Resolutions see drive for healthier lifestyles

It is a tradition which persists in both the Western and Eastern worlds, with nearly half of us committing to a goal when the chimes toll to herald the coming of the next twelve months.

The origin of promising to take up something new or changing a bad habit originated with the Babylonians. Legend has it they made promises to the gods in the hope of currying good favour in the year ahead. They often resolved to pay off their debts.

The Romans continued the practice by making promises to the god Janus, after whom the month of January is named.

In the Medieval era, the knights took what was known as the peacock vow at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.

One of the more famous people to make ambitious resolutions is the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. He has learned to speak Mandarin, met a new person that does not work at Facebook every day, wrote a thank you note every day and became vegetarian.

This year after asking for suggestions on social media, he decided to read a new book every second week with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs and histories.

He created a Facebook Page called A Year Of Books so the public can follow his progress and join in on discussions.. So far 190,000 have “liked” the page, making it the world’s biggest book club.

A study last year in Australia involving more than 2,000 people found that 42% of participants set themselves a new year’s resolution. Almost two thirds did not succeed.

One interesting fact which emerged from the survey was that of the one third of people which managed to reach their goals, three quarters of them believed that sharing their resolutions with friends or publicly on a website helped them.

The most common reason given for failing to keep their resolutions was setting unrealistic goals. One in ten respondents claimed they made too many resolutions.

Leslie Connors, a homeopath who works in Walsh’s Pharmacy in Oranmore, knows all too well how difficult it can be to achieve resolutions.  This is the busiest time of the year for pharmacies as people seek remedies to quit smoking, lose weight and improve their health.

She believes the trend of broken promises will inevitably continue unless people break the cycle.

One way of doing that is adopting the ancient practice called recapitulation. This is described as a formal looking back at the highs and lows of the last year in a sort of Karma-cleansing ceremony beloved of yoga masters.

“Recent research indicates that hidden reservations or unconscious agendas can totally sabotage our good intentions when it comes to New Year’s resolutions,” she remarked on the pharmacy blog.

“Recapitulation is about bringing to mind any old baggage that is hanging around just waiting for a chance to lure you back to your old bad habits.”

She advises people to gather a few good friends or family members and ask each one to write down all their achievements and positive events over the past year. Include a list of things regretted; moments of conflict, anger or hurt, memories of times when you did not act your best.

“Take a moment to think about and feel good about the positive things. Also take time to feel regretful about the mistakes,” she says.

“Some people then choose to burn the list to symbolize letting go of the baggage or they just imagine tying it to a balloon and letting it float away. Your thoughts are so powerful, getting rid of the negative and letting the positive in can really help you achieve what you want.”

Last year she met with a group of friends and they wrote down what they wanted to accomplish for the year. It was sealed in a box and has yet to be opened. She did the same with her daughter a few years back and they found they each met their goals.

“If you make a mistake, it’s almost easier to walk down the same path and make the same mistakes. It’s better not to brood on things that happened and instead embrace the new.”

The heart and stroke charity Croí will hold an eight-week weight management programme by specialist dieticians based on scientifically proven methods to achieve sustainable weight loss at the end of the month.

With follow-up and motivational support at three, six and twelve months, participants are given expert advice on all aspects of healthy eating, with a special focus on lifestyle changes in the areas of diet, exercise, sleep and stress management and how to manage cholesterol, blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.

The HSE has also launched a new free personal support service to help smokers give up, with a host of interactive digital tools and trained advisors on hand to provide empathy and support over the phone, face-to-face or online.

Smokers who use the HSE's QUIT service have been found to be twice as likely to succeed as those who try to do it alone.