Today is the day for your New Year resolutions!

If you want to be successful in your New Year resolutions, today – 14 January – is the best date to set them.

As the nation struggles to adapt in the first two weeks of January, it appears that we shouldn’t worry about setting resolutions on 1 January when we are still in holiday mode, but wait until the optimum day – today!

A survey conducted by probiotic experts Yakult has revealed that over 37 million Brits have set a New Year resolution in 2009. However, with 15.5 million Brits admitting they struggle to stick to their resolutions in the first two weeks of the year and 5 million failing all together, it seems to be time to reassess the trusted tradition of starting resolutions on the first day in January.

Leading gastroenterologist Dr Simon Gabe from St Mark’s Hospital, and psychologist Donna Dawson believe delaying the start of your resolution will significantly increase your chances of success. A combination of the body recovering from Christmas indulgence and the physical and mental shock of going back to work in January means the body is ill-prepared to cope with changes to our diet and lifestyle, any earlier than this point in the year.

The research by Yakult showed 52% of people ate and drunk substantially more over the Christmas period with 30% likely to have experienced some form of digestive complaint.

Dr Simon Gabe says: “Digestive problems over Christmas are very common and can occur for a variety of reasons such as dietary changes, stress and gastroenteritis. Infections such as salmonella can and do occur from undercooked turkey, but it is more likely that symptoms suffered are due to a combination of dietary changes and stress. Irritable bowel symptoms have a seasonal variation and this may relate to the diet and stress during this time of the year.”

Making changes to your diet during this period before you’ve recovered could increase the likelihood of breaking your resolution. Starting a few weeks later will not only be better for you physically but also ease the mental struggle of trying to keep to your resolution.  

This is a view of psychologist Donna Dawson who says:  “Two weeks into the New Year is the best time to start your New Year resolution. The reason for this is two-fold: firstly people forget that Christmas can be a very stressful period in many ways; secondly, combining the after-effects of the holiday period with returning to work puts people under a great deal of emotional and physical strain. As a result, the majority of people are not mentally ready to begin their resolutions on New Year’s Day.”

Keeping to a successful resolution is a physical and mental battle. However, going back to work after the festive period also adds to the strain. 46% of those surveyed said going back to work after the festive period was a physical and mental shock to the system. When it comes to citing reasons for failure, 18% of people blamed the stress of going back to work, whilst 17% said it was a case of January blues which led them to fail. 38% would delay starting their resolutions if they thought it would mean keeping them longer.

Donna Dawson continues: “By 14 January you should be recovered from Christmas and adjusted to being back at work making it the perfect time to focus on improvements to your life. You have had time to think clearly about what you really want for yourself, and you are physically and mentally more able to work towards achieving it. If you have already broken your resolution, don’t despair as now is the time to start afresh to increase your chance of success.” 

Five Tips for Successful New Year’s Resolutions from Psychologist Donna Dawson:

1. Choose a Realistic Resolution and a Realistic Target Date: First, choose a resolution that can be achieved realistically within your present life-style. Then choose a date for reaching your goal that is neither so soon that you will fail (for example, a month), or so far away that you will give up before you reach it (say, six months). Any New Year’s resolution should be considered an ‘ongoing process’, so give yourself a target date that reflects that.
   
   
2. Brainstorm: Write down every idea and activity that will help you to meet your goal - this may mean “adding” or “subtracting” something from your present lifestyle. Also, consider ‘what’ or ‘whom’ may be holding you back? You may have to avoid doing certain things, or even stop doing certain things for others
   
   
3. Prioritise: A big goal can always be broken down into smaller steps to make it more manageable. Find the smaller steps that make up the whole, and then work out a time-span for working out each smaller step into your life (for example, “immediately”, “ a few days”, “a week”, “a month”).
   
   
4. Reinforcement; Human beings are creatures of habit; the trick is to unlearn “bad” habits and to replace them with “good” habits. If you are dieting, then reward any success with non-food rewards. If you are getting fit, plan at least two exercise sessions a week within your present routine (write them into your diary as firm dates, and then keep them). By reward and persistence, the “good” habits will soon become automatic, thereby ousting the “bad” habits.
   
   
5. Forgive Yourself: If you lapse from your goal, don’t berate yourself and give up in disgust. “To err is human”, and you must take the longer view. Cultivate the difference between ‘willpower’ (an “all-or-nothing” approach which brooks no failure), and ‘self-control’ (which can be ‘learned’, and which allows for some compromise). Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again, always accentuating the positive!

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