Resolutions aren't just for New Year's Eve. Now is a great time to take
stock of 2017 and think about where you'd like to be this time next
year. Whether you want to get healthier or propel your career forward,
get started with advice from these experts.
As the holiday season approaches, your resolutions for 2018 probably aren’t top of mind just yet—but they should be.
“The
end of the year is a great time to assess both how your life has gone
over the past 12 months and where you want it to go long term,” says , Vice President of Behavior Science & Advanced Analytics, Johnson & Johnson.
Some key questions to ask yourself: Do I have the energy
to pursue all the things I want, including spending time on personal
interests and with family? Do I feel like I'm moving forward in life, or
are there specific places where I feel stuck in a rut?
“The key to high levels of well-being is to have meaning and purpose in life: enough energy to do the things that matter to you;
close personal relationships and meaningful social ties; plenty of
positive emotions, especially during trying times; and opportunities for
personal growth,” explains Turgiss.
And once you’ve identified
areas where you think you might need improvement, you can implement a
concrete plan to help you achieve them in 2018—turning vague resolutions
into well-formed goals.
“Health behavior change only happens
when an individual is engaged in their own health journey and empowered
with the skills, knowledge and opportunity to do the behavior,” says
Turgiss.
In the spirit of starting 2018 in the healthiest way
possible, we spoke to leading career, fitness and behavior change
experts across Johnson & Johnson for tips on how to head into the
new year primed for purpose—and total package wellness.
Get better sleep! There is increasing evidence that chronically poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline.
“We’re not exactly sure how, but recent
research indicates that it may hamper the brain’s ability to clear out
pathogenic substances,” says ,
Vice President Research and Therapeutic Area IT, Janssen Research &
Development, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.
Always tired even if you get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep
per night? Try monitoring the type of sleep you get through a wearable
device with heart-rate tracking. On average, light sleep should take up
50 to 60% or more of your night, with deep sleep accounting for 10 to
25%, and the REM stage making up the 20 to 25% that remains. If you’re not consistently getting enough deep or REM sleep, see your doctor: You may have an undiagnosed sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea.
Exercise improves blood flow to the brain.
It also lowers your risk for such chronic diseases as heart disease and
obesity, which can impact brain health.
Be social. Book club, a fitness class, volunteering with the PTA … it doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you are going out and meeting new people.
“Some studies suggest that people with less social engagement, less frequent social contact and more feelings of loneliness may possibly have an increased risk of developing dementia, although the evidence is not clear-cut," says Narayan.
Break a sweat. There is, on the other hand, evidence that physical activity can help stave off cognitive decline, Narayan says.
“Exercise improves blood flow to the brain,” he explains. “It also lowers your risk for such chronic diseases as heart disease and obesity, which can impact brain health.”
Need some ideas to help whip you back into shape? Read on ...
2. The Wellness Resolution: 3 Ways to Get Fit—for Real This Time
Find your motivation. “The first question I always ask clients is why they want to set new exercise goals,” says ,
Director of Exercise Physiology, Johnson & Johnson Human
Performance Institute (HPI). “If they give a boilerplate answer, like ‘I
want to lose weight,’ I push them a little further. For example, I see
being fit as a way of being a good healthy role model to my 4-year-old
son. I want to be able to run a 5K with him when I’m 70 or even 80.”
Point being, the more meaning there is behind your goal, the more
incentive you have to achieve it. “If I can link running on the
treadmill or performing bicep curls to being a better dad, I’m going to
stick with it,” explains Jordan.
Set mini fitness goals. “A
common mistake people make with resolutions is to go all or nothing,”
says Jordan. “But soon, real life will get in the way. If you haven’t
been exercising consistently all year, focus on making sure you fit in a
minimum of three workouts a week. Once it becomes as instinctual as
brushing your teeth, you can ramp up.”
And you don’t need to
spend hours working up a sweat each session either. In fact, Jordan
designed an app that breaks full-body workouts down to just seven minutes a pop.
Plan ahead.
Pack your gym bag before you go to bed each night and leave it by the
door so you don’t forget it. Schedule workouts into your calendar just
like any other appointment. Set gym dates with friends so you’ll be sure
to show up.
Anything you can do in advance to plan for success will help you stick even harder to your workout goals.
3.The Wellness Resolution: 3 Ways to Find Your Happy (and Healthy) Place
Practice gratitude. Research has consistently uncovered that
feeling grateful can improve both your physical and emotional
well-being. One study done at the University of California Davis, for
example, found that people who routinely count their blessings report
better moods, healthier coping behaviors, fewer physical symptoms and overall more life happiness than those who don’t.
“Gratitude helps us find more harmony with what we have,” Turgiss explains. “It gives us a reality check.”
Perform random acts of kindness. Whether it’s checking in with
an elderly neighbor or volunteering at a soup kitchen, the act of
do-gooding can benefit you in the long run: An Oxford University study
completed in April found that when nearly 700 people from 39 countries
performed acts of kindness every day for seven days, they reported
feeling happier and having more life satisfaction.
“Gratitude helps us find more harmony with what we have,” Turgiss explains. “It gives us a reality check.”
People who work hard at mastering a new skill report the most happiness long term, according to a San Francisco State University study.
“When
you practice kindness, you ultimately lift the well-being of both your
social group and society at large, and when that happens, everyone
benefits,” says Turgiss.
Master something new. Learning is a
great way to get yourself out of the rut you may be feeling after years
in the same career and life routine, notes Turgiss. In fact, people who
work hard at mastering a new skill report the most happiness long term, according to a San Francisco State University study.
4. The Wellness Resolution: 3 Ways to Give Your Career a Kick-start
Identify your passion. In order to move yourself—and your
career—forward, you should do some serious self-searching about where
you are now. What gets you out of bed every morning to go into work and
put in the hours you do? Is it improving people’s lives? Moving a new
invention or technology forward?
“So many people make the mistake of
focusing on where they want to be in 10 or 20 years, when pinpointing
what they want to achieve in the short-term future is even more
important,” says
“If
what drives you into the office each day is simply a paycheck, then you
need to be exploring new job opportunities or perhaps even a different
field entirely.”
Start adding to your work toolbox. “It’s
easy to become complacent about all the skills that you already have,
but every time you learn something outside your comfort zone, you become
more relevant,” stresses Gehring. It’s advice he takes to heart: Last
year, he taught himself a new coding language.
Seek out—and give—feedback.
'Tis the season to be candid. “This time of year, both employers and
employees tend to sugarcoat any work issues, which doesn’t help anyone,”
explains Gehring. “In fact, I find that the end of the year is the best
time to have some sort of informal review, since so many people are
already mentally reevaluating their priorities.”
So ask your boss
or colleagues to meet with you for an informal one-on-one to go over the
past 12 months. “It will give you a good sense of your strengths and
weaknesses," says Gehring, "as well as help you map out professional goals for 2018.”
Johnson & Johnson.
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