System Changes Farrokh Alemi Ph.D. This is the lecture on system change, organized by Professor Alemi and narrated by Abigail Epremian and Yara Alemi.

What is? Lifestyle change System change Structural change So, everyone asks you to make a lifestyle change but you are not sure what is meant by it. The purpose of this lecture is to help you sort out the meaning of lifestyle, system, or structural changes. The terms lifestyle, system, and structural changes are used interchangeably to designate a change that goes beyond diet and exercise and affects many other aspects of your daily routine. These words emphasize the need to make many interrelated changes that eventually lead to better diet and exercise habits.

What is? Lifestyle change System change Structural change On the road to diet and exercise change, a system change is a detour. Instead of changing diet or exercise directly, daily routines and physical environment are changed in the hope that these steps will eventually lead to better diet and more exercise. Sometimes what is changed seems completely unrelated to diet and exercise.

Examples Joining a car pool For Example, One person reduced junk food intake by joining a car pool. Why would a car pool lead to better diet? On the surface, car pool and diet seem completely unconnected. But for this person they were not.

Examples Eat late Stay up late Work late Wake up late Skip lunch Arrive late He worked late and would get home late. Then he would prepare food but it would take a long time and he would eat late. He would stay up late watching television so that his food would be digested. Then he would wake up late and have to rush to work, usually arriving late. Feeling guilty, he would work through lunch and try to catch up. As the day would go by he would eat some junk food to quell his hunger. At the end of the day, he would continue working and he would fall back into the cycle of arriving home too late to make dinner at a reasonable time. However, The entire cycle was broken up by the car pool. He had no choice but to leave work at 5, getting home very early, cooking dinner and having it well before bed time and falling asleep quite early. Then he would wake up early the next morning to join the car pool, and arrive on time. Joining the car pool worked for this client. He reduced his junk food intake and started losing weight. Joining a car pool is an example of a system change to lose weight .

Another example Another example is working standing up. This computer programmer solved the problem of long hours of sitting by working while standing up. He would sit on a chair when he was tired but most of the time, when he was working, he would stand up. Since standing up consumes more calories and puts less pressure on one’s back, this computer programmer introduce exercise in his work by changing his desk. This is an example of a system change, a change that indirectly affects diet and exercise.

Another example

Still other example Get a dog Reduce home temperature Bike to work Move television to exercise room

Not a System Change Increased motivation More effort

Not a System Change Increased motivation More effort

Definition Interrelated items

Definition Interrelated items Environment This could be the physical environment, as when someone loses calories by living in a colder house. Or if someone stops drinking sodas by refusing to buy them and stock up on them.

Definition Interrelated items Environment Daily routines This could be changes in daily routines, for example when a person would shower at the gym. For another example, when after wash, you keep exercise clothes in the car and not in the closet. I have heard of people who changed their lives by when then went to bed or how they washed dishes.

Definition Interrelated items Environment Daily routines Events over time

Definition Interrelated items Environment Daily routines Events over time Other people Finally when we talk of interrelatedness of our lives we should not forget how social situations affect us. System changes requires us to look at the relationship between our social network and our behavior. Some may say, wait a minute, my behavior is based on my own decisions and I am the one responsible for it. Yes it is but you are influenced by all sorts of things. When your spouse smokes it is hard for you to stop. When others in your family over eat, so will you eventually. It is not that you have no choice but that you are likely to follow their example. They create an environment in which their behavior is encouraged and since you share this environment then you too will be likely to do the same.

Less Effort? Changing all Changing yourself

How do we know we are making system change? Is the effect indirect? Lets assume that you want to make a system change. How would you know if the idea you have is a real system change as opposed to just more effort? Our discussion so far provides us with some principles we can use to check our ideas. The first one is that the effect should be indirect. System change does not directly affect our diet and exercise but through a series of other events.

How do we know we are making system change? Is the effect indirect? Affects entire group?

How do we know we are making system change? Is the effect indirect? Affects entire group? Is the trigger occurring days before the behavior change?

Take the Test

Take the Test Here are more of the questions in this 22 item questionnaire. For each idea you check if one of 22 questions can be applied to the idea. The idea with most check marks is more of a system change.

Selecting System Change Brainstorm ideas Check against System Change scale Select the idea with highest checks If you want a system change, you should start by bringing together all people who have a shared environment and ask them to brainstorm ideas for change. Then, for each idea, answer the survey questions and select the idea with the highest number of check marks. In this fashion, you can move your thinking away from putting more effort into diet and exercise and into making lasting system changes.

System Change relies on relationship among events in our lives Take Home Lesson System Change relies on relationship among events in our lives