Here’s Why New Year’s Resolutions Are Worth Making
Like most of us, Joel Edwards found it tough to carve out time for fitness. With three kids and a busy job as an anaesthetist, the 34-year-old knew he wanted to make some long-term changes. But how? And when?
‘One day I realised that my drive to work took me roughly the same time as it would to cycle to work,’ he says. ‘And then I realised that if I just ran to work, that would be even better, so I made it my New Year’s resolution to do so. I didn’t have any other exercise goals, so I thought this would be a relatively easy place to start from when it came to building back my fitness.’
Edwards stuck with it not by forcing himself to chase personal bests ahead of stressful shifts, but by making his daily commute a time to be treasured. ‘I take it slow and very rarely push it, but it’s still quicker than being stuck in rush-hour traffic,’ he says.
In fact, the experience is actually pretty enjoyable. ‘Instead of wasted time, my commute is useful. It’s good for my head, too; I’m not sitting in my car stressing about being late. It’s much more peaceful.’
Are New Year's Resolutions Really Pointless?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Edwards is in a small minority of successful goal-setters. A quick Google search for the words ‘New Year’s resolutions’ brings up multiple articles with titles such as ‘New Year’s resolutions are pointless’ (The Economist) and ‘Here’s why you really don’t need New Year’s resolutions’ (The Times).
The case against them is pretty consistent: the start date is too arbitrary; our goals are too lofty and often rooted in post-festivity guilt rather than long-term ambition. Then, of course, there are the statistics: drop-off rates are usually placed somewhere between 65% and 90%, with some research suggesting our resolve begins to wane as soon as mid-February.
It’s an old story, too: ‘Yesterday, everyone smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath,’ the American essayist Mark Twain wrote in January 1863. ‘Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds...’
We get it. There are plenty of reasons to be a NYR sceptic. But the start of a new chapter can also provide a perfect opportunity to take stock of your health, goals and habits. You just need to think about it in the right way.
How To Stick to Your Resolutions
‘The beginning of the year is generally a really good time to establish some healthy behavioural changes,’ says Men’s Health fitness director and coach Andrew Tracey. ‘There are fewer tempting social events that are centred around food and drink, and you’re more likely to be surrounded by people with similar goals.
‘You’ll also see more marketing drives geared towards positive behavioural change in January. We’re surrounded by messaging about developing healthier habits, even if a lot of it is just trying to sell you stuff.’
You can also take advantage of a psychological phenomenon termed the Fresh Start Effect, which suggests that temporal landmarks – such as a new year, a birthday or moving house – boost motivation to start anew, making behavioural change easier.
Becky Richards, a health psychologist for NHS-backed weight-loss service Second Nature, lists a few reasons why this can work. ‘Temporal landmarks create a mental separation between the present and past selves,’ Dr Richards says. This allows us to ‘relegate imperfections’ and mentally consign our perceived shortcomings to a previous period. This is also known as the ‘fresh start feeling’, which is essentially a flood of optimism.
Goal-setting is also in our nature. ‘Working towards goals satisfies an innate psychological need for growth and mastery,’ says Sham Singh, a psychiatrist with a holistic approach to mental health at Winit Clinic.
‘Research within positive psychology has shown that having goals provides us with direction and a sense of purpose, which activates the brain’s reward system.’ It feels good to enact behaviours that bring us closer to our aspirations. Working towards self-betterment also provides us with a greater sense of autonomy and control over our environment and circumstances. ‘This in itself can bolster our mental health by lessening any feelings of helplessness,’ says Dr Singh.
As for all those poor sods who ‘fail’ by February? Indeed, a poll of 2,000 adults found that the average time people stuck to a new habit was just seven weeks, although a more cheery study in the journal Plos One found that up to 55% of people do maintain their new habits after one year.
But it’s also worth noting that you lose nothing by trying. If your goal this year is to run your first 10K race, but you find yourself burned out and bored by the end of January, well... you’ve still managed to spend a whole month running, right? Count the small wins.
And who knows what it might lead to? ‘At the start of the year, my running commute was three and a half kilometres each way, but now I’m working at a different clinic and it’s eight and a half each way, and I’m still doing it,’ says Edwards.
Repetition has made Edwards' goal a habit, so much so that he’s decided to take it up a notch. ‘I’m now averaging 200km a month, without going for a single run outside of my commute. I’m currently training for an ultramarathon as a result.’
You might not become an accidental fitness warrior like Edwards. Instead of ‘new year, new you’, think of it as ‘new year, new opportunity’ and your fitness goals should become the first steps towards wellness habits that will last well beyond January.
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