One of the many exciting things about the new year is that it offers a great starting point for individuals to make a change in their lifestyle. For many folks, a common new year’s resolution is to strive to be healthier in the new year by working out more, eating healthier, and taking better care of yourself.
Take a look at some of the most common new year’s resolution goals, tips for sticking to your new year resolution, new year fitness and wellness tips, and see how physical therapy can help you stick to your wellness goals in the new year.
Some of the most common new year’s resolutions are focused on individuals improving themselves in the new year. Whether it’s seeking treatment for existing injuries and chronic pain they’re dealing with or trying to live healthier through new year’s fitness resolutions, many individuals are focused on health and wellness in the new year.
Statista published a survey with 1,500 respondents for new year’s resolutions. Take a look at some of the most common wellness new year’s resolutions from their survey responses:
The exciting thing about seeing so many individuals choosing to live healthier in the new year is that it reinforces the notion that you’re not alone in your pursuit of wellness. As you commit to starting a new year’s resolution to live healthier and get treated for those aches and pains that might be slowing you down, you can rest assured knowing that there’s a combined 71% of individuals who are also committed to living healthier in the new year that you can lean on for support.
A study conducted several years ago indicated that for those who start a new year’s resolution, roughly only 9% feel confident that they were able to stick to it at the end of the year. Before beginning any type of exercise or stretching routine, you should consult with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physical therapist.
To help you stick to your new year’s resolution, we’ve compiled some of the best new year’s resolution tips to help you stick to your healthy new year’s resolution!
The first thing you should do is to write down the list of new year’s resolutions that you’re considering. Writing down a list of goals that you have for yourself throughout the new year is a great way to turn those thoughts and aspirations into action items. Writing down your goals can also be a great first step for making a plan and spotting potential obstacles you’ll need to overcome.
One of the biggest challenges to accomplishing a new goal is that there are too many goals for you to do all at once, including your new year’s resolutions. One way to increase the likelihood of accomplishing your new year’s resolution is to limit the amount of new year’s resolutions that you’re striving for. How do you choose? Follow these steps:
By narrowing down your focus, you can direct your energy on accomplishing that goal without having to split your efforts into different areas.
As you write down your goals for the new year and try to identify what your wellness new year’s resolution should be, leave enough space where you can make a pros and cons list. Creating a pros and cons list can help you weigh out different goals for you to pursue in the new year and help you put everything into perspective at one time. When crafting the pros and cons list, get personal.
As an example, many individuals choose a new year’s resolution of losing weight in the new year. Instead of a broad goal of, “I’ll be healthier”, dive deep into the exact pros and personal benefits you’ll be able to gain through achieving your resolution.
When you have days where you want to break that healthy new year’s resolution and go back to the old ways, you can pull that list out and remind yourself exactly why you chose that resolution and reaffirm your commitment to sticking to it.
As you’re writing down your goals and creating the pros and cons list, an important step to take is to be realistic about what you’re hoping to achieve. Make sure that the resolutions you’re writing down are attainable and can actually be accomplished within the upcoming year. Setting lofty expectations and goals that will be too difficult to achieve will only set you up for failure.
Once you’ve listed and then selected a new year’s resolution goal that you feel confident in working towards throughout the next year, the next thing for you to do is to outline a plan. Creating a plan that you can follow will help you stick to it and identify steps you can take to get back on schedule if something throws you off your routine. The best way to create a plan that will help you stick to your healthy living new year’s resolution goal is to write down the goal, write down several steps that you will use to get there, and then identify any obstacles that might get in the way of you accomplishing those steps. From there, you want to write down how you’ll overcome those obstacles to get back on the right path and work towards your goal.
Now that you’ve got a detailed plan and outline ready to help you track your new year’s resolution goal, the next thing to do is to track your progress along the way. Tracking your progress is an important step in making sure that you’re actively working towards achieving that goal and you can continually reward yourself as you look back on all the progress you’ve made from when you started.
As you begin to implement your new year’s resolution, it’s important to keep the momentum moving forward. A small hiccup here and there with your new year’s resolution doesn’t mean that you should scrap it and put it off until next year. Instead, keep that momentum moving forward and remind yourself that meaningful change takes time. Keep your new year’s resolution goal in mind and keep moving forward to sustain that momentum and create a lasting change throughout the year.
One of the best things that you can do to help you stick to your new year’s resolution in the upcoming year is to let others know what your resolution is. Letting others know what your new year’s resolution is can help you find others who will hold you accountable and you can also gather some tips and tricks from those closest to you who might have had a similar new year’s resolution in the past or know some ways you can increase the likelihood of following through this year.
Another important tip for helping you stick to your healthy new year’s resolution is to start small and focus on building a solid foundation that you can add to throughout the year. It’s always important to remember that creating and following through on a new year’s resolution plan might take an entire year to accomplish, and you should expect it to.
Some individuals set a new year’s resolution of running a marathon, but they shouldn’t expect to go from their couch to a full marathon in a week. In the same way that they work to increase their run one day at a time by lengthening their distance each day, you should strive to do the same in accomplishing your new year’s resolution. Focus on creating a solid foundation and building on it throughout the course of the year.
The next important tip to help you in your new year’s resolution goal is to reward yourself for your efforts. Make sure you take the time to celebrate your success along the way. Do something you enjoy that will help you enjoy the journey and motivate you to keep moving forward.
As we’ve outlined above, one of the most popular new year’s resolutions for more than half of all individuals is to get healthier in the new year. In addition, physical therapy can be an effective treatment option to help you treat those aches and pains that could be holding you back from a successful workout and healthy living in the new year. Before beginning any type of exercise or stretching routine, you should consult with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physical therapist.
Take a look at some of the best fitness and wellness tips for your new year fitness resolution.
As you begin to jump into a new year’s wellness and healthy living resolution, make sure that you focus on starting small, building that foundation we mentioned earlier, and ramping up over time. As you workout and begin to exercise more regularly, focus on steadily increasing the intensity and rate over time. Strive to build foundational strength through functional exercises and compound movements which will help you increase your ability to perform everyday activities.
As with any new change, you want to focus on creating lasting change and sustainable wellness habits. If you haven’t exercised or worked out in a long time, it might take some time for you to get back into the swing of things and help your body become accustomed to working out or exercising more regularly.
Another important thing to be mindful of as you begin to ramp up your healthy living new year’s resolution goal is to avoid pushing too far too fast. It will take some time for your body to become accustomed to the new workload, and you should plan for rest days in the same way you plan your days for a workout. Your body will need time to rest and recover efficiently and to help you avoid the likelihood of developing an injury. Soreness is normal after a workout, but prolonged periods of pain or discomfort might be sign of an injury that you should be properly evaluated for.
Another important step to make sure that you stick to your healthy new year’s resolution goal is to alleviate those aches and pains before they become more serious or develop into a chronic injury. Aches and pains can sideline you until you begin to feel better, and you don’t want to miss crucial days in the new year and potentially set back your new year’s resolution goal. Physical therapy can help you get treated for those aches and pains!
Our licensed and trained physical therapists are experts in helping you alleviate pain, improving function, restoring mobility, and ensuring that injuries don’t slow you down in your pursuit of a healthier new year. Find a nearby physical therapy location to request a physical therapy appointment and get treated for those aches and pains!
