Looking to improve your health in 2025?
If you’re looking to implement some healthy habits this year, here are my top tips for getting started.
Set realistic goals.
If you change everything all at once it is going to be hard work. Set small, attainable, realistic goals that you will be able to achieve. Start with one goal, and build on it. This journey is not going to be linear, it’s part of the process to have ups and downs. When you have a down don’t give in, just pick up where you left off and carry on the journey.
Find a form of exercise that you enjoy doing.
You’ll be more likely to stick at it if you actually really enjoy the exercise. Start small and build up your strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness, ultimately aim for about 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days a week.
Add into your diet rather than take away.
If you start with taking the things out of your diet that you see as ‘bad’, what will you be left with? And if you add into your diet while also removing foods it can be very overwhelming and often lead to failure. So, I recommend adding things when and where you can. You could start by adding more vegetables (either more varieties over the week or just more on your dinner plate), or including protein in your snacks and meals, drinking more water (try a glass first thing in the morning or finishing a bottle or jug over the course of the day), or you could up your fibre intake.
Prioritise self-care.
Manage your stress by finding ways to look after yourself. Stress impacts our bodies in so many ways, not just mentally but also physically. A great way to calm and regulate your nervous system is to breathe deeply and exhale slowly. If you use the proper technique, breathing into your belly, you stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and your body doesn’t spend so much time in flight or fight mode lowering cortisol and other stress biomarkers.
Seek help.
Start with a list of what you want to achieve, pick one, break down the steps and start there. Seems simple. Sometimes it is simple, easy, fits into place. Other times it’s hard, gritty, frustrating. If you need help, ask. These are also very broad general tips, if you are looking for something more specific to you, your lifestyle, and where you are starting from, get in touch.
One of my goals this year is to meditate every day. This is something I have done on and off for over a decade and I know how good it is for me; how good it makes me feel. So, I have installed Insight Timer on my phone, I set aside time each day, and I sit in quiet stillness for at least five minutes. I am up to day four. If you would like to share one of your goals, please feel free to leave it in the comments, I would love to hear what you want to achieve this year.
Have a happy, healthy 2025.
Anna x
