Top 10 Healthiest New Year's Resolutions
This year, pick one of these worthy resolutions, and stick with it. Here's to your health!
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New Year, healthier you
by Alyssa Sparacino
New Year's resolutions are a bit like babies: They're fun to make but extremely difficult to maintain.
Each January, roughly one in three Americans resolve to better themselves in some way. A much smaller percentage of people actually make good on those resolutions. While about 75% of people stick to their goals for at least a week, less than half (46%) are still on target six months later, a 2002 study found.
It's hard to keep up the enthusiasm months after you've swept up the confetti, but it's not impossible. This year, pick one of the following worthy resolutions, and stick with it. Here's to your health!
Lose weight
The fact that this is perennially among the most popular resolutions suggests just how difficult it is to commit to. But you can succeed if you don't expect overnight success. "You want results yesterday, and desperation mode kicks in," says Pam Peeke, MD, author of Body for Life for Women. "Beware of the valley of quickie cures."
Also, plan for bumps in the road. Use a food journal to keep track of what you eat and have a support system in place. "Around week four to six...people become excuse mills," Dr. Peeke says. "That's why it's important to have someone there on a regular basis to get you through those rough times."
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Stay in touch
Feel like old friends (or family) have fallen by the wayside? It's good for your health to reconnect with them. Research suggests people with strong social ties live longer than those who don't.
In fact, a lack of social bonds can damage your health as much as alcohol abuse and smoking, and even more than obesity and lack of exercise, a 2010 study in the journal PLoS Medicine suggests.
In a technology-fixated era, it's never been easier to stay in touch—or rejuvenate your relationship—with friends and family, so fire up Facebook and follow up with in-person visits.
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Quit smoking
Fear that you've failed too many times to try again? Talk to any ex-smoker, and you'll see that multiple attempts are often the path to success.
Try different methods to find out what works. And think of the cash you'll save! (We know you know the ginormous health benefit.)
"It's one of the harder habits to quit," says Merle Myerson, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals, in New York City. "But I always tell people to think of how much money they will save."
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Save money
Save money by making healthy lifestyle changes. Walk or ride your bike to work, or explore carpooling. (That means more money in your pocket and less air pollution.)
Cut back on gym membership costs by exercising at home. Many fitness programs on videogame systems like Nintendo's Wii Wii Fit Plus and Microsoft's Xbox Kinect Your Shape Fitness Evolved can get you sweating.
Take stock of what you have in the fridge and make a grocery list. Aimless supermarket shopping can lead to poor choices for your diet and wallet.
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Cut your stress
A little pressure now and again won't kill us; in fact, short bouts of stress give us an energy boost. But if stress is chronic, it can increase your risk of—or worsen—insomnia, depression, obesity, heart disease, and more.
Long work hours, little sleep, no exercise, poor diet, and not spending time with family and friends can contribute to stress, says Roberta Lee, MD, an integrative medicine specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center, in New York City, and the author of The Super Stress Solution.
"Stress is an inevitable part of life," she says. "Relaxation, sleep, socializing, and taking vacations are all things we tell ourselves we deserve but don't allow ourselves to have."
This year, pick one of these worthy resolutions, and stick with it. Here's to your health!
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Volunteer
We tend to think our own bliss relies on bettering ourselves, but our happiness also increases when we help others, says Peter Kanaris, PhD, coordinator of public education for the New York State Psychological Association.
And guess what? Happiness is good for your health. A 2010 study found that people with positive emotions were about 20% less likely than their gloomier peers to have a heart attack or develop heart disease. Other research suggests that positive emotions can make people more resilient and resourceful.
"Someone who makes this sort of resolution is likely to obtain a tremendous personal benefit in the happiness department," Kanaris says.
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Go back to school
No matter how old you are, heading back to the classroom can help revamp your career, introduce you to new friends, and even boost your brainpower.
A 2007 study found that middle-age adults who had gone back to school (including night school) sometime in the previous quarter century had stronger memories and verbal skills than those who did not. What's more, several studies have linked higher educational attainment to a decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease.
"You are gaining a sense of accomplishment by gaining new knowledge, and you are out there meeting people and creating possibilities that were never there before," Kanaris says.
Cut back on alcohol
While much has been written about the health benefits of a small amount of alcohol, too much tippling is still the bigger problem. (In fact, binge drinking seems to be on the rise.)
Drinking alcohol in excess affects the brain's neurotransmitters and can increase the risk of depression, memory loss, or even seizures.
Chronic heavy drinking boosts your risk of liver and heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and mental deterioration, and even cancers of the mouth, throat, liver, and breast.
Get more sleep
You probably already know that a good night's rest can do wonders for your mood—and appearance. But sleep is more beneficial to your health than you might realize.
A lack of sleep has been linked to a greater risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. And sleep is crucial for strengthening memories (a process called consolidation).
So take a nap—and don't feel guilty about it.
Travel
The joys and rewards of vacations can last long after the suitcase is put away. "We can often get stuck in a rut, and we can't get out of our own way," Kanaris says. "Everything becomes familiar and too routine."
But traveling allows us to tap into life as an adventure, and we can make changes in our lives without having to do anything too bold or dramatic.
