What are your health goals for 2022?
Making healthy New Year’s resolutions is easier than you think, even if it takes some willpower to change your behaviors. Implement these expert-recommended new year health resolutions to help you look and feel your best to start the year off correctly.
1. Exercise Regularly
Exercise is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your health, so make it a priority in your healthy New Year’s resolutions. Regular exercise benefits every aspect of the body, from brain health to weight management to heart disease prevention and bone and muscular strength, so try to squeeze in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week.
2. Eat Right
Eating right is perhaps the first step towards a healthy lifestyle. However, we have made New Year’s resolutions of adopting healthy eating habits numerous times only to give up sooner. It may be difficult at first to resist your favorite junk food, especially if you have a weakness for processed foods, but eating a healthy diet does not have to be difficult. The shift to a Mediterranean diet can be delightful if the menu includes a colorful variety of foods such as vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and seasonal fruits.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Getting a peaceful sleep can make a world of difference to your lifestyle. The right amount of sleep and a healthy sleeping pattern also reduce the risks of several physical and mental diseases.
it’s critical to keep a regular sleep schedule and get about eight hours of sleep a night.
Establish a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, avoid caffeine later in the day, switch off gadgets before night, set media access boundaries, exercise frequently, avoid alcohol, and be aware of possible sleep apnea symptoms.
4. Maintain Social Connections
While all of these New year’s resolution health tips are vital, the list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the importance of feeling connected to others. Supported by eight decades of research, happiness researchers have found that people with strong friends and family networks report happier and more satisfying lives.
As Dr. Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development explains, loneliness is toxic and harmful to your health. “People who are more isolated than they want to be are less happy, their health declines earlier in midlife, their brain function declines sooner, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely,” he says. So go ahead and stay hydrated, eat healthily, and keep your social calendar full, whether it’s online or in-person.
5. Stress Management
The key to a happy and healthy life is being able to manage stress so that it doesn’t cause any lasting damage to your overall well-being. A study by Salleh M. R. (2008) found that short-term stress can actually boost the immune system, but chronic stress suppresses it, which can lead to illness over the long term.
Managing stress is easy when you incorporate daily stress-busting activities like positive self-talk, deep breathing, and meditation into your routine. Try to find your happy place, even for just 10 or 15 minutes — whether it’s gardening, playing with your kids or pets, working on an art project, or going for an evening walk.
6. Stick to Your Plan
If you’re having trouble sticking to your healthy New Year’s resolutions, try shifting your mindset. Think about systems instead of goals; this will help you succeed by motivating you to organize your life in a way that supports your New Year’s pledge to be healthier. With the right systems in place, like keeping a schedule for exercising, self-care, mental stimulation, and healthy eating habits, keeping your new year’s resolutions will become part of your everyday routine.