What are your health resolutions for 2023? Research shows that health dominates new year’s resolutions. According to YouGov, The top three health resolutions every year are almost always, improving fitness (53%), improving diet (39%), and losing weight (48%). Whereas, quitting smoking and or drinking came in relatively last*.

Unfortunately, YouGov found that *of those who made resolutions, only a quarter kept all of them (26%), although half managed to keep some of them (48%). Around a quarter failed (23%).

So how can we make our new health resolutions stick? The key is not to just set them but to maintain consistency and stick to them.

Setting a new health resolution

Like the people surveyed above by YouGov, you may want to focus on your general health and fitness this new year. That may be losing weight, gaining weight, eating better or healthier, or quitting some bad habits. However, many of these resolutions require a healthy amount of self-discipline. If you’re someone who struggles with that then the first place you need to start is by setting SMART goals.

You’ve already identified that this is a goal you have, but you can sometimes lack self-discipline. This is great! It means you know yourself well enough to spot your weaknesses, now it’s time to have a solution. SMART goals are all about setting Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals. This means:

• Be specific about what it is that you want to achieve, do you want to tone up, lose weight, gain weight or just be fitter and healthier?
• Measuring your goals by a metric. For example ‘I want to lose 1-2 pounds per week’, rather than trying to lose 5 pounds per week.
• Attainable goals achievable and not too difficult to achieve in the measurable time frame that you’ve set.
• Setting realistic goals such as ‘I’ll go to the gym twice a week’ instead of every day.
• Set your goal within a specific time frame, so that you know in 6 months times you want to have achieved X.

Another way you can stick to your goals is by trying your best to be consistent. Consistency is key here, focus on little steps every day rather than big strides. Shooting bullets and not cannonballs mean you will make small progress regularly rather than trying to do everything quickly and burning out and quitting. Do you still need more support? No problem! Here is what The Doctors Clinic Group can do to help!

What can The Doctors Clinic Group do to help?

The Doctors Clinic Group has a number of ways to support you through your health resolution journey:

• Whether it’s a GP appointment to speak about any health issues that may be nagging at you.
• Mental health care, to help with any poor mental health you may want to talk about.
• LifeSpecific Screens are great for screening for specific issues you may want to know about, this can be women’s or men’s specific cancers or specific organs.
• Referrals to specialists: We work with a very wide range of consultants and specialists who are experts in their field. And although most issues may be resolved by your GP or doctor directly, specialist referrals are great if further investigation or treatment is required.
• Weight management program: Our weight management programme, Sustain, is a lifestyle programme designed to create long-lasting changes to your behaviour. Our goal is not only to help you lose weight but to support you in maintaining an ideal weight long after the program is complete. 

• Workplace flu vaccinations: Protecting your team by providing workplace flu vaccinations in the winter can help prevent the spread of flu, and minimise the impact of sickness on productivity. We offer a flexible, cost-effective flu vaccination service.
• Occupational Health services for your team: Your employees are the most valuable asset to your company and are essential to increased productivity but also profitability. Occupational health is a key part of any business helping to keep your employees healthy and safe, both mentally and physically.
• Corporate Wellbeing Workshops: Our corporate well-being workshops, led by experienced clinical staff, educate employers and employees on key well-being topics in order to help encourage and support your employees to improve their overall well-being and health.  Utilising evidence-based, proprietary content our training workshops provide a great foundation to help instil a positive well-being culture.

The conversation doesn’t end here. We offer a wide range of private corporate healthcare services. From private GP services, manager’s tool kit, webinars, online self-help, and access to specialist therapists. We are here to help you and your team receive the healthcare you need when you need it. So, whether you are looking to extend your healthcare benefits, wish to learn more about mental health, or have any other queries, our team would be delighted to speak with you today.   

Sources:

* How many people kept their 2020 New Year’s resolutions? | YouGov