New Year, New Habits

The new year usually feels like a fresh start to many people.  It is a time for reflection on the year past, a time to dream about the year to come, and most importantly, setting intentions for the life you want to live – whether that is tweaking goals in progress or incorporating new healthier habits into your everyday life.  New habits can be challenging to start, change isn’t ever easy, but studies show that consistent habits can make the difference long term.  Typically it takes 30 days or more to form a habit, and it then becomes part of your daily life.  Here are some easy ways to squeeze in healthier habits throughout your day, including morning and nighttime routines, exercise, and mindfulness.

How to form a new habit

Research shows that half of our daily actions or habits are driven by repetition.  According to Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, “a habit is a behavior done with little or no thought, while a routine involves a series of behaviors frequently and intentionally, repeated. Behavior has to be a regularly performed routine before it can become a habit at all.”

Eyal writes that routines need to be set for a habit to be formed.  In other words,  you need to establish practices, which take effort and attention – this is the hard part – eventually, these routines become a habit, and you will be able to do them with little effort in the future – like brushing your teeth before bed or having a cup of coffee in the morning.

Set intentions

Decide what routines or behaviors you want to become a habit.  Remember that there may not be a set time – while some people can form a habit in 30 days or less – it can take other people longer.  Add setbacks and busier times in your daily life, and you may take longer to achieve your goal.  The point is, set an intention and stick with it through your daily routines. The first question to ask is why?  Asking yourself why you want to set a particular purpose can help keep motivation higher.

Setbacks

Be prepared for setbacks, whether internal or external; events or your blockers can derail the best intentions.  Examine some of the issues that prevented you from achieving these habits in the past – fear, shame, exhaustion, frustration, and lack of time can all be factored in in giving up before a routine becomes a habit.  Blocking time on your calendar to commit to your new way and telling someone supportive of your plans can help to keep you on goal. “Research shows that your odds of success increase dramatically when you make your intentions known to someone perceived to have a higher status than yourself or someone whose opinion you value.”

Self-compassion

Be compassionate with yourself as you take your intentions and turn them into routines and then habits; long-term change is a marathon, not a sprint.  You will experience both celebratory successes and frustrating setbacks – be easy on yourself and understand that you are going out of your comfort zone to live a healthier lifestyle.

Morning routine

A morning routine is a series of activities that you do before your “real day” starts, a time to do what you need for yourself and your life to go smoothly, realize your goals, and form better habits.  A good morning routine can benefit your life in many ways, including:

• Control your schedule
• Prioritize your time
• Approach tasks mindfully instead of being pulled in so many directions
• Build resilience to cope with change
• Be more productive
• Decrease stress by spending time on you
• Be more prepared to form more habits in the future.

According to Hal Elrod, author of the Morning Miracle: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life… (Before 8 AM) – anyone can do the extraordinary simply by changing how they start their day. He found that setting intentions and forming habits focused on a set routine including silence, affirmation, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing can transform the flow and productivity of the day with practice mindfulness and self-care each morning.

Plan your morning

First, you need to plan what you want to accomplish every morning and how long you will need.  This can be as little as 15 minutes to an hour to establish a set series of tasks that you will do each morning.  Then commit attention to each task entirely because you have scheduled it.  “Engaging thoughtfully in each part of the routine may reduce rushing and reactivity, and increase the sense of calm and pleasure obtained from completing the routine,” says Engle, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Breakfast

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” How many times have you heard that?  Fueling your body after your fast while you sleep can benefit your health in so many ways, and not breaking it can slow down your metabolism.  “It is ideal for breaking the fast from the night before and eating within the first hour of waking to stimulate your metabolism,” says Kaidanian.  The kinds of foods you reach for first thing in the morning matter; unprocessed, whole foods will feed your body the protein and fiber it needs to be at its best throughout the day.

Whole-grain foods – cereal, waffles, rolls, toast, and bagels

Lean protein – eggs, lean meat, beans, legumes, and nuts

Dairy – milk, cheese, yogurts – preferably low-fat and low-sugar

Fruits- fresh, 100% juice, and dried fruits

Vegetables-  fresh, frozen, and 100% juice

Hydration

Water is essential for life, and most people don’t drink enough.  It is recommended that you start each day with a cup of water; when you wake up before the cup of coffee or tea – try drinking a cup of water to help your body digest your food, absorb nutrients better, and get rid of waste in your body.  Fill a water bottle (or two) at the beginning of the day to keep drinking throughout the day.

