGHDVVLPSOHDVSRVVLEOHEXWQRWRQHELWVLPSOHU — Attributed to Albert Einstein
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n mid-November of 2007, I was fortunate to attend a brainstorm workshop sponsored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto. The topic was how the CDC could accelerate innovation utilizing an open collaboration model. IFTF is a world-renowned think tank that helps many of the largest corporations and governmental organizations think deeply three, four,10 years into the future. Their work stimulates scenario and long-range plans based upon the many forecasted future dilemmas. The workshop drove home two important concepts. Improving our country’s health requires a system of collaboration and the biggest problem (or greatest opportunity) is modifying our unhealthy behaviors. :HOHDUQHGWKHUHDUHIRXUVLJQL¿FDQWFRPSRQHQWVZKLFKGHWHUPLQH an individual’s health. They are (1) access to quality health care, (2) the environment in which they live, (3) the genetics they are born with, and (4) their day-in-and-day-out behaviors. While the percentage impact of each of these segments undoubtedly varies around the world, for the United States, 10 percent of an individual’s health is attributed to access to quality health care, 20 percent to the environment, 20 percent to genetics, and 50 percent is attributed to daily behaviors. Fresh into the health and healthcare industries, I was struck by a stark fact. The lion’s share of our nation’s healthcare resources and energies are NOT targeting half the problem. We are sidestepping unhealthy behaviors!
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There may be good reason for this. It’s really hard to get people to change their behaviors. Our motivational drivers have been tuned over thousands of years. During the last 100 years, the dynamics of survival have dramatically changed. The fact is, we spend very little time and physical energy securing the necessities of life. What used to be in balance—the physical energy required to secure the food and shelter that we needed to survive—has dramatically changed. Today, the low cost and ease of securing food, complicated with its high calorie content, is RQH¿IWKRIZKDWLWZDVWZRJHQHUDWLRQVSDVW Dan Buettner knows what he needs to do to live to be 100. He lives in the Twin Cities metro. By most measurements, Dan is a very healthy guy. In 1986, along with his brother Steve and four friends, Buettner cycled 15,500 miles, traveling from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to the extreme of South America—setting a Guinness record. Since then, he has logged a half dozen more 12,000+ mile cycling treks. Riding a bicycle let Dan experience the world up close and at a slower pace. He spent time with people from all walks and cultures. And he noticed a few communities where people lived what appeared to be longer, healthier and happier lives. This got Dan thinking and resulted in his proposal to the National Geographic Society. He wanted to identify and visit communities around the world where people live long, healthy lives—well into their 90’s and 100’s. His goal was to discover their secret. Would these communities share characteristics or would each be different? What could be learned from these communities to improve our health? 'DQLGHQWL¿HG¿YHFRPPXQLWLHVZKLFKKHFDOOV%OXH=RQHV(DFK %OXH=RQHFRPPXQLW\VKDUHVQLQHLGHQWL¿DEOHFKDUDFWHULVWLFV7KHVH nine simplify into four:
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Move naturally Eat wisely Live with purpose Connect with others Moving naturally means that you get good exercise during the normal course of your day. Eating wisely consists of meals from grains, fruits and vegetables and stopping when you are 80 percent full. Even a little DOFRKROFDQEHEHQH¿FLDO/LYLQJZLWKSXUSRVHLQFOXGHVVORZLQJGRZQ to meditate and be quiet while rising every morning with a strong sense of your important role in life. Connecting with others indicates that you DUHDFWLYHLQDFRPPXQLW\WDNLQJFDUHRI\RXUORYHGRQHV¿UVWDQGEHLQJ part of the right tribe. People in Blue Zones are living longer, healthier, simpler lives. Is it possible that technology can counteract our downward poor health trend? Can it inform us about what is good for our human system to help us live longer, illness-free lives? Can it encourage us to exercise more naturally during the day? Help make us be more aware of the things we’re eating, over-eating, or snacking? Can it keep us connected with the ones we love most, with the tribe we belong to, with the friends that are doing the right things? Can it help us slow down? To change our behaviors and build learned habits? I believe technology can. Technology for technology’s sake isn’t the point. It’s about applying technology to help change our behaviors. Providing unlimited access to technology doesn’t guarantee that the person will use it. In fact, wanting to use technology or choosing to use technology isn’t the critical factor. What’s critical is that if an individual desires to be healthier and motivated to take action, a support system is there to help. Technology can drive an ecosystem platform while supporting personalized interventions. It is important to make a distinction between behavior and habits. A behavior is something you can observe and measure. The behavior can be a one-time event or repeated often. Habits are behaviors that have become routine. Habits are created through repetition and reinforcement. Acquiring a habit starts as new behavior. If that behavior is enjoyable you might do it again, and then again, and then again. Where it may have initially taken conscious effort on your part—utilizing the executive capacity of the brain—to enact the behavior, through repetition it becomes habit. This habit no longer requires the executive mind to instruct the individual to do the behavior. Rather, through repetition it has been learned and therefore can run in the background. This is also why it’s so hard to change a habit. Because in many
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instances, you’re not even aware you are doing it. 7KHUHDUHDQXPEHURIVFLHQWL¿FVWXGLHVWKDWGHPRQVWUDWHWKDWKDELWV are created and reinforced by the release of dopamine. In layman’s terms, dopamine triggers a feel good response in the brain. Through repetition of a feel good behavior, the brain starts to anticipate the pleasure of the activity. This anticipation can also trigger the release of dopamine in advance of the action. This is why it becomes so easy to fall into a habit. Just getting into the situation, whether it’s a familiar VPHOODIRQGORFDWLRQRUVSHFL¿FIULHQGVFDQWULJJHUWKHIHHOJRRG response and start you down the slippery path to an old habit. Once you’ve learned how to ride a bicycle, you don’t forget. This is true for many physical coordination activities, whether it’s throwing a ball, riding a skateboard, swinging a golf club, or learning to ski or swim. This underscores another fact about habits. You really don’t lose a habit. It’s very easy to slip back into the habit. Strategies for healthy behaviors and acquiring new habits are most successful when the individual focuses on establishing a new habit that replaces an old one rather than trying to break an old habit. +DELWVVWDUWZLWKDEHKDYLRU7KDW¿UVWDFWXDOL]DWLRQRIDEHKDYLRULV taken for a reason or motive. Becoming aware of the motivation behind a behavior is important. As you will see, motivation is the fuel of habits. On a sunny California spring day in 1978, I rode my bicycle from student housing to my drawing class. At the start of the class, professor Jan Molenkamp asked a few simple questions about Hoover Tower – the iconic landmark located at the center of Stanford University. “Without looking, can you draw Hoover Tower’s roof? Can you recall its shape, color, and texture?” I was surprised. For the past three years, I had been a student at the University and ridden my bicycle or walked by Hoover Tower hundreds RIWLPHV
