2016 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
/
New Year’s Resolutions most Americans should adopt so we can all enjoy 2016. Cheers!·
New Year’s is quickly approaching
· This means New Year resolutions that are made and quickly abandoned
· Estimated that only 8% of Americans successfully achieve their New Year resolutions
· Make sure this year is different
TOP 3 health related resolutions according to surveys:
1. STAY FIT AND HEALTHY
· This means working out more and making healthier food choices
· Many people keep this goal too vague to achieve it
· Without being specific, it is easy to make bad food choices or work out less than necessary to “be fit”
2. LOSE WEIGHT
· one of the most popular resolutions
· many expect overnight results, but it is a lifelong commitment
· many people fall off the wagon after the first month, before the right habits are formed
3. QUIT SMOKING
· one of the hardest habits to quit
· many try and fail every year
· quitting can help you live longer and cut your risk of heart disease, lung and head/neck cancers
· quitting also helps those around you stay healthier (2nd and 3rd hand smoke risk)
For the purpose of discussion:
· the biggest health issues we are dealing with today are:
o obesity (more than 1/3 of US adults are obese)
o diabetes (almost 10% of Americans have diabetes)
o lack of knowledge about screening
o lack of sleep
So resolutions for America should be:
1. Lose weight
· obesity puts you at a higher risk of almost every other disease, including cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer and sleep apnea
2. Check your sugar level
3. Screen for Cancer
· know your family history and get screened early and yearly
o self-breast check, mammogram & pap smear for women
o PSA & DRE, testicular self-exam for men
o Skin check and colonoscopy for everyone
4. Get 7 Hours of Sleep
· Sleep deprivation puts you at an increased risk of job-related injuries, car accidents, heart attacks and strokes
· Getting enough sleep is necessary for your health
o Part of this is shutting off electronics at least 2 hours before bed
o You can’t expect your brain and body to slow down if you are not
o Difficult to decompress with the glow off your phone, TV and noise from the radio
· all these are linked together
· when you don’t get enough sleep you are more likely to gain weight
· increased likelihood of obesity
· Obese people are at higher risk for diabetes
It is important to break the cycle and get America healthy
· Need to increase exercise
· Practice portion control
· Buy and eat better food (organic)
· Keep hydrated
· Get enough sleep
Follow these helpful tips to make these resolutions a reality
1. Make it attainable
o Resolutions are abandoned quickly because they aren’t realistic
o Choose something that can be attained
§ Rather than an unrealistic goal
§ You are more likely to reach it
§ Create small, attainable goals for yourself
§ You can build up to bigger goals
2. Tell everyone
· If you tell everyone about your resolution, you are more likely to keep it
· Many people have been using social media to do this on a very broad scale
o Post about your goals on Instagram, twitter and Facebook
o Having an audience helps keep you honest and motivated about reaching the goal you set
o Forces you to become accountable to sticking to your resolution
o Accountability means an increased likelihood for success
3. Be specific
· Set specific goals for fitness or weight loss
· Keeping goals vague makes it very difficult to track your progress
· When you are specific you can evaluate changes and progress from week to week
o Without this specificity, you lose track of what your goal is
o Or you may not even realize when you’ve achieved it
· Helpful tip: Writing it down can help you organize your thoughts and goals
4. Focus on process
o Try splitting your goal up into specific steps
§ More likely to reach your goals if you focus on the steps rather than the end result
o Break your goal down into smaller steps, like making mini goals
§ This can make it easier for you to achieve your long term goal
o Reward yourself each time you achieve one of the steps along the way
§ This can motivate you to keep going à especially on the way to reaching a challenging goal
o Putting your energy into process rather than the end result also helps you build better habits
§ Even if you don’t reach your goal, success will be easier in the future
5. Repeat, repeat, repeat
· Takes an average of 66 days before a new routine becomes automatic and subconscious
· Each time you repeat the same action = mini-victory
· Repetition helps you make your resolution an official habit
6. Choose one not many
o Choose to focus on one goal that
§ Choose the resolution that will :
· Have the greatest impact on your life
· is easy to accomplish
· the one with the greatest chance of success
o You can’t achieve everything
§ the more goals you set for yourself simultaneously, the less likely you are to put enough effort into any of them
§ Greater chance of failure trying to multitask