If you are eager to live up to your new year resolutions, you need to ensure that they are easy to keep. It’s all too easy to state that you want to lose weight, get fit, or have more fun, but what do these promises actually mean? Rather than having ambiguous statements for your resolutions, you need to set about having meaningful short term goals that show impact towards your wider aim. 2020 has focused our minds very much on our health. We began 2020 thinking that we could eat out whenever we want, take jaunts across the globe, and hug our family and friends. These freedoms were ripped from us in March and we have struggled to claim them back ever since.
Think about how you can utilize your new year resolutions to help you overhaul your health and lifestyle. While you may feel healthy, there are always things that we can do to benefit our physical and mental well being. Take a look at these health resolutions that you should be making in 2021.
Covid-19
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past twelve months, you can’t fail to have noticed the global pandemic that affects every iota of our lives. No longer can we catch a movie, head out for dinner with pals, or hot foot it to our favorite holiday hotspot. Instead, we are at home a lot more and learning to be socially distant. This new normal has been thrust upon us and we can struggle to see a way out.
The novel coronavirus is still as infectious, if not more so, than when it first emerged back in early 2020. You should make a resolution to do your bit to prevent the spread of the disease. The easiest way to do this is to assume that you have it at all times. This makes you hyperaware of your actions when out and about. If you venture to the grocery store, you need to ensure that you wear your face covering at all times to protect other vulnerable and older people as well as yourself. If you want to, you can wear gloves too. Try not to touch too many things that you aren’t buying and sanitize everything. You cannot over-sanitize!
Covid-19 may not have touched your life so far, but that doesn’t mean that you are immune. It’s all too easy to slip up and forget to wash your hands or you might become so overwrought that you are tempted to meet up with a friend. Don’t do it. Instead, knuckle down and make a resolution to stick to the rules and guidelines set out by your government.
Sexual Health
It may not be spoken about all that much, but we need to take control of our sexual health and well being too. Being in lockdowns and having a global pandemic to content with can make it challenging to date or find a partner. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t give ourselves a full health overhaul. Think about taking advantage of free HIV testing and consider an appointment at a sexual health clinic for a checkup.
If you haven’t had a cervical smear in a few years and you’ve been putting it off, use a new year resolution to get it sorted. These free screenings are vital to ensure that you remain healthy and to spot any precancerous cells early. These are easy to combat and will prevent serious disease in the future.
Eating Well
The coronavirus pandemic has lowered everyone’s moods. This means that you can reach for the sugary snacks when anxious and you may opt for takeout when you are feeling depressed. For some reason, we crave everything that is bad for us when we sit down in an evening to watch the latest episode of our favorite box set. However, while you may have been stuck in this unhealthy eating rut, you now need to make a resolution to get out of it. Think about designing a healthier eating plan. This can be easier in January as there are so many shows on the TV telling us how to lose weight well and how we can become fitter and healthier.
When checking out a healthier eating plan, consider the basics. The sugary and fat-laden snacks need to be shipped out and swapped for leaner meats, oily fish, whole grains and plenty of fruit and vegetables. The old adage of eating the rainbow means that you try and hit as many different colored fruits and vegetables every day as they contain a wealth of different antioxidants. These boost your immune system making you feel healthy and lifting your mood.
If you are keen to eat well in an effort to lose weight, consider your calorie intake every day. You need to expend more calories than what you eat in order to shift the pounds. This is trickier when we are not allowed into the local gym. You need to get more active around the house, spend some time in the garden and venture outside when you can. Although it is winter and the nights are cold and dark, you have to push yourself to go for a walk when the sun is out and enjoy partaking in a bike ride or two. This will help you to soak up some much-needed Vitamin D and enjoy the mood-boosting qualities of natural light and being surrounded by nature. As our happy hormone, dopamine, becomes more prominent in our blood, this negates the effects of our stress hormone, cortisol.
New Year resolutions are renowned for being hard to stick to. However, by making your resolutions more impactful and by breaking them down into smaller goals, you can feel more positive about the year ahead. We have discovered that our health and well being is more important than ever. Follow this guide and enjoy taking control of your health and ensure that your 2021 is as prosperous and healthy as possible.