More ideas for morning routines

• Listen to a podcast or audiobook
• Sneak in a brisk morning stroll
• Journal or keep a gratitude journal
• Breathing exercises and meditation

Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been a trendy topic lately but put it is a time when you do something, and you are completely present while you do it. Mindfulness is an in-the-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and sensations, allowing them to come and go without judgment or the need to react.

Most people wake up to their alarm clock and jump out of bed, look at their phones, and dive right into the day. The day is a blur of tasks, responsibilities, and commuting, and the night is filled with more tasks and then time to relax, most often done with screens, whether a phone, tablet, or television.  Devoting a few minutes at any time of the day to mindfulness can make a difference in your day and your ability to stay committed to the habits and goals you set intentions for.

The benefits of mindfulness include: stress reduction, reduced rumination, boosts working memory, improves focus, reduces emotional reactivity, more relationship satisfaction, restores emotional balance, increases resilience, reduces anxiety and depression, slows aging, reduces physical pain, and cognitive flexibility.

Ways to practice mindfulness

• Set your intention each morning
• Mindful eating – focus on each mouthful of food
• Breathing exercises
• Listen to your body
• Meditation
• Take a mindful walk
• Watch the clouds – aka daydream
• Practice a hobby
• Do what you love with all your attention

Exercise

Many of us struggle with committing to an exercise routine, but once you make exercise a habit, you will find it benefits your health in many ways, including:

• Improves mood
• Boost energy
• Supports sleep function
• Increases metabolic rate
• Burns calories
• Improves endurance
• Supports weight loss
• Tones and firms muscles
• Improves blood circulation
• Improves brain health.

Strength training

As we age, our lean muscle mass naturally diminishes; strength training can help maintain and build your muscle mass when aging.  Strength training helps develop strong bones, manage weight, enhance the quality of life, and improve thinking skills.

Functional foods for sports nutrition

Functional foods are simply foods that provide positive health benefits beyond essential nutrition.  These foods are meant to go beyond the daily recommendation of nutrients and contain nutrients that have additional functions, including reducing the risk of disease or helping to increase energy.  For example, foods enhanced with vitamins or other nutrients such as calcium, fiber, or omega-3 are considered functional foods as the added nutrients are known to support bone health, prevent constipation, or reduce the risk of heart disease.

Conventional foods – natural, whole foods

Modified foods – nutrients or fortified food

Foods that help manage conditions – glucose metabolism, weight management

Foods that support lifestyles – vegan, vegetarian, building muscle mass

Foods supporting wellness – reducing stress, increasing energy, or boosting immune function

Nighttime routine

Like a good morning routine, the end of the day can be an excellent time to form healthier habits.  It is a time to reflect on the day and prep for tomorrow.  A few ideas of things to add to your nighttime routine:

Reach out to someone – this is an excellent time to connect with someone in your house or via text or phone. “It helps to ground you and remind you that you’re not alone,” he says. “It’s like, ‘I’m okay, and I’m here with others on this planet.'” says clinical psychologist Ryan Howes, Ph.D.

Prep for the next day and tidy up a bit – both can help you feel ready to conquer the next day and help you relax better throughout the night.

Gratitude journal – the habit of feeling grateful helps because it reminds us to notice the things we feel thankful for even when we are coping with something difficult.

Read – reading before bed helps your body unwind and relax at the end of a long day.

Sleep

During the winter months, your body’s circadian rhythm may change due to the shorter hours of daylight – meaning your body may crave 1-2 hours more sleep per day. You may also find it is harder to wake in the morning, and it may be a good idea to fight the urge to stay in bed. This may throw your body’s circadian rhythm off and cause health issues, including insomnia, depression, and seasonal affective disorder.

To get your body to relax and prepare your mind for sleep, you can:

• Turn off all electronics at least an hour before bed
• Curl up with a good book: reading can make the mind wander and tire your eyes – both make you sleepy
• Fill the room with relaxing scents through aromatherapy or directly on your skin – lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot orange, sandalwood, and cedarwood essential oils can be helpful
• Take a long bath to unwind
• Enjoy a cup of chamomile tea – it can help with insomnia, relax the mind, and decrease anxiety
• Try meditation – this can help your mind let go and release the tensions of the day
• Expose yourself to sunlight in the morning, which can help keep your circadian rhythm in balance.