Thinking of future boosts healthy behavior

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PULLMAN, Wash., July 19 (UPI) -- Whether one thinks about the future may be key to understanding why some people can eat a healthy diet and exercise and some can't, a U.S. researcher says.

Jeff Joireman of Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., said his research -- Promotion Orientation Explains Why Future Oriented People Exercise and Eat Healthy: Evidence from the Two-Factor Consideration of Future Consequences-14 Scale -- used a new model to help predict people's health-related behavior.

Joireman and colleagues predicted people's health-related behaviors based on how they viewed immediate and long-term consequences.

The study, published online ahead of the print edition of the October edition of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, found people concerned with the future consequences of their actions were more likely than others to exercise and adopt healthier eating habits.