Six Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle: A Practical Approach to Improve Your Health - Paperback

by Michael P. O'Donnell (Author)

Changing your health habits is kind of a big deal. It takes time and focus. It can also produce benefits that can change your life. If you have a good plan, you can be more efficient and you can increase your likelihood of success. This book provides a framework for that plan and has six steps: Get Ready, Measure Your Health, Set Goals, Build Skills, Form Habits and Help Others. Most people think of health as something much broader than physical health, and a growing number of physicians and scientists have begun to study this expanded perspective. The American Journal of Health Promotion, one of the leading research journals in the field, defines optimal health as "a dynamic balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual health." Six Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle will help you assess your current health, give you the tools to help you identify what you want to change and the framework for a practical plan to be successful. Based on proven science, the content is presented in an easy-to-follow, engaging style, including real-life examples from the author's personal experience. You will learn about the relationship between your lifestyle and your health and be empowered and motivated to begin your personal journey today. Improving your lifestyle, especially if you focus on what is most important to you, will improve the quality of your life and your personal sense of wellbeing in ways you have never imagined. To your good health!

Author Biography

Michael O'Donnell is CEO of the Art and Science of Health Promotion Institute. He is also founder and editor-in-chief emeritus of the American Journal of Health Promotion, founder and program chair of the Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference, and founder and chairman emeritus of Health Promotion Advocates. He has worked directly with more than 150 employers, health care organizations, government agencies, foundations, insurance companies and health promotion providers to develop and refine health promotion programs, products, policies, and legislation and has served in leadership roles in four major health systems, including the Cleveland Clinic, as well as serving as the Director of the Health Management Research Center at the University of Michigan. He has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters and columns and 6 books and workbooks, including Health Promotion in the Workplace, which has been in continuous publication since 1984 and translated into four languages. He has presented more than 300 keynote and workshop presentations on six continents, served on boards and committees for 49 non-profit and for-profit organizations and received 15 national awards. He conceived and authored legislation that was incorporated into the Affordable Care Act, including provisions that resulted in production of the annual National Prevention Strategy. He earned a PhD in Health Behavior from University of Michigan, an MBA in General Management and an MPH in Hospital Management, both from University of California, Berkeley, and an AB in psychobiology from Oberlin College. He attended high school and was later a Senior Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor in Seoul Korea.