35,000 decisions
The decision to be healthy is not just one decision.
We make roughly 35,000 decisions per day and each of them is an opportunity to influence health for better or worse.
There is variability is the number of decisions among people of course. For example, a child’s choice count is perhaps closer to 3,000.
Regardless, if you want to influence your health, you will have opportunities to do so today.
…and every day.
According to a study by Wansink and Sobal (2007) at Cornell University, 226.7 of our daily decisions are related to food.
- Where to eat
- What to order
- How much to pay
- Environmental impact
- Source of food
- Organic vs non-organic
- Bun or no bun
- This brand or that brand
- Convenience or cost
And on…
With this in mind, also consider the number of decisions we make related to exercise and movement (or non-movement).
We also make choices that impact our recuperation. One more show? One more snooze? One more all-nighter to get it done on time?
It’s important to that these decisions are not made in a vacuum. This fact is most obvious with children.
Anyone who has spent time with a toddler has seen the environment sway their choices. Whatever game got left out is what they want to play. Whatever snack they can see hidden on top of the fridge is what they want to eat. If they see an iPad, good luck getting them to choose reading as the next activity.
As we age, we gain more agency of ourselves, but our mind behaves in a similar way.
Two key points to consider
- We are aware of only a fraction of the health-related decisions we make.
- We are either unaware of how our environment influences these decisions or we are unwilling to acknowledge it.
This is the evidence of what has been.
The millions of opportunities we’ve had to become a little stronger, more present, more rested, healthier.
Opportunities wasted or maximized?
The millions of environmental influences that have been both bought with advertising dollars or left out on the counter by our own doing.
Healthy or unhealthy influences?
The news is…
the decisions you made yesterday have been made.
The other news is…
today is another day.
The choices are yours.