Local Life - St Helens - January 2020

52
Realistic Resolutions
this New Year
New Year resolutions sound like a great idea; a fresh
year and a fresh start seem to fit together, and even
if we’re determined not to make any, other people
can sometimes inspire us – or shame us – into
making our own.
But if resolutions are such a good idea, why do they
fail so often?
At New Year, festive goodwill and New Year
enthusiasm can give us a rosier view of life, tricking
us into making a multitude of overly ambitious
resolutions.
More Exercise
Your Unrealistic Resolution: I’ll go to Pilates every
week, walk at least two miles every weekend and
do my dance DVD every Tuesday!
You haven’t managed to do any of these things
every week this year - so it’s unlikely you’ll achieve
all of them, every week this year. Be honest about
why you don’t do them. The activities you’ll find the
motivation or time for are those you can fit in most
easily and enjoy the most.
Less Alcohol
Your Unrealistic Resolution: “I’ll give it up entirely!”
“I won’t drink at home/when I’m out/on weekdays/
until Easter!” If you rarely drink, you’ll find sticking
to such drastic resolutions easy. But if you rarely
drink, you’re probably not making alcohol-based
resolutions...
Recent research shows that even low alcohol intake
(well under the recommended limits of 2-3 units
daily and 14 units per week) increases your risk of
many serious conditions, including dementia and
some cancers, so cutting back is well worth doing.
But going teetotal or drastically reducing your
intake may be hard if you’re a regular drinker.
A Better Resolution: Think about when and where
you drink alcohol, and plan to reduce your intake
gradually. Here are a few strategies to try:
• If you usually have 4 drinks on a night out, replace
drink 3 with a large soft drink; it may last you the
rest of the evening, halving your alcohol intake.
A Better Resolution: I’ll do an hour’s
exercise each week.
Perhaps you most enjoy a walk, but
bad weather puts you off? Plan to
walk every weekend, but commit
to doing your exercise DVD instead
if the weather’s awful. Or plan to
fit in the exercise DVD weekly;
anything else is a bonus. While
it’s not the NHS recommended
amount of exercise, it’s some, and
it’s consistent. You can increase it
later.