Get More Out of 2024 With These New Year's Resolution Tips

Sticking to your New Year resolutions can be tough, however, there are resources at EvergreenHealth that may help you stick with your health and wellness goals for 2024.

Whether your resolution is to exercise more, eat healthy or focus a bit more on your mental health, here are some ideas to keep you on track and inspired.

New Year, New Diet

If your resolution is to eat healthier, it can be difficult to find the right ingredients and dishes you enjoy.

EvergreenHealth's Well Together content hub offers a variety of healthy and delicious meals made easy that you can add to your cookbook! You can also check out some of our simple yet effective tips on how to maintain your diet by making small changes over time. This includes tips on drinking more water and how to eat mindfully.

Are you setting the goal to remove certain ingredients from your diet that you normally enjoy, like sugar or caffeine? Don't get discouraged! Learn what kind of immediate yet temporary effects it might have on your mind and energy levels.

Do you want to drink more water in 2024? Generally, a healthy amount of water is around 60 ounces a day, or about 7 cups.

While a new diet is a major step toward helping you lose weight, our Weight Loss and Bariatric Care experts are here to help you discover all of your options. Whether you're looking to lose a significant amount of weight or you have a health condition that makes weight loss challenging, our team can provide you with pathways toward accomplishing your goals.

Get More Active

Perhaps the most common and most difficult resolution to stick with: exercising and overall increasing your activity level.

While this can seem like a big change to most, you don't have to do too much right away. It's more about changing your routine and introducing a new activity into your life, which is already filled with work, school, family and a number of other obligations.

If you want to get started on a new workout routine, the best thing to do is take it slow. The easiest way to burn out is to do too much quickly. Check out some more tips on how to effectively start and stick with your exercise routine and successfully make it a part of your life.

If you find that any aches or pains are keeping you from activities, our orthopedic experts are here to help evaluate, diagnose and develop a personalized treatment plan to get you back doing the things you love.

If you use a wheelchair or would like some seated exercises, here are few from Special Strong that will get you moving:

• Arm raises: Hold a handheld weight or medicine ball straight out in front of your chest and, without bending your elbows, raise your arms over your head. Repeat at least 10 times.
• Side Twists: Sitting straight, twist your body from left to right. Repeat at least 12-15 times for each side.
• Seated Crunches: Put your hands together in front of your chest and raise your elbows so that your forearms are parallel to your lap. Then touch your right elbow to your left knee, straighten back up in your chair and touch your left elbow to your right knee. Repeat at least 5-8 times.

Your Mental Health

If working on your stress levels this new year or taking some more time for yourself is your goal, a great way to accomplish this is to pick up meditation. Our experts have curated guided mediations, breathing exercises and relaxations to help you improve your mental wellness.

If your stress management could use some "TLC", we have 20 tips on how to bring more laughter into your life, turn to your friends or even colleagues for some comedic relief and mimdfully slow down to place yourself in the present so that you can work through your stress one step at a time.

Your primary care provider is also a great place to start if you have any concerns about your mental health. They can offer advice and help you discover a treatment option for common conditions like anxiety. Your provider can even help refer you to a behavioral health expert for additional support.

If you or a loved one are experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, we have a number of emergency resources available for everyone in the community.

Handling Health Concerns

Your resolution for 2024 may be to simply focus on getting care for a condition you have, like asthma, or even pain that's been bothering you, like joint aches or migraines.

The best start is to schedule an appointment with your primary care physician, which is easy through MyChart. Your primary care physician will also be able to refer you to a specialists to help with your condition.

If you don't have a primary care provider, there are a ton of benefits to establishing care with one, including having an expert who knows your health history and can get you started on a path to preventative care.

Don't accomplish your health and wellness goals alone, welcome the expert advice from your health partner, family and friends. And most importantly, YOU GOT THIS!