Practical Guide about PAD

11 ↪ Practical Guide about Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) For guidance regarding the nature of changes to make and help facing the challenges of living with PAD, doctors may refer patients to a variety of healthcare professionals, such as a kinesiologist, nutritionist, nurse or psychologist. It may be surprising to see a psychologist on the list of professionals who can help patients manage PAD better. In fact, a psychologist can contribute in many ways to psychological and physical well-being. As soon as PAD is diagnosed, patients may experience many “negative” emotions, such as sadness, anger, stress/anxiety and dejection. Even though these are completely normal, they are not always easy for patients and their loved ones to handle. A PAD diagnosis can also be accompanied by broader questions about health, such as disease progression and its consequences, which can be worrying. Another significant challenge is adopting healthier lifestyle habits and maintaining the changes over time. Here are a few more specific areas for reflection about the challenges involving lifestyle changes and managing “negative” emotions. 5.1. Changing lifestyle habits It is possible to change several lifestyle habits at the same time, but that is generally more difficult to do and to maintain over time than changing one habit at a time. Therefore, it can be beneficial to first put our energy into the changes that seemmore achievable or important, and then gradually move to the ones that seemmore complex. It is often helpful to set concrete objectives which can be achieved in the short and medium term (see template in APPENDIX i). The objective of better physical health is noble, but is still fairly vague and will not be as helpful for guiding daily actions. So, adding a concrete, short-term objective will be more helpful. This might be something like: When going out for walks, alternating 1 minute of fast walking with 1 minute of rest. Over a period of weeks, increase the walking time and/or reduce the rest time. A medium-term objective might look like: Follow an exercise program to be fit enough to play in the park with my children or grandchildren in the summer (or carry out another activity which is appealing in the near future). In both cases, the objectives are concrete and measurable. Next, it is important to integrate the new behaviors into your daily routine so they become a habit (this takes about a month, so allow yourself time). Do not hesitate to talk about this with your family/friends; they can support you with your new lifestyle habits and may also help you achieve your objectives. This is a short overview of how to motivate yourself and maintain the motivation in the longer term, but there are many other effective strategies. Do not hesitate to discuss this with healthcare professionals.