This may just be the easiest new year’s resolution, and also one of the ones that can really help you feel better. In fact, research has shown that recognizing the things in your life that you can be grateful for is good for your mental and physical wellness. “It literally breathes new life into us. It recharges, and it rejuvenates,” Robert Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and founder of a research lab that studies the effects of grateful living, told ABC News. The best part? It takes only a few minutes every day to write in a gratitude journal.
It sounds cheesy, but if you have healthy family relationships, do everything you can to maintain them. Family members can help you get through tough times and celebrate the great times. This year, try to carve out one-on-one time with loved ones (close friends can be family too!), whether it’s via monthly family dinners or weekly FaceTimes.
Budgeting doesn’t mean you can’t spend money. Budgeting is just the process of sitting down to think about what your priorities are — what you would like to spend money on and what you want to avoid spending money on — within your income limits. Like any new habit, it might be best to ease into new spending behaviors so you’re able to commit to long-term changes. Budgeting apps can help you do this as painlessly as possible. You can also get creative with cash-back programs to save money on purchases you’re already planning to make.
We all have our go-to meals, and they serve us well when we’re short on time or don’t have the energy to plan for something novel. But chances are you’re missing out on tons of foods that are both yummy and healthy. Set aside one meal every week (even lunch on a weekend!) to try cooking with a new ingredient or making a new-to-you dish. You might be pleasantly surprised to find another dinnertime staple for your household.
There’s nothing quite like getting cozy on the sofa with a new book when it’s cold outside. That makes right now the perfect time to set a reading goal for the year. If you’re not sure what book to pick up, check out a Book Club. Every month we suggest a feel-good page-turner. The best part of this book club? You don’t have to leave your house or make small talk over cookies when you get to the end.
There’s a reason dry January and sober October are popular today. Actually, there are many reasons! Not only is drinking alcohol associated with a wide range of health risks, it also costs a lot of money. This year, consider joining the sober curious movement by cutting back on how much you drink. In the process, you might improve your mood, sleep, skin as well as your immune system.
It’s time to stop shrugging off issues like insomnia and sleep apnea and make a solid effort toward high-quality shuteye. A lack of sleep can lead to an array of problems, from memory problems to immune system challenges. Fortunately, there are many different ways to improve your sleep routine beyond going to bed earlier. A few ideas for better sleep: Tweak your bedtime routine, pay attention to your caffeine intake, and exercise more
Starting a new hobby is one thing, but joining a club will help you meet new people in the process. Sites like Meetup can help you find a group of people with similar interests, and you can work on creating meetups with new friends in the process. Creative clubs can also be a boon in helping you stick to mastering a new craft.
Cigarettes are extremely harmful for your health, particularly your lungs — but tobacco products in general (including vapes!) pose a serious threat. There are so many resources to help you get a jumpstart on ditching tobacco: Many are touted by officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you’ve tried before but need a bit more help, experts at the American Cancer Society outline a few tools that you can turn to this year.
Open your calendar app (or planner!) and make your appointments for the year in one sitting — not only will you get the anxiety-inducing nuisance over with, but exams will be less likely to get squeezed out as life gets bonkers. Start with your primary care provider, and ask which screenings (e.g., mammogram, colonoscopy) you’re due for. Slot those in, then move on to the dentist’s office and head over to your ophthalmologist, too.
Swing by the garden center after brunch this weekend. Just the presence of indoor plants can lower human stress levels, research shows, and one study found that actively caring for plants calmed the autonomic nervous system and lowered blood pressure. And when people work near plants, they report greater concentration, satisfaction, and perceived air quality.
Take 10 minutes to run up the stairs in your office, home or nearby park. A published study in the journal Physiology & Behavior found that tired women who climbed stairs for 10 minutes got a bigger energy boost than those who had the caffeine equivalent of a can of soda or half a cup of coffee (and burned calories too!).
If you’re reevaluating your intimacy, start by thinking about time spent simply in the arms of your loved one. Cuddling is often underestimated for its ability to bolster physical intimacy. But relationship experts say cuddling can help you feel more connected to your partner than ever. Cuddling just for fun can fight stress and improve both of your moods’ by increasing oxytocin hormones, which research adds may also bolster blood pressure, too.
“When you’re regularly physically affectionate with your partner, they’re more likely to see you as trustworthy and likable,” explains Jessica O’Reilly, Ph.D., sex and relationship expert. This kind of attraction doesn’t always need to result in sex or erotic exchanges to impact your relationship positively, as well.
