ABSTRACT
A new field of Behavioural Cardiology has emerged which seeks to integrate medical psychology into the everyday management of patients with cardiovascular disease. Two challenging arenas in cardiac disease management are the promotion of more effective ways for fostering better health habits for prevention, such as exercise, better nutrition and good sleep hygiene, and the identification and management of important psychosocial risk factors for heart disease, such as depression, anxiety, poor sleep and chronic stress. A central premise in pursuit of these objectives is that there is an important bidirectional relationship between patients’ health behaviours and their psychosocial functioning. Improved physical fitness and physical activity, better nutrition and ensuring adequate sleep can each be used to promote psychological well-being and ameliorate important psychosocial risk factors, such as depression. However, initiating and maintaining better health habits is often challenging for patients, requiring more assistance than just receiving medical advice about what to do. This chapter has explored these interrelationships, focusing on exercise as a particularly powerful psychological intervention as well as psychological interventions to promote exercise.
