Sunday, January 07, 2007

As we ring in the new year, many of us will make resolutions about what we want to accomplish in our work and personal lives.

Experts say the most promising resolutions are aimed at improving one’s health through changes in lifestyle or habits.

Actually, making New Year’s resolutions to take on a healthier lifestyle need not be seen as unpleasant.

Within a short time, feeling healthier with more energy convinces people that a new approach to behaviors like diet and activity is worthwhile and improves your quality of life.

Experts offer the following tips to ensure a healthier and happier 2007:

— Don’t smoke. Millions of people smoke today, despite the fact that it increases the risk for a number of deadly diseases. If you want to quit smoking, smoking cessation programs can provide the support and reinforcement needed during the difficult withdrawal period. Check with your employer or health plan to find out if these programs are offered.

— Watch your diet. Routine physical inactivity and overeating can lead to obesity and high blood cholesterol — major risk factors for heart disease. To help reduce risk, limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, such as meat and dairy products. On average, fat intake should represent no more than 30 percent of your total daily calories. And daily cholesterol intake should be limited to 250 to 300 milligrams. Regular exercise — ideally at least three times a week — can also help strengthen and condition the heart

— Schedule routine screenings. Make sure you have had all of your routine screenings and immunizations. This applies to children and adults alike. For example, women over 40 should talk with their doctors about the need for routine mammography to help protect against breast cancer. Regular blood pressure and cholesterol screenings are also highly recommended for adults.

— Manage your stress. Stress can have a negative impact on your health. Stress-related disorders, such as alcoholism, heart disease, ulcers, hypertension and emotional distress have become common among Americans and Asians. However, stress management programs, offered by employers and local community organizations, teach a variety of strategies and behaviors to help achieve and maintain happier, healthier and more productive lives.

For many, making New Year’s resolutions is the easy part of the New Year.

Keeping those resolutions is much more difficult. Experts at the University of Michigan offer the following suggestions on how to make resolutions so that they are easier to keep, and tips on how to keep them:

— Choose a habit to change that is not so deeply ingrained that it is impossible to dent it.

— Take stock of the bad habit so you know what you are up against. What is it; how often to do you do it; what are the circumstances?

— Have a specific, concrete goal in mind. Losing 15 pounds is a better goal than getting into shape.

— Acknowledge intermediate steps and avoid black-white thinking in evaluating your progress.

— Make a public declaration of your intent. Shame and humiliation can be powerful motivators.

— Find a partner in change. Misery loves miserable company.

— Cultivate a replacement activity. It is easier to say no to one thing while also saying yes to another.

— Try to change your routine and surroundings. This will help dislodge the habit.

— Don’t resort to bizarre strategies — such as grapefruit and vodka diets to lose weight — that you cannot sustain for the rest of your life.

Maybe the best advise is just to forget about any New Year’s resolutions. Learn to love yourself the way you are.

Labels: new year resolution

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Every year millions of people resolve to change their life on New Years
Eve. Whether they are going to stop smoking, lose weight or get their
dream job, they make a resolution to make that change in their life.

In just a few days all but a small fraction of these people will have
broken their New Years resolutions and be making excuses as to why they
are not changing.

Why?

Firstly, people set themselves unreasonable expectations. We vastly
over-estimate how much we can achieve in a day, a week or even a year, yet
we dramatically under-estimate how much we can achieve in 10 years.

Trying to lose three stone in a month is next to impossible without
losing a limb! If you made a New Years resolution that was actually
achievable you'd have a fighting chance of sticking to it.

New Years Resolutions tend to be "eat better" or "Stop smoking" or
"stop drinking" or something along these lines. Unless you have some
powerful motivation, you may find it difficult to suddenly make these big
changes in your life.

Resolutions like these are vague and not really achievable. When you
say "eat better", what do you actually mean? And more importantly, what
is actually achievable. When you say "stop drinking" or "get fitter",
what is on your mind? Stopping completely or just cutting down to a
couple of drinks a week? Training to run a marathon or just being able to walk
up the stairs without wheezing like a steam train?

Make your resolutions 100% achievable by defining them so you know
exactly when you've achieved them. "Reduce my drinking to 5 units of
alcohol a week". You know exactly what you want to achieve, you have a target
to aim at. "Be fit enough to run a mile in 10 minutes", another precise
target to aim at.

Make sure you know when you want to achieve your resolution. Most
people make these resolutions on New Years Eve and expect some magic to
happen at midnight and their resolution be achieved for them.

It doesn't work like that!

"Reduce my drinking to 5 units of alcohol a week by the end of January"
- precise target and a deadline. You know exactly what you have to
achieve and when you need to achieve it by. It's also realistically
achievable.

The majority of people will make resolutions because they feel they
ought to. It's the end of the year and everyone does it, so they should
really make some resolutions. Unfortunately, this results in wishy washy
resolutions that you don't really want to achieve.

Don't just make resolutions at New Years, set goals all year around
when you feel the need and when you want to achieve something. Every
single successful person in the world has a set of goals they are working
towards.

Make sure you have powerful reasons why you absolutely must achieve
your resolution. Don't make a resolution because your friend Bob has -
make it because you want it to happen. Otherwise you're not going to
achieve it without a visit from the good luck fairy.

Your reasons why you have to achieve your resolution (and why you
cannot achieve it) are your rocket fuel for achieving your resolution.
Your reasons provide you with motivation and propel you towards you
resolution, hence you need powerful, motivating reasons.

A lot of resolutions will fail because they are made on a conscious
level without the agreement or participation of your sub-conscious. If
sub-consciously you do not want to achieve a resolution then you are going
to sabotage your efforts. It is vital you get the buy-in of your
sub-conscious mind. Without it, you are much more likely to fail.

This means listening to yourself when you make a resolution. You will
know immediately yourself if it is achievable and if your sub-conscious
is behind you. Hypnosis and hypnosis CD's are an excellent way to get
the conscious and sub-conscious minds to work together to success.

Basically, make sure you actually want to achieve your resolution. If
you don't, either don't set it or find some motivating reasons why you
must achieve it.

In summary, make your resolutions MAPPED:

Motivational
Achievable
Practical
Precisely timed
Exact
Desirable

Resolutions are great to set at New Years, but why wait to New Years to
make those changes in your life that you've been waiting to change. Now
is a great time to start so you can beat the rush.

Over the Christmas holiday you normally get some quiet time. Instead of
lounging in front of the television, spend this time deciding what you
want from life. Do you realise people spend more time planning their
summer vacation than they spend planning the rest of their lives?

Take the opportunity to give yourself a gift this Christmas; the gift
of mapping out your life and creating the life of your dreams.

Labels: new year resolution