Forming Healthy Habits Using Be Well Vermont

At the start of the year, many people try to adopt healthy habits like eating balanced meals or drinking more water. However, as the weeks go by, it becomes harder to maintain those practices. Our Be Well Vermont platform can help you form healthy habits that last.

The reason people often fail to form healthy habits is they attempt large behavior changes, says Kim L., a Blue Cross VT health and wellness consultant. This approach usually leads to burnout and a return to previous patterns.

A more successful approach, Kim says, is to make tiny habit changes. “It's small nudges over time that can make the difference long term,” she says. Be Well Vermont uses this method, which is based on the work of B.J. Fogg, PhD, a behavior scientist at Stanford University who authored the bestselling book, Tiny Habits.

For example, instead of trying to adopt the habit of drinking 64 ounces of water a day, a Be Well Vermont healthy habit is simply drinking a glass of water after waking up. “It's taking bigger behaviors that you're hoping to get to, where you are drinking the recommended amount of water, and taking baby steps toward it that are really achievable over time,” Kim says.

How to Get Started with Healthy Habits

Be Well Vermont can help you make small, daily changes to your well-being that are focused on the areas you want to improve the most. Access to Be Well Vermont is free for all Blue Cross VT members.  

Once logged in to Be Well Vermont, you can find healthy habits by hovering over the home menu at the top (the house icon) and selecting “healthy habits” on the dropdown list. Healthy habits offer bite-size ways to build a healthy routine and improve your well-being. Your healthy habits will be customized based on your “health check” results and interests set in your profile, so be sure to complete these actions upon setting up or logging in to your account.

In the healthy habits section, select “view all” to see more than 300 healthy habits to choose from. The list can be narrowed by using topic filters in the left column, such as eating healthy, managing stress, or sleeping well.  

Once you find a healthy habit you want to adopt, use the toggle button to turn it on. The healthy habit will then appear in your dashboard on the home page. You’ll be able to track your daily progress toward forming the habit. This video demonstrates how to do it.

“If you're an individual just getting started and want to do something small that seems like a pretty good chance of having a win, that's where you could start with the platform,” Kim says.

Be Well Vermont will give you tips on healthy habits that you’ve shown an interest in, she adds. You may also receive suggestions for additional healthy habits to consider. To make your experience as personalized as possible, we recommend that you complete your Health Assessment, update your MyCare Checklist, set your interests, and connect a device or app for easy health tracking options.

Journeys and Challenges

If you’d like to go further in developing healthy habits, Be Well Vermont offers two additional features that can help.

• Journeys are guided, multi-step educational programs that help you build healthy habits over time. They feature small, achievable daily actions.
• Challenges enable you to invite colleagues and friends to adopt healthy habits with you. Participants can chat with each other about their experiences, which makes it more engaging and fun.’

For more information about these and other Be Well Vermont features, check out this overview video. If you’re not already a Be Well Vermont user, sign up today and start creating your own healthy habits!

Please note that members of the Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI) should log in to the PATH wellness portal.