健康spotlight

Reasons Why You Should Become a Wellness Coach

Nicole Golden
Nicole Golden
| Stay Updated

It is somewhat shocking to look at statistics on death and chronic illnesses in the United States only to realize that many of these diseases are entirely preventable by lifestyle choices. Metabolic disorders (i.e., dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancers are responsible for two-thirds of American deaths.

Although these chronic illnesses pose a major threat to our health, oftentimes, medical providers focus more on acute problems while oftentimes lacking the time to address problematic lifestyle choices in depth (Gordon et al., 2016).

This is wheregetting certified in health and wellness有很大的变化。让我们探讨您应该成为下面的健康教练的许多原因。

Why Should You Consider Becoming a Wellness Coach?

也许你已经是一个certified personal trainer,certified nutrition coach, registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, orlife coach, but feel you may need additional training to reach your clients. Perhaps you currently work in an unrelated field and are seeking a more fulfilling vocation. If you are thinking of a career in wellness coaching, these may be some points to ponder.

健康教练…

• Fill a much-needed niche in healthcare.

•站在医疗保健革命的最前沿,重点是改变生活方式,而不是对疾病过程做出反应。

• Help people find sustainable strategies that help break long-standing unhealthy life patterns.

•与客户合作,过着更多的整体生活,而不是专注于健康的一个方面(即健身,营养或睡眠)。bob官方体育下载

• Have many potential career prospects from independent practice to working in a fitness facility or clinical setting.

• Enjoy working in a dynamic field where lifelong learning is a must.

•促进客户发展内在动机,从而取得长期的结果。

What is the Earning Potential of a Wellness Coach?

健康教练的赚钱潜力可能会因位置以及某人是自雇还是为公司工作的不同。根据Glassdoor的数据,美国健康教练的平均工资为每年46,134美元,薪水从每年29,000美元到每年74,000美元不等。

These positions include wellness coaches, wellness directors, health promotion specialists, and corporate wellness specialists (Glassdoor, 2022). ZipRecruiter, by comparison, lists the average salary of a remote wellness coach as 51,957 dollars per year with salaries ranging from $21,000 per year to $109,000 per year. The variability of salaries suggests that there is a lot of potentials to earn higher wages with more skill and years of experience (ZipRecruiter, 2022).

What Does a Day of Wellness Coaching Look Like?

The day-to-day lives of wellness coaches can differ greatly depending on whether they are self-employed, in-person, remote, or working as a wellness director for a gym or large company.

Each coach will have a slightly different style and method of working with clients. Overall, most wellness coaches will spend a portion of their days dedicated to their wellness, spend a great deal of time communicating with clients whether it be via text, email, in-person meetings, or remote meetings, and focus quite a bit on researching on behalf of their clients to provide them with appropriate information and resources to help them achieve their goals.

Wellness coaches often work flexible, but sometimes long hours to meet the needs of their clients not dissimilar to personal trainers.

如果你正在寻找有意义的工作,总的来说,have a passion for health education, or find yourself wishing to help your clients with more than exercise or nutrition prescription, wellness coaching may be a career path worthy of serious consideration.

为什么生活方式的改变经常失败?您可以作为健康教练所带来的区别

您有多少次客户创建了一系列新年决议,只是发现自己在次年再次制定了相同的决议?一月份有多少个健身房(至少在前期时期)被装满了吗?

It is common for lifestyle changes to be initiated, however, long-term adherence to these changes is low. Leung et al. (2017) conducted a systematic review to determine which factors led to high dropout rates for patients attempting weight loss and found that stress, strong body shape concern, unemployment, and beginning at an earlier stage of change were strongly associated with these high dropout rates.

Lifestyle change dropout often starts before it begins. When a patient sees visions of six-pack abs and perfectly toned arms as the result of a diet, or a specific weight loss goal (i.e., losing 40 pounds in 3 months), they have already set themselves up for failure. Setting unrealistic goals or beginning a lifestyle change program with unrealistic expectations leads to a sense of futility and burnout when the patient fails to achieve these goals in the expected timeframe (Bazrafkan et al., 2021).