Literally — start working on letting go of all of that anger! Constantly feeling angry and pissed off can lead to less than desirable long-term effects on your holistic health. Chronic anger can impact the body in more ways than just one — it can induce headaches, anxiety, digestion problems and high blood pressure, among other drawbacks.
If this is your year to switch gears, you’ll know it in your heart. Despite work routines still being impacted by the pandemic, there are ways that career experts say you can successfully negotiate what you need to stay happy at work. Or to stylishly and effectively move into the next phase of your life without burning any bridges.
Research shows that pitching in regularly can lead to less stress and lower blood pressure. Try to schedule an outreach mission of your own on a day of service; many recognize Martin Luther King Day as a prime opportunity, or even Veterans Day in November. So use this day to jumpstart a longer-term personal commitment — and consider working on this goal with loved ones all year round.
Social media can be a big asset in helping you jumpstart new health goals — but it can also be easy to get led astray by certain trends and social pressures. There is a growing movement that embraces all shapes, sizes, colors, strengths, abilities (and disabilities!) if you know where to look. Some of our favorite body-positive accounts teach us more about all the amazing things each and every body can achieve.
If you’ve already mastered your cardio workouts in the past few years, why not try incorporating a new routine? A quality set of dumbbells can help elevate your workout, improve your stamina, and build muscle. Plus, they work well with many of the other gadgets in your home gym to reinvigorate your workout.
The stress around a major life decision often causes individuals to freeze in their tracks. Mental capacity has been known to be reduced by stress and anxiety, but a major change requires a fair amount of brain power to navigate. The ironic aspect of this is that prolonging what needs to be done can further exacerbate stress — and restart the vicious cycle. Empower yourself to begin making hard decisions this year with what’s known as the B.R.A.V.E paradigm, which can help you cut away from this endless loop.
In happy and long-lived cultures, people often display items from their families’ pasts, says The Blue Zones of Happiness author Dan Buettner. “They remember and honor where they come from,” he says. “We find that in happier cultures around the world, folks feel like part of a continuum.” So hang your grandparents’ wedding portrait, or put meaningful memorabilia on shelves.
If you can hardly see your counters through all the papers, Post-its, and not-yet-put-away groceries, you may pay for that chaos later when it comes to meals. Take 20 minutes to whisk it all where it belongs, and it can help you eat more mindfully in days to come.
Spend the afternoon shopping for workout clothes that flatter your body: Studies show that what we wear affects the way we feel, which impacts our ability to get stuff done, says Hajo Adam, Ph.D., a professor at Rice University. It’s a phenomenon known as “enclothed cognition,” and it’s as true in Zumba as it is at work.
Another sleepy Saturday? Today’s the day you try Ethiopian food, attend a ballet, or take a painting class — whatever feels fun. When researchers followed 7,500 people for 25 years, they found that those who complained of major boredom were roughly twice as likely to die from heart disease.
Even if you can’t keep track of a new fitness routine, keeping yourself moving on a simple walk around the neighborhood is a must. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services maintains that adults should spend as much time moving each day as possible — and some physical activity (even just walking!) is better than none.
When your inner critic picks up her bullhorn, jot down the kind words you’d say to a friend in the same situation. “We have such a hard time channeling compassion for ourselves,” says Emma Seppala, Ph.D., of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research. “Writing it down makes it easier to shift perspective.”
Multitasking doesn’t make you more efficient, but it does stress you out, says mindfulness expert Pedram Shojai, author of Focus: Bringing Time, Energy, and Money Into Flow. “If your focus is fragmented, you’ll likely find yourself getting anxious as new items come up when old ones are still incomplete,” he says.
Instead, he suggests, organize your activities into chunks of time, such as kid time and cooking time, and then “commit to being focused in those allotted minutes and see what happens.” It’ll help stop you from overthinking everything.
Yes, it’s time to grow past the messy bed look! Mastering the art of making your bed will simply transform your space, but also kickstart a productive morning routine. Taking care of your pillows, sheets, and comforter is easy when you have an expert to show you how.
Positive self-talk can help you focus on what’s good in your life, says psychologist Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
Research shows that a little vitamin G (for gratitude) can make you feel happier and more satisfied, and even improve your sleep. “If you repeat an affirmation related to gratitude in the morning, you’re likely to show and feel more of it throughout that day,” Bradford says. You’re so welcome!
In a survey, 83% of people said they lost track of how long they spent on their devices. But short of deleting all social apps, it can be hard to trade screen time for more productive pastimes like walking the dog and coffee with friends. Whether you’re Team iPhone or Team Android, download the latest software to access built-in tools that help you track your personal app usage.
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