Research indicates that only 8% of people successfully meet their New Year’s Resolution goals. With roughly 45% of Americans making New Year’s Resolutions, or approximately 140 million people, this means only 11.2 million will ultimately accomplish their goal. Weight loss and goals involving either employment or education betterment are among the three most common resolutions each year. After weigh loss, the most popular health-related resolutions involve quitting or reducing consumption of drugs, tobacco and alcohol.
The success rate of New Year’s Resolutions drops with age, as people in their 20’s accomplish what they set out to do a respectable 39% of the time, while adults over 50 have a mere 14% success rate. Specifically relating to health-based resolutions, younger people have a clear advantage considering their higher energy levels. Younger people’s bodies also recover much quicker from both injuries and soreness stemming from workouts. When somebody over 50 exercises, they often need a day or two of rest before they can exercise again, whereas younger people can often workout several days in a row.
Another reason so few people follow through with their Resolutions is because of how they require dramatic lifestyle changes in order for them to succeed. These changes initially produce negative side-effects, both physically and emotionally. For instance, prior to somebody making any necessary changes to lose weight, their body had grown accustomed to a certain diet and physical regiment. Once that status quo is disrupted, the brain will at first instinctively push back against these sudden lifestyle changes. This same principle applies to people reducing or outright eliminating substance consumption. For these people, their bodies will have developed a dependency on a certain chemical, and once the body’s deprived of said chemical, the brain will do everything in its power to get it back.
To put it simply, habits are hard to break. The notion of starting new at the turn of a new year motivates people enough into initially committing to their resolution. After two weeks, 71% of people are still adhering to their resolution. However, the difficulty of maintaining a dramatically more proactive lifestyle explains how that number drops to less than 50% after six months. In a world with temptations surrounding us at every corner, it should come as no surprise how so many people fail to achieve their resolution.
However, these numbers should not discourage you from making a resolution. If anything, this should motivate you into making a resolution and following through with it. Be an anomaly and defy the odds. Don’t be a part of the embarrassing 92% of people who fail to meet their goals; be one of the 8%.
Yet in order to do so, your approach must be calculated. Follow these steps in order to accomplish your goal:
- Don’t make your resolution unreasonable. Doing so will only set yourself up for failure.
- Plan out how you’re going to accomplish it
- Example: If you’re trying to lose weight don’t go too crazy at first. If you do, you’ll burn yourself out. Eat healthy, but don’t make an extreme overhaul to your diet or workout regiment at first.
- Remind yourself along the way why you chose your new year’s resolution. Constantly think about how rewarding it will be to accomplish your resolution.
- Don’t make it a competition. Don’t highly publicize it on social media because it’s a) annoying for others, and b) motivated by outside influences, when the motivation should solely come from your own goals.
The most important part of bettering yourself is making sure you’re healthy. Frequent check-ups are an essential component in maintaining a healthy constitution. Visit us at AFC Doctors Express Urgent Care Southcenter to make sure you’re healthy to begin a new year. Our staff can additionally assist you with meeting all your health-related goals. Walk into our center any day of the week or call us now at 425.291.3300!
We look forward to seeing you accomplish your New Year’s Resolution!