Need some ideas for what to try in the new year? Well, here are 20 suggestions for you to consider in our New Year Resolutions Ideas Checklist.
- Drink More Water. While you may not have to drink eight glasses a day, as per conventional wisdom, keeping hydrated is important not only to keep all of your organs functioning, it can also help you eat less. If you have a hard time drinking enough water, try to turn it into a positive habit. Drink a glass of water immediately upon waking up. Drink a glass of water whenever you’re hungry instead of reflexively reaching fora snack.
- Curb Your Soda / Soft Drinks Habit. At best, these sugary drinks are just empty calories and, at worst, popular ingredients in soda have been linked to everything from obesity, to type 2 diabetes, to dementia. And diet sodas don’t aren’t better in terms of health. Cutting down on soda might help you with your goal of drinking 8 glasses of water a day. And if you really crave the fizz, try seltzer or sparkling water instead.
- Drink Less Alcohol. Studies find that even moderate drinking can accelerate cognitive decline. So drink less by limiting the number of drinks you have every week, or ordering a seltzer water or mocktail instead.
- Walk More. Whether that means taking the stairs whenever you can, or taking an extra walk around the block, walking more is an easy way to increase our activity levels, even a little bit. And to motivate yourself even more, get a wearable activity tracker, step counter, or just use the step counter in your phone.
- Sleep More. Let’s face it, you’re probably not getting the eight hours of sleep recommended by doctors. It’s hard to carve out time in our busy days, but it’s this is the kind of goal that can make you more alert and healthy in during your waking hours. Think of the last day when you’ve had a proper sleep, how long ago was it? For a healthy and well-circulated body and mind, proper rest is inevitable. And the only way you can achieve this through a minimum 6 hours of sleep.
- Try Meditation. Sleeping and meditation can do a huge impact on your day-to-day routine. Meditating helps to improve your mood, reduces stress, and lessens anxiety; well, in short, keeps your alive mentally. This might be a valuable addition to your resolution checklist.
- Smoke Less. Even better, quit it!
- Try New Things, know Your Comfort Zone. A fear of rejection, judgment, failure or anything else can be very misleading and corner you to a dark and opaque section of life. Once you get to taste any of the said you try to act carefully, well maybe a lot more careful or even try to avoid the situation when it shows up again. Now, you have a comfort zone!
- Upgrade Your Fashion Sense. This New Year might be perfect if you are planning to keep your fashion sense hyped. Research on the latest trends in the fashion industry and try implementing a few. Well, you can come up with something creative too.
- Learn Something New. You must never look back on an opportunity where you can learn something new. This is something you need to focus on to improve for this New Year. It could be anything like; a photography session, a dance class, or even learn a new language.
- Read More Books. Everyone has a book that they’ve been longing to read for months or even years but couldn’t find the right time to read it. Well, this too can be a resolution! Find time for yourself for once in a while. Make use of this time by doing your most favorite thing. Maybe reading your favorite book or starting with a new one would be a great start to treat yourself to and then when you’ve read that one, start another.
- Random Act of Kindness. A random act of kindness not only makes you more humane but also keeps your mind a bit less stressful. Resolutions are all about reincarnating a new you, so it is always better if you end up helping someone who is in need. You pick the cause; it could be anything like volunteering for a social service event, a dinner for the homeless, or a day in the old age home. You can also donate your clothes, toys or give a secret gift to a random stranger. Be the reason behind someone’s smile.
- Transform Your Home. We spend quite a bit of time at home, fall in love with it again. Make a few changes to it so that you can increase your productivity and creativity. Transforming your home should be a definite addition to your New Year resolution checklist. A fresh hue, or a few more home decors collection or you can even consider a whole new renovation.
- Learn to Say No. We live in a stressful world. While perhaps you can’t necessarily change your work hours, learning to take time for yourself and say no to things that you feel like you should do but don’t really want to is one way to cut down on stress levels. Just do it politely, maybe?
- Stop Using Your Phone as an Alarm Clock. Not only will this help you break your ‘check your phone first thing’ habit (which, let’s be real, we all have), and maybe help you sleep better.
- Change Your Sheets More. We spend a third of our lives in bed, and chances are, we’re probably not washing our sheets nearly enough. What’s the ideal frequency? At least once a week according to New York University microbiologist Philip Tierno. Otherwise, our sheets can house allergens and even fungi, yuck!
- Stop Losing Your Keys/Phone/Wallet. One easy way to do this is to always drop them off in the same location when you get home or go high tech.
- Track How You Spend. Know where your money is going and review whether or not its worth the spend.
- Don’t Online Shop for Everything. It’s convenient, sure, but the ease of reflexive online shopping can make it tempting to spend more, more often. Try to limit the habit to once a month.
- Take Time Off. Time off, whether long weekends or actual vacations, are good for you, and science proves it.