Likewise, implementing an unsustainable weight loss strategy such as a very intensive exercise program or restrictive dietary regimen becomes very difficult to maintain long-term which will often lead to a pattern of weight loss, plateau and weight regain. A health or wellness coach can help prevent lifestyle change dropout by helping a client set appropriate goals, provide accountability, and find sustainable strategies that work for them.

Concluding Thoughts

The high-stress nature of American society (i.e., high-stress jobs, busy family life, little leisure time) can make lifestyle/behavior change difficult for many who suffer from chronic illness difficult without help.

Likewise, lack of access to correct health information due to profit-driven practices or being bombarded with misinformation from popular social media influencers without proper training/education makes it even more difficult for the average person to make necessary and effective lifestyle choices (Perlman & Abu Dabrh, 2020).

This leaves a gaping niche in the field of healthcare. Healthcare providers such as physicians, nurses, dietitians, occupational/physical therapists can provide advice on interventions to improve chronic health conditions or direction for a patient, however, oftentimes patients fail to follow through with them.

Long-term lifestyle change requires more than a few visits to and directions from a healthcare provider. Rather, it takes more intense guidance to help the patient find intrinsic (internal) motivation for change (van Rinsum et al., 2019).

参考

Bazrafkan, L., Choobineh, M. A., Shojaei, M., Bozorgi, A., & Sharifi, M. H. (2021). How do overweight people drop out of a weight loss diet? A qualitative study. BMC Nutrition, 7, 76.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-021-00480-w

Dejesus,R.S.,Clark,M.M.,Finney Rutten,L.J.,Jacobson,R.M.,Croghan,I.T.,Wilson,P.M.,Jacobson,D.J.,Link,S.M.12周的健康教练对糖尿病前期患者初级保健患者的自我保健行为的影响。预防医学报告,10,100-105。https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.02.012

Glassdoor. (2022, January 6). Wellness Coach Salaries.https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/wellness-coach-salary-SRCH_KO0,14.htm

戈登:F。,鲑鱼,r·D。赖特,Fairc b Sloth, G. C., Reid, K. S., & Gordon, T. L. (2016). Clinical Effectiveness of Lifestyle Health Coaching. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 11(2), 153–166.https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827615592351

Leung,A。W. Y.,Chan,R。S. M.,Sea,M。M. M.,&Woo,J。(2017)。与遵守成人体重管理生活方式修改计划有关的因素的概述。国际环境研究与公共卫生杂志,14(8)。https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14080922

Perlman, A. I., & Abu Dabrh, A. M. (2020). Health and Wellness Coaching in Serving the Needs of Today's Patients: A Primer for Healthcare Professionals. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 9, 216495612095927.https://doi.org/10.1177/2164956120959274

Richey, R. (2021, December 22). Discussing the NASM Certified WellnessCoach [Podcast]. The National Academy of Sports Medicine.

van Rinsum, C., Gerards, S., Rutten, G., Johannesma, M., van de Goor, I., & Kremers, S. (2019). The implementation of the coaching on lifestyle (CooL) intervention: lessons learned. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1).https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4457-7

Wiklund Axelsson, S., Wikberg-Nilsson, Å., & Melander Wikman, A. (2016). Sustainable Lifestyle Change—Participatory Design of Support Together with Persons with Obesity in the Third Age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(12), 1248.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13121248

ziprecruiter。(2022年1月2日)。远程健康教练薪水。ziprecruiter。https://www.ziprecruiter.com/salaries/remote-health-and-wellness-coach-salary

The Author

Nicole Golden

Nicole Golden

Nicole Golden has been a health/fitness professional since 2014 when she left the field of education to pursue a full-time career in fitness. Nicole holds a Master of Science degree from Concordia University Chicago in Applied Exercise Science with a concentration in Sports Nutrition. She is a NASM Master Trainer, CES, FNS, BCS, CSCS (NSCA) and AFAA certified group fitness instructor. Nicole is a sports nutritionist (CISSN) certified through the International Society of Sports Nutrition. She is the owner of FWF Wellness where she specializes in corrective exercise, nutrition coaching, and training special populations. She has a great deal of experience working with a wide variety of clients including female athletes, cancer survivors, older adults with medical comorbidities, and clients who have undergone bariatric surgery. She also has a special interest in coaching clients in recovery from Substance Use Disorders. Nicole enjoys spending time with her husband and five children when she is not training clients or teaching fitness classes.