Positive affective processes underlie positive health behaviour change

Abstract

Positive health behaviours such as physical activity can prevent or reverse many chronic conditions, yet a majority of people fall short of leading a healthy lifestyle. Recent discoveries in affective science point to promising approaches to circumvent barriers to lifestyle change. Here, we present a new theoretical framework that integrates scientific knowledge about positive affect with that on implicit processes. The upward spiral theory of lifestyle change explains how positive affect can facilitate long-term adherence to positive health behaviours. The inner loop of this spiral model identifies nonconscious motives as a central mechanism of behavioural maintenance. Positive affect experienced during health behaviours increases incentive salience for cues associated with those behaviours, which in turn, implicitly guides attention and the everyday decisions to repeat those behaviours. The outer loop represents the evidence-backed claim, based on Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory, that positive affect builds a suite of endogenous resources, which may in turn amplify the positive affect experienced during positive health behaviours and strengthen the nonconscious motives. We offer published and preliminary evidence in favour of the theory, contrast it to other dominant theories of health behaviour change, and highlight attendant implications for interventions that merit testing.

Emotion, health decision making, and health behaviour

“…For example, some are most useful when understanding healthy behaviour like physical activity (Van Cappellen, Rice, Catalino, & Fredrickson, 2017), while others focus on risky behaviour (O'Leary, Suri, & Gross, 2017). Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017). Some articles are more explanatory (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;O'Leary et al, 2017); other articles are more focused on translation Van Cappellen et al, 2017) -although all have some utility for both explanatory and translational functions.…”

“…Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017). Some articles are more explanatory (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;O'Leary et al, 2017); other articles are more focused on translation Van Cappellen et al, 2017) -although all have some utility for both explanatory and translational functions. These papers are illustrative for informing basic and applied work, and for contextualising the papers in the remainder of this issue.…”

“…The theoretical frameworks described in these papers are interconnected in ways, but also distinct, and may be useful for different purposes. For example, some are most useful when understanding healthy behaviour like physical activity (Van Cappellen, Rice, Catalino, & Fredrickson, 2017), while others focus on risky behaviour (O'Leary, Suri, & Gross, 2017). Some focus on physiological processes (Berkman, 2017;Carpenter & Niedenthal, 2017;Van Cappellen et al, 2017), whereas others have a more behavioural or psychological focus O'Leary et al, 2017).…”

“…By positing that flexible use and management of emotions across different physiological inputs influence the way that health decisions are made and are important for influencing the process itself, the framework highlights important basic questions about how interpretation of physiological signals affects health decisions, as well as useful applications for intervention. Van Cappellen et al (2017) turn to oft-overlooked affective processes in a health context: positive affect and emotions, experienced both as consciously linked to a stimulus, and as unconscious reinforcers of enjoyable behaviours. This 'Upward Spiral' framework posits that positive affect can contribute to recursive processes that support positive health behaviours.…”

A low-carbohydrate survey: Evidence for sustainable metabolic syndrome reversal

“…Feelings of emotional well-being are hypothesised to be important components for sustainable lifestyle change. 115 These overwhelmingly positive changes suggest that a low-carbohydrate diet may be especially sustainable. In addition, 18% of participants reported no regular physical activity, supporting the idea that people do not need to exercise excessively to lose fat and improve metabolism.…”