"It makes you feel rejuvenated and replenished," he adds. "It gets you out of your typical scenery, and the effects are revitalizing. It's another form of new discovery and learning, and great for the body and the soul."
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10 Habits of Healthy Families
Dr. Oz says families that make healthy lifestyle choices together, stay healthy together. Here's his gameplan for your family.
Team approach
Every wonder how families stay healthy, fit and thin? We asked Dr. Oz for his tips on how to build a healthy family strategy. Dr. Oz says families (like the Carroll's, pictured) that make healthy lifestyle choices together, stay healthy together. Here's his game plan for your family.
Don't go hungry
To stay at a healthy weight, you have to eat, not starve yourself. "If you don't fuel up regularly, you'll become insatiably hungry, causing the 'hunger' hormone, ghrelin, to spike," Dr. Oz says. "The problem is, it takes a half-hour for that hormone to return to normal once you start to eat, but in that 30 minutes you'll likely chow through many more calories than if you hadn't eaten on an empty stomach."
Dr. Oz keeps filling almonds on hand—don't be surprised if you see him nibbling a few on his show.
Automate breakfast and lunch
Without a healthy go-to option for each, you're far more likely to make bad spur-of-the-moment grabs. Plus, having a staple of one or two healthy usuals makes grocery shopping easier. "You don't want to reinvent the wheel every day," says Dr. Oz, who starts his day with a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with flaxseed oil, a few walnuts, and some raisins or agave for sweetness—a morning meal that Randy and Kathleen have adopted and now love.
For lunch, Dr. Oz recommends a vegetable-based soup (like this tomato fennel soup recipe) or a turkey or tuna sandwich on whole-grain bread. For the kids, you can improve upon the PBJ sandwich (it's not horrible, but the jelly is all sugar) by using less jelly or turning it into a PB sandwich with a piece of fruit.
Exercise 20 minutes a day—at home
Why stay at your place? "If you have to go somewhere to exercise, you're automatically going to need more than 20 minutes, and it violates the flow of your day," Dr. Oz says. "An hour is a long time; 20 minutes is nothing." Keeping your daily workout goal short and convenient works, he explains, because none of us want to admit that our lives are so disorganized that we can't carve out 20 quick minutes.
"What we find is that if we tell people to do 20 minutes, they enjoy it and end up doing more than 20 minutes," which is even better for your heart, Dr. Oz stresses. Simple ideas that work: Skip rope in your driveway, and alternate with crunches and push-ups; do 20 minutes of a workout video; walk in your neighborhood.
Be the food decider in your house
"I know this can be tough for parents, but the big decisions about what to eat must be made by you at the supermarket," Dr. Oz says. Here's why: If you bring chips and cookies home, your kids (and you) will naturally want to eat them.
And if you try to restrict them, you'll actually cause your child to crave them more. But if you don't buy the sweets to begin with, kids won't even miss them, Dr. Oz promises. Keep good-news snacks on hand (like nuts and pretzels) and fruit and veggies washed and chopped in your fridge. "Kids will eat healthy snacks when they get hungry enough," Dr. Oz says.
Eat dinner together every night
"I can talk about the importance of nutrients for good health all day. But studies show that if you want your kids to have an appreciation of how precious their bodies are, you can't beat just sitting down together," Dr. Oz says. This simple ritual improves not just kids' eating habits but their grades and willingness to open up to you, too.
"When families come together to eat, they create an emotional harmony that I think is pretty sacred for long-term health." If evenings don't work, turn breakfast into your family sit-down instead.
Play together every day
"In our house, we put on 50 Cent and the kids bop around," Dr. Oz says. "It's our very own dance party."
Just like with exercising at home for 20 minutes, the key is to carve out a reliable pocket of time when you can actually get active as a family. Working up a sweat together is an antiaging move, too: Using your mind to activate your muscles, either to dance or catch a ball, is one of the best ways to keep yourself young," Dr. Oz says. Play a pick-up game of soccer, have a dance party, or shoot hoops after dinner.
Let your children police you
Talk to your kids about smart-eating goals, and encourage them to call you out if you grab junk food. "Kids love feeling empowered," Dr. Oz says. It makes them feel like part of the solution, instead of feeling singled out as the only ones who have to follow healthy-eating rules.
Tell little ones a bedtime story
Or talk to older kids about their day. "That's the one time that kids let their guard down—when they're tired and about to go under," Dr. Oz says. "It's when you hear what's really on their minds and you can try and impart some knowledge."
Make sure you have a bedtime routine
A good night's sleep keeps you young. "Half of American adults have lost the ability to sleep, and not getting about seven hours a night can be a contributing factor to heart attacks and strokes," Dr. Oz says. Keep your bedroom cool and dark, and nix the technology. If you can't fall asleep after 15 minutes, don't beat yourself up; get out of bed and meditate or read to help you relax.
Bond in bed
Having regular sex can add an extra three years to your life expectancy, Dr. Oz reports. His suggestion? Aim for twice a week. "The love that stems from that blissful moment of being in each other's arms," he says, "is crucial for strengthening your relationship—and your health."
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