2016 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

2016 NEW YEARS 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