Whether it is a resolution to lose weight, to do more exercise, or to consume less sugar, we all have encountered hardships trying to stick with them.Health-related New Year Resolutions are easy to make, but hard to implement. We all could use some healthy behavior changes that continue past January.

New Year Resolutions that Stick

Seeking support, asking for help, or even making your progress visible to others helps you with social support and an added motivation.It also weeds out potential cheat moments as your friends know about your regime.

Tell Your Friends

Making resolutions requires no effort, but if we decide to suddenly shift towards improving too many of our behaviors at once, it can backfire.Focus on one thing that you want to change, at a time, and commit to it.

One Thing At A Time

People get motivated socially, as there are a lot of people with you, engaging in the same challenges to lead a healthier and better life.For example: If we see social media posts of a friend exercising regularly, it can help motivate us to be more active.

Social Peer Pressure

The Social Cognitive Theory states that a mix of personal and environmental determinants influence our behavior, our beliefs and the outcomes we expect if we do act as planned.

The Social Cognitive Theory 

You may not be able to change the external circumstances, stressful situations, or work environment. What you can do is control how you react to negative forces and stressful situations.For example: If you get unhealthy food at your home, you can control how or when you eat it.

What You Can Control

Reward yourself and celebrate the goals you accomplish, and the milestones you complete.

Celebrate Your Success

We all want to accomplish a lot of things, some of which cannot be suddenly achievable. We need to work on small and attainable goals, inching towards our bigger goal, step-by-step.For example: If you cannot suddenly start going to bed early, try going a few minutes earlier than the night before.

Small And Attainable Goals

Trying to create a new healthy habit while being in the same environment or surroundings can be difficult. Changing your surroundings to suit your new resolution ensures you adhere to it.For example: If you are trying to cut on sugar, your pantry should not be filled with candy, but with fruits.

Change Your Environment

There are five stages in the process of shifting towards a healthy practice:<ul><li>Contemplation</li><li>Seeking Advice</li><li>Preparation</li><li>Action</li><li>Maintenance of the new behavior.</li></ul>

Towards a Healthy Habit

If you want to change your behavior, break an unhealthy habit, or develop a new habit, find out all the information about it.Find out if it suits you and your body, and how much you need to push yourself. If you can see how it benefits you, it can work as a motivation to keep up with the change.

Do Some Research

Forget crash diets and rash New Year's resolutions. Make healthy lifestyle changes you can stick with, based on science. At LifeOmic, we are all about data. Scientific evidence drives everything we do - not just in helping clinicians make better treatment decisions for their patients, but in helping LIFE app users make healthy behavior and lifestyle choices that stick.

What You Can Control

10 Science-backed Tips to Making a Health Behavior Change that Sticks

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