SMALL CHANGES, BIG RESULTS

Making some minor adjustments to reset your daily lifestyle will give you the best opportunity for a fresh start in 2024

- OLIVIA DEVEREUX-EVANS

New Year, new you. It's a slogan you'll have heard hundreds of times before. But if every year you find yourself quickly ditching your unrealistic resolutions, don't panic.

It turns out that "flipping your life" - taking small steps to improve your current situation can be much more effective. From waking up a bit earlier to taking on gentle exercise, or swapping screen time for reading a book, implementing healthy new patterns of behaviour is a great way of making a sustainable fresh start.

Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston have spoken about the benefits of changing their routines for the new year. The Friends star previously ditched HIIT, which she said had "pounded" her body, and switched to gentler functional fitness training, which focuses on movements that help the body to perform everyday activities.

As we kick off 2024, neuroscientist and transformation coach Eldin Hasa explains why, instead of making big resolutions you can't keep, it's best to make small but significant adjustments to your daily life.

"By consciously resetting our lives and adopting new, positive habits, we can gradually weaken the neural pathways associated with negative behaviours and strengthen those associated with healthier choices," he says.

"Negative habits such as unhealthy coping mechanisms or self-destructive behaviors can have a significant impact on our mental and physical well-being. So it is important to flip or reset your life and change negative and disempowering thoughts, feelings and behaviours." 

Here, we ask the experts to share the simple but effective changes that will help get your life on track as this year begins.

1 STICK TO A BEDTIME ROUTINE