Health, Affect, Physical Activity, And Addiction w/ Renee Magnan

Hello, everybody! Today, I bring you an interview with Dr. Renee Magnan. She is Associate Professor and Director of Experimental Training in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University. She applies social psychological theory to address issues in preventive health behaviors and health behavior promotion. Specifically, much of the research in her lab focuses on understanding the role that affect (e.g., worry) plays on health decisions and behavior (e.g., smoking cessation, exercise, cannabis). She is interested in both how one’s feelings about health behaviors may influence their decisions to engage in health behavior and also how health behaviors may influence one’s feelings. Both perspectives can provide important insight to identify targets for interventions to prevent negative health consequences and promote wellness.

In this episode, we focus on Health Psychology. We dig into what is affect and how it influences health behavior. We refer to the negative consequences of physical inactivity, and its relationship with mental health. We also address addictive behaviors, and adolescence and risky behavior of all types. Finally, we talk about the types of health messaging that work the best, and also problems with medical advice and treatment compliance, and how we can improve them.

https://youtu.be/kAJKw5rMzQM

Link to podcast version (Anchor): https://bit.ly/2J83Tjp