Get Your Life Back on Track

So those New Year health resolutions you made haven’t lasted? It’s not too late - the middle of the year is the perfect time to renew your vows and get back on track

Need a boost to get your health back on track? Maybe those New Year’s resolutions went out the door quicker than you’d hoped. Well, don’t despair – midyear is the perfect time to reset your original goals and achieve them!

While it’s tempting to aim for big changes, there are simpler ways to make a positive impact on your life. Micro-resolutions are the small tweaks you can make to your everyday life that can really improve your mental and physical health.

By taking each day as it comes, focusing on no more than two areas of your life at a time, and allowing the small changes to take hold, by the end of the year you might not even recognise yourself. Go on; give one or two of these makeovers a go!

Mini Fitness Improvements

To make it easier to develop healthy habits, try ‘piggybacking’ exercise onto something you already regularly do. “Habits are triggered by specific cues, such as reading your email (habit) when you sit down at your computer (cue),” says personal change expert Caroline Arnold. “And research shows cues can be created.”

So, if you’d like to walk more, think about a journey you often do already that you could turn into an energetic walk. For example, tell yourself, “I always go to the coffee shop on Saturday, so I’ll power walk there instead.”

Tiny Tweaks To Try Today

- Test the 20-minute rule Research shows the biggest health benefits occur in the first 20 minutes of a workout, so resolve to go to the gym, for a walk, cycle or a run for just 20 minutes a day. Tell yourself you only ever have to do that much; if you manage to work out longer, that’s a bonus.