|
Now's
a good time to renew wellness efforts
January 06, 05
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
There’s something about a new year that sparks renewed
enthusiasm for wellness efforts. The sense of a clean slate
is motivating.
Take advantage of this time of year and refine what you’ve
already started or begin new diet and exercise routines. You’ll
increase the likelihood of success if you think through a
strategy for making changes that will stick.
For starters, consider these tips:
* Make sleep a priority. New research suggests that sleep
deprivation can cause hormonal changes that increase appetite
and lead to weight gain. Getting adequate sleep – about
eight hours a night – can help you control your weight
and feel perky enough to work efficiently and exercise, too.
Are you chronically short on sleep? Try this: Set a time for
going to bed, and stick to it. Turn off the TV or put down
your work and give yourself a half hour or so to unwind before
you turn in. The world will not come to an end if you go to
bed before finishing all of your chores. What will happen
is that you’ll be forced to work more efficiently during
your waking hours. That may not be so difficult, considering
you’ll likely feel better and have more energy if you
regularly get adequate sleep. You’ve got to start, though,
to set the new cycle in motion. Consider sleep as you would
a budgetary fixed cost: It’s a non-negotiable need and
it comes off the top of your available time.
* Choose a realistic exercise routine. Pick something you
enjoy doing that you can reasonably expect to be able to maintain.
Never seem to be able to get to the gym in the evenings or
on weekends? Then start a daily walking routine at home in
the evening or during lunch period at work. Block out the
time in your schedule and protect it. Put it on your calendar.
If you are trying to maintain a lunchtime exercise routine
at work, treat it like an appointment and don’t permit
other things to get scheduled during that time slot.
* Stock the house with good foods. Focus on fruits and vegetables.
Set out a big bowl of tangerines, oranges, grapefruit, apples,
pears and bananas for snacking. From time to time, cut up
leftover fruit and make a fruit salad. Marinated vegetable
salad made with broccoli and cauliflower florets, mushrooms,
sliced carrots, onions, and vinaigrette dressing is good this
time of year. Buy prewashed spinach and other salad greens
and keep a tossed salad in the refrigerator.
* Anticipate the rough spots. Starting out on a new routine
– or resuming one that has lapsed – is hard until
the habit is set. Your routine is also vulnerable around times
of interruptions, such as holidays, while you’re away
on business travel, when company comes to visit, on snow days,
or when you’re not feeling well. While you can’t
predict or even control all of these distractions, you can
give some thought ahead of time to how you’ll deal with
them.
For instance, when company comes, invite them out for an evening
walk around the neighborhood with you. If you’re heading
out of town for a week on business, book a hotel with a fitness
center and take your gym clothes along. Do what you can to
forge ahead with your routine and work around interruptions.
* Enlist support. Find a walking buddy. If you need more structure
to lose weight, join Weight Watchers, still the best dieters’
group around.
Start now, and take it a day or a week at a time. Keep your
sights on your short-term, daily or weekly goals. Before you
know it, three months, then six months, will have passed.
You’ll be making progress, and you’ll feel great.
|
