We all know how New Year’s resolutions go: They start strong in the first few weeks, but after a month, it’s almost like they were never created. This is especially true for resolutions centered around health.
Health resolutions can be the hardest to fulfil as they center around overcoming natural tendencies. Generally, the human body prefers to eat junk food over vegetables and watch TV rather than exercising for 15 minutes.
Our natural tendencies usually cause us to act on things that have short term gratification. Better Help, an online therapy platform, writes that, from “an evolutionary perspective, … many elements of today’s consumerist society reinforce these behaviors.”
Megan Santos, the IB psychology teacher at Skyline, agrees with this sentiment. She added that for the brain, “fast successes equal dopamine hits.” Chips, for instance, cause a pleasant feeling as soon as they are consumed. By contrast, eating a consistent diet of vegetables and proteins will not cause such a feeling of reward.
That’s why, as a journal published by Harvard Medical School suggests, take time to consider and reconsider any changes. “You boost your chance of success when the balance of [positive and negative] tips enough to make adopting a new behavior more attractive than standing in place,” the article concludes.
Importantly, Santos noted that “brains are cognitive misers … when we try to do too much, the brain becomes overwhelmed.”
To combat this, set smaller goals as initial resolutions: instead of “walk 10,000 steps every day,” start with 3,000. Once you are consistent with that for a week or so, give yourself a reward, then increase the step goal by 500. Eventually, if your aim is 10,000 steps, you’ll reach it, developing a stronger habit in the process.
Celebrating each small achievement is important. As Skyline junior Saisha P. said, “What matters is what you think of yourself. You should take the steps necessary to make yourself feel like yourself.”
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