As a sports coach helps an athlete develop and excel at a sport, a health coach helps a person or team to excel at living healthy life to the full, taking the best. This course will equip you with foundations of health coaching – skills useful for life wherever it takes you – whether you will be the next CEO, a full-time dad or mom, an entrepreneur or a cool government employee. It comprises a series of modules covering highly engaging topics on health coaching with a focus on sleep as a superpower. This is the first course in a stackable learning series that would equip you ultimately as a super health coach. The course consists of 13 three-hour sessions (two sessions of 3 hours per week) comprising of blended and highly interactive learning activities, conducted in the first six weeks of Semester 1 AY2021-22. The last session will be an assessment session held in the sixth week. In addition, this same course will also be run in the last six weeks of Semester 1 AY2021-22, and an assessment session to be held in the sixth week.
These sessions will cover the following seven themes:
1. Being cool! Being super-woman and -man (introduction to health coaching)
2. Who cares about sleep? Superpower. (sleep)
3. This is so tasty! (nutrition)
4. Sweat the good stuff (exercise)
5. Why? Why? It’s driving me crazy! (mental wellbeing)
6. Is it gonna harm me? (addictions)
7. Relationships matter! (healthy relationships)
The modules cover the topic of sleep, but also important areas that affect sleep such as nutrition, exercise, mental wellbeing, addictions, and healthy relationships. These modules will be offered in a `flipped classroom model’ where students self-study materials and subsequently have discussions and practical interactive sessions. The students will practice coaching skills which will be assessed in a role-based assessment with simulated roles. The cutting-edge role of digital health supporting the coach and the person will be interwoven in every module. Finally, we Singaporeans are one of the most sleep deprived people. Some might even be proud about regularly not sleeping enough. However, this comes at a high price for wellbeing and health. Utilizing the superpower of sleep has a wide range of proven health benefits including a lower chance of developing chronic conditions such as diabetes, and not least making one feel better! Recognizing that one can be cool whilst living healthy and shunning away from unhealthy lifestyle habits and applying early preventive measures to improve health is possible and is focus of this course. An important strategy to facilitate healthy lifestyle choices and promote health is through health coaching. Health coaching has been applied and shown to be effective in the prevention and management of chronic diseases and supporting lifestyle choices in healthy individuals. It is crucial to equip students with healthy lifestyle skills and knowledge and, specifically, on coaching techniques to create awareness about the importance of lifestyle choices. It will allow students to be equipped with essential skills to become health coaches and to take the role of health ambassadors later in their life. Moreover, health coaching can provide new career opportunities, with employment in healthcare expected to increase enormously in the coming years. This course will be the first in a series of courses on health coaching, with the current course having a focus on sleep. Sleep is crucial for health and wellbeing, and it is known that many students do not get enough sleep However, sleep deprivation is linked to lower cognitive and academic performance, lower productivity, obesity, depression, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and numerous other health risk factors. Exercise, nutrition, and mental wellbeing all have an important influence on a healthy sleep pattern. A `stackable learning approach’ is planned in which students will be able to `stack’ certificates that will eventually lead to a professional diploma as health coach.