For many individuals, January marks the time to set New Year’s resolutions, aiming for ambitious goals to enhance our lives. Despite resolutions covering a broad spectrum—from shedding pounds to improving our workout routines and altering eating habits—about 80% abandon their resolutions by February. Instead, integrating simple, healthy habits is an effective means of avoiding burnout.
When we concentrate on numerous significant changes simultaneously, failure is more likely, and quitting is nothing to be ashamed of. We often seek quick results, and when outcomes aren’t immediate, we become frustrated and tend to give up. Stressing small, incremental changes is a more sustainable path to a healthier lifestyle.
Free or Low-Cost Healthy Habits for the New Year
If you’re seeking a new approach, consider introducing a healthy habit into your life. Establishing small habits within your daily or weekly routine can foster long-lasting lifestyle changes. I’ve suggested some habits I prioritize, along with mini-challenges for each. These ideas frequently emerge in conversations on my podcast as essential for health.
It’s important to avoid the urge to tackle all these habits at once. Choose one habit to focus on and try a challenge for ten weeks (the approximate time to establish a new habit). Celebrate your progress by setting a new goal (maybe reward yourself with something small!). If you need advice or motivation for building new habits, I have a brief podcast episode to assist you!
1. Prioritize Sleep
Sleep is a crucial aspect of health; some sleep experts claim it holds more significance than diet and exercise combined! Sleep is essential for bodily restoration, hormone production, mood enhancement, weight management, and more. Essentially, lacking sufficient sleep means you aren’t truly healthy.
Adjusting your sleep routine is a straightforward and cost-free change, though some individuals may experience sleep difficulties that require simple solutions.
The Challenge: Start by considering your bedtime routine. Identify one change that could yield the most immediate benefit.
- Apply magnesium oil to your feet every night before bed. After maintaining this habit for ten weeks, treat yourself to something that enhances your sleep environment: perhaps new pajamas, a sleep mask, or a good book.
- Minimize blue light exposure in the evenings, which disrupts sleep. After dinner, lower the lights and wear blue-light-blocking glasses. Decrease screen time, avoiding social media, and enjoy a book instead! This minor adjustment won’t break the bank but aids in preserving your natural sleep cycle.
- Before bed, spend 10-15 minutes with your legs raised against the wall. Engage in meditation, reading, or reflecting on daily moments of gratitude. This practice can enhance circulation and lessen stress, improving sleep quality.
2. Stay Hydrated
Like sleep, water plays a vital role in digestion, mental health, detoxification, and more. Water is typically free and accessible, although investing in a quality water filter might incur small costs for purified water.
Remember, we don’t just need water; we need water with minerals. Our bodies are 60% water, but it’s essentially saltwater! Including minerals in your water can improve sleep and reduce stress.
Though various opinions exist concerning daily water intake, these guidelines are helpful:
- Avoid severe thirst, as it indicates dehydration.
- For every caffeinated or alcoholic drink, consume at least one cup of water in addition to your regular water intake, ideally equaling half your body weight in ounces of water.
- To boost mineral intake, add a pinch of salt to your morning water. This may sound unusual, but here’s why drinking saltwater daily could be beneficial.
The Challenge: A vague "I’ll drink more water" goal is likely to fade quickly! Keep objectives manageable and specific. Try forming a new habit by linking it to a routine action you already perform each day, known as habit stacking.
- Prepare a pitcher of fruit
and herb-infused water each night after dinner to chill and enjoy the next day. This way, your whole family might drink more water.
- Start each day with a mug of hot lemon water before your coffee. It’s a refreshing way to wake up your body and digestive system, offering numerous health benefits alongside hydration.
- In the morning, add a teaspoon of unrefined sea salt to a quart of water, or make a homemade electrolyte drink for an extra mineral boost.
- Personally, I aim to have mineral-infused water every morning before a cup of coffee.
3. Manage Stress
Despite primarily associating stress with emotional and mental health, it has serious physical repercussions. Stress can cause high blood pressure, lead to weight gain, and disrupt your digestive and immune systems.
Chronic stress heightens the risk of various diseases, including heart disease, and accelerates aging. Stress reduction is a vital form of self-care.
Simply adding "reduce stress" to your to-do list isn’t sufficient without practical solutions. Numerous methods exist to lower stress, but start by focusing on one small habit.
A stress-reducing routine I enjoy is meditation and breathwork, which lower blood pressure, decrease stress levels, elevate mood, and boost energy. Both practices transition the body into a relaxed state, differing from the stress-driven fight-or-flight state.
Pressed for time to meditate or practice breathing? Simple breathwork exercises can be performed anywhere, even at traffic lights. Meditation, as little as five minutes, brings significant benefits, and you can even include your children!
The Challenge: Striking a work-life balance can be difficult, especially for parents, with little opportunity for downtime. However, small changes can improve stress levels without escapades to the spa, though those are great if accessible!
- Adopt an Affirmation – Choose a calming or motivational mantra for daily use. One that I find reassuring is “Everything will work out perfectly.” Place reminders everywhere: on the fridge, bathroom mirror, or as a recurring phone alert. Reiterate it when you wake, experience stress, and before sleep.
