1- The goal: de-stressing your life
If there’s a single thing that makes people reach out to a life coach for help, then it has to be stress. It can impact on your physical and mental state, it can impact on the decisions you make in work and at home, and it can even impact on your memory and social behaviours1. If you were to visit a life coach, they might try and identify the root cause of your stress2 to enable you to move past them3, but quite often we know what’s causing it. Weddings, children (from new-borns to teenagers), moving home, and of course particularly relevant right now is stress over job security or financial stress.
But these events are part and parcel of everyday life, so you can’t avoid them, you need to find a coping mechanism.
How the Body&Mind app can help
Exercise is a major stress buster as it releases euphoric feelings4, and the app is designed to help enable you to partake in fitness activities, either by setting yourself a challenge to achieve (on your own or with like-minded app users) or just offering up simple advice. Within the app you’ll find suggestions to de-stress that cover every mindset, whether it’s trying simple methods such as writing a diary to learning new skills, digital detoxing or how to create morning routines to boost your energy levels.
Discover how to download the free app
2- The goal: staying positive, and social
Being positive is the ideal outcome of any session with a life coach. An optimistic outlook can have many benefits, such as improving health, actually making you happier, and even making you luckier5. Being social is a great way of maintaining a positive outlook as face-to-face communication triggers hormones that relieve stress6, but the pandemic has made this harder than ever. Gone are the chance meetings and last-minute plans; as meeting up face-to-face now requires pre-planning and more time.
How the Body&Mind app can help
Positivity will naturally grow when you maximise your day, and that’s where the app comes in. It has action plans to help you do exactly that, not to mention specific advice all about positivity during lockdown and how to adopt positive habits, such as reminding yourself every day of three things you are grateful for.
3- The goal: excelling at work
In recent times, just being able to concentrate on work has not been as straight-forward as it once was, as we’ve had to adjust to new circumstances. So to excel at work can feel like it requires an extra level of focus. Just as an athlete would take on a coach to help them reach their potential, we could all do with an extra hand in being the best professional version of ourselves.
Juggling home and working lives is the first balancing act we have to master as, without careful planning, this radical change in circumstances could negatively affect the productivity of remote workers in the long term7.
How the Body&Mind app can help
Planning your day is paramount to focus and excellence at work. A feature of the app encourages you to organise – and prioritise – your day in advance, and to review how effective you’ve been at following your daily plan. Plus, there’s a library of content available to read about how to thrive at work in 2021.
4- The goal: exercising regularly
We all know exercise is good for us. It helps to reduce anxiety, boost confidence, sleep better, increase sociability, and make us physically healthier8. But so often, it’s the first habit that falls by the wayside when life gets busy.
Establishing a new fitness routine and sticking to it can be hard, and small steps forward are more sustainable than giant leaps.
Some like the idea of signing up to a challenge to keep them focused, such as running, cycling or swimming a certain distance every week. And if you’re the type of person who is motivated by healthy competition, you should consider taking on a challenge within a group environment as well.
How the Body&Mind app can help
Join fitness challenges on the app to give you focus while also having the option of comparing your progress against others. You can also link your existing fitness apps – FitBit, Garmin, Apple etc. – together, meaning you have all the key information on your exercise output in one place. Furthermore, there’s plenty of content and advice on how to start exercising and stay active.
5- The goal: healthier eating habits
You are what you eat, and taking the decision to change your diet requires strong willpower and sticking to those plans in the long term demands even greater motivation.
To ease the pathway towards a healthier diet, it’s worth noting a study by American educational researcher Barry Zimmerman who outlined how accomplishing a goal – or just the anticipation of accomplishing a goal – motivates us to achieve further goals9.
If we can therefore create small and achievable milestones, we can stay highly motivated about reaching our overall aim.
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Cigna’s new Body&Mind app – full of inspirational ideas and challenges – can help you to make whole health life changes.
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Sources:
1 Helpguide.org ‘Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes’
2 Life Coach Directory – ‘Stress’
3 Tony Robbins – ‘What is a Life Coach?’
4 Aaptiv ‘Four scientific reasons why exercise makes you feel so good’
5 The Week – ‘How to be optimistic, according to science’
6 Helpguide.org ‘Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes’
7 S&P Global Market Intelligence – ‘Work-from-home productivity gains seen evaporating as pandemic grinds on’
8 CNET – ‘4 ways exercise can make you happier -- even if you don’t like to exercise’
9 Positive Psychology – ‘What is Goal Setting and How to Do it Well’
