Debbie Jacob
NEW YEAR’S resolutions...they’re fun to make and a pain to keep. Is anyone getting better at keeping their resolutions? People in the US are having greater success. A new survey from Forbes Health that polled 1,005 US adults examined Americans’ attitudes toward making New Year’s resolutions and found people were more committed to following them.
In the past, exercise and physical health had been a priority, but now researchers say one of the top resolutions – especially among young people – is mental health. Losing weight and improving physical health are right up there near the top.
Of those who participated in the Forbes survey, 29 per cent said they felt pressured to make New Year’s resolutions and Generation Z (those born after 1997 and make up a more diversified ethnic population) felt the most pressure.
Men surveyed felt more pressured to make resolutions (35 per cent) than women (28 per cent). Women were more likely than men to put mental health as a resolution (47 per cent compared to 40 per cent), while men chose goals like diet and fitness.
Several articles show there is a lot more thought going into how to make resolutions more achievable. About 81 per cent of respondents felt confident they could achieve their resolutions if they could address self-control and achieve discipline.
Researchers say proper planning and the resolve to face the tough times prove necessary for sustaining successful New Year’s resolutions. So New Year’s resolutions have become an exercise in planning.
Harvard Medical and Colorado State University suggest having a support system in place, breaking down your goals into incremental steps, learning from past mistakes, tracking your progress and rewarding yourself intermittently. Of course, you need a positive attitude too. You have to believe that well-thought-out resolutions will work and accept setbacks as part of the process.
New Year’s resolutions can be a tough challenge because they target long-term goals. That’s not something we have much experience with in this push-button age with fast-paced internet and instant gratification.
If you need ideas for goals, the US magazine Good Housekeeping has 65 achievable goals to choose from. They all have measurables to prove your success. Heading the list is the resolution to keep a gratitude journal.
Mental health experts say writing gratification journals in the evening helps us to put each day in perspective. They lift our spirits, calm us down while we prepare for sleep and help to improve mental cognition. We are exercising our memory every day with a gratitude journal and that could help us to fight mental decline in ageing.
Gone are the days of immeasurable and vague resolutions like exercising more or losing weight. Now, goals are broader and more open-ended. If you have a resolution of spending more quality family time, you have to define how that looks. It could include cooking meals together once a week, reading together every night, having puzzle or game nights, hiking or exploring TT on