- Include the Kids – During car rides, practice deep breathing together at every stoplight. Or, integrate 5–10 minutes of meditation or breathwork into their bedtime routine. This can also teach them valuable stress-management skills.
- Devote Time for Prayer or Meditation – Even five minutes daily is beneficial. Align this with an unmissable ritual, like morning coffee. If sitting still seems impossible, check out a podcast designed for hesitant meditators. Explore apps offering guided meditations and breathwork (some available for free!).
4. Get Moving
I prefer the term "movement" over "exercise" due to its connotations (like monotonously marching on a treadmill while perusing anxiety-inducing news). Yet, physical activity benefits both mental and physical health.
Movement should seamlessly integrate into life, but many of us lack sufficient activity. Functional movements stand as more valuable than endless gym repetitions for daily improvement.
Explore different activities to find what suits you and brings enjoyment. Personally, I engage in strength training three times weekly and aim for daily walks. It elevates heart rate and promotes healthy weight management.
Crucial movements include:
- Strength Training – Essential for lifting someone in emergencies, such as escaping a fire or moving bulky objects, as well as carrying groceries or children upstairs.
- Sprinting – Whether fleeing danger or a rabid dog, sprinting is more advantageous than marathon running. A powerful 100-meter dash is crucial.
- Walking – Historically, humans moved more than they do now. Walking improves posture, digestion, and bone health—start walking!
- Swimming – Fosters overall health and lung capacity, invaluable for climbing out of water in emergencies.
The Challenge: Functional exercises, like walking and sprinting, are cost-free! When increasing your activity, experiment with different types and find what appeals to you.
- Select a movement to master first thing in the morning. Try planks, squats, or variations like a spider crawl.
- Schedule walks, accompanied by podcasts or audiobooks, for a delightful distraction while exercising.
- Use a timer to schedule movement breaks during the day. This may include walks, squats, planking, or high knees. Diversify activities to address different body parts. Start with one break daily, then incrementally increase.
5. Embrace Healthy Eating
Adopting healthy eating habits profoundly affects overall well-being. By preparing meals at home rather than opting for drive-thru options, you enhance your family’s health by decreasing heart disease, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes risks.
To ensure successful healthy eating, I devote time each week to planning cherished recipes and trying new ones, crafting a shopping list that aids meal preparation.
I enjoy preparing a ‘capsule meal plan’ by cooking standard proteins, sides, and vegetables to combine for meals throughout the week.
Include children in planning, shopping, prepping, and cooking as age-appropriate. Even young kids can acquire chopping and food prep skills! Assign simple tasks like setting the table, up to independently choosing and cooking a recipe. Involvement teaches lifelong skills and provides family bonding time. Eating together also greatly benefits family health.
The Challenge: While meal planning and prepping might appear formidable, breaking it down yields satisfying and manageable results.
- Create a Meal Plan – Pledge to meal plan weekly. Begin with family favorites for simplicity, or introduce one new dish. Use a meal planning app to save time and effort (use code WELLNESS20 for a 20% discount).
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Cook in Bulk – Dedicate one afternoon per week to cooking proteins and vegetables in advance to simplify dinner preparation. With ready-to-eat food, your family will have healthy options when you’re not home.
- Reduce Takeout – Once a week, replace takeout with a homemade meal. Recreate a favorite takeout recipe or try something different (homemade pizza is perfectly acceptable!).
6. Soak in Sunlight
Significant research highlights sunlight’s benefits. Many of us lack adequate vitamin D, which enhances mood and immune function. Sunlight delivers more than just vitamin D! Morning sun exposure, even for ten minutes, balances hormones and circadian rhythm, reduces stress, and improves sleep quality.
I prefer to start my morning on the porch with minerals or electrolytes. Allow sunlight to reach your eyes: Avoid direct sun-gazing, but skip wearing sunglasses or glasses as they reduce benefits. Build tolerance by closing your eyes if needed.
Warm weather allows for grounding by going barefoot outside.
The Challenge: Since early sunlight offers maximum benefits, aim to step outdoors in the morning. Although mornings can be busy, even 5-10 minutes provide substantial rewards.
- Early risers could enjoy a book or drink outside for 10-15 minutes before children awaken.
- If unable to go out early, bring the kids along! It enhances everyone’s mood and instills healthy habits.
- In cold climates, dress warmly as necessary. Prolonged exposure through a window is less effective than opening a window or venturing outside.
- Afternoon sunlight also aids in vitamin D synthesis and hormone production. On mild afternoons, exposing more skin to the sun is beneficial.
Building Healthy Habits
These constitute my top healthy habits, but resist the urge to adopt them all simultaneously. Recently, I’ve transitioned from broad resolutions to small, short-term goals and experiments. This shift from resolutions to everyday healthy habits has proved transformative, encouraging bigger changes naturally. It strengthens my commitment to a healthier lifestyle, positively impacting mental health as well.
What are your goals for this year? How will you integrate them for lasting success?
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