4 Healthy Lifestyle Changes You Can Make For the New Year
Human beings are accustomed to viewing January as the start of something new and as somewhat of a new beginning. We see it as sort of a clean slate that we can work with which provides us with a great opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities and brings clarity to our goals.
The feeling of newness and starting over that we attach with the New Year is what makes it so easy for us to set new goals and work towards them. It also makes it a lot easier to embrace change and break away from our indolent lifestyles.
One of the best ways you can make long-lasting lifestyle changes is to set health goals.
In this article, we will discuss how you can go about making healthy lifestyle changes and 4 tips to go along with them.
How You Can Make Healthier Lifestyle Changes
You may have realized that thinking up New Year resolutions and sticking to those resolutions are two very different things.
Habit formation is not the easiest thing in the world. However, starting small is one of the best ways you can work towards incorporating new habits into your life.
The key is to not overwhelm yourself by trying to overhaul your whole lifestyle at once. You can start with one small habit at a time and build from there as time goes on.
Go at your own pace and don’t rush it.
Additionally, habit replacement is also an effective method for making much-needed lifestyle changes.
Instead of starting a completely new habit from scratch and incorporating it anew in your life, find a small unhealthy behavior that you are guilty of doing frequently. Replace that negative habit with a positive one.
The thing to remember is that change does not come about by only modifying our physical behaviors.
Change starts mentally.
You are going nowhere if you keep on attacking your lifestyle goals with physical behavioral changes while your mental health suffers. Keep in mind to cover these two main categories when thinking about making lifestyle changes:
- Positive psychological change
- Positive behavioral change
One of the most common ways we fail to remain consistent with our goals is due to our unchecked mental issues.
Thus, make simple and realistic changes as needed.
Below are 4 easy healthy lifestyle changes you can make that won’t prove to be too intimidating for you.
Get Good Sleep
We often overlook the importance of sleep yet it is the single most beneficial lifestyle change you can make.
Not getting enough sleep increases the risks of mental and physical disorders like anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and obesity. It is largely associated with long-term cognitive decline and increased inflammation in the body.
Good sleep is not only limited to getting more hours in but also, getting a good quality of sleep within those hours. Some ways you can ensure that you get good quality sleep is by taking the following steps:
- Avoid caffeine intake at night
- Reduce exposure to blue light from your electronics
- Refrain from taking long naps during the day
- Try to build consistent patterns of waking up and going to bed
- Optimize your bedroom environment to get the most comfort
- Take a relaxing shower before sleep
- Avoid drinking lots of liquids before bed
Your body is working for your benefit around the clock. Make sure, this year, you give it enough time to rest and rejuvenate by getting your sleeping habits on track.
Limit Social Media
Social media is everywhere and takes up a huge portion of our day.
Research shows that people who spend a significant chunk of their day on social media suffer from increased anxiety, self-esteem, and depression issues.
As connected as social media has made human beings, we have ended up feeling more alone than ever before. It has made us lose our touch with reality. All the immense success and happiness we witness on social media every day is highly filtered yet we compare ourselves to it and end up feeling bad for our own life. Due to the constant stimulation we experience because of social media, real-life now seems boring without it.
But, you do not have to cut social media out of your life completely.
What you can do is take small mindful steps towards avoiding certain content on social media. Some ways you can achieve this is by:
- Setting a time limit on your social media use
- Holding yourself accountable if you cross that time limit
- Becoming more self-aware so that external factors do not affect your happiness
- Replacing phone time with doing something productive
Get the Step Count in
New Year fitness resolutions are notorious for never working out.
That is because we try to go from zero to full-throttle and overwhelm ourselves with more than what we can handle.
Additionally, all those hours you spend in the gym are not going to help if you spend the rest of your day being a couch potato.
Moving more would not only benefit your health but will also act as a useful gateway towards being more active in general and achieving your fitness goals.
One of the best ways to start being active is to take daily walks. Setting up a daily step goal and checking it off the to-do list brings a sense of accomplishment along with the many health benefits.
It also clears your head and de-stresses you by breaking up your sedentary lifestyle.
Take a positive angle
Throughout life, the things we experience can shape the way we view situations and most of us end up with a negative filter through which we perceive everything.
Life is full of situations involving gray areas. When dealt with these gray area situations, we can feel indecisive and anxious.
Instead of getting intimidated by these situations, make a conscious effort to view things from a positive angle.
This will not only make you feel good but also, help you make better decisions with a lot more certainty.