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Popular New Year’s Resolutions

A Few Popular New Year’s Resolutions

Every year people make New Year’s Resolutions they want to follow in the coming new year. I haven’t seen any statistics on how many people actually follow through with them, but a good guess is very few. In fact how many times have you made New Year’s Resolutions and once you made them that was that – no follow-through or sometimes only a half-hearted attempt at the beginning of the year and that was that.

What is your New Year’s Resolution?

Here are a few of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions in the United States as compiled by the government. These may change from year to year, but consider this as a guide to popular resolutions.

Reduce Alcohol Consumption

In other words drink less alcohol is an excellent resolution for those who drink too much alcohol. Alcohol is part of our culture—it helps us celebrate and socialize, and it enhances our religious ceremonies. But drinking too much—on a single occasion or over time—can have serious consequences for our health. Most Americans recognize that drinking too much can lead to accidents and dependence.

In addition to these serious problems, alcohol abuse can damage organs, weaken the immune system, and contribute to cancers. Plus, much like smoking, alcohol affects different people differently. Genes, environment, and even diet can play a role in whether you develop an alcohol-related disease.

There are some Benefits

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say there is another side to the story about alcohol. Research shows that healthy people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may have a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than nondrinkers. Moderate drinking is usually defined as no more than two drinks in a given day for men and one drink per day for women who are not pregnant or trying to conceive.

We’ve probably all heard of fat or plaque build up in your arteries, resulting in coronary heart disease. An excess of fat narrows the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that supply blood directly to the heart. Clogged arteries reduce blood supply to the heart muscle, and make it easier for blood clots to form. Blood clots can lead to both heart attacks and strokes.

According to recent studies, drinking moderately can protect your heart from these conditions. Moderate drinking helps inhibit and reduce the build-up of fat in the arteries. It can raise the levels of HDL—or “good” cholesterol—in the blood, which wards off heart disease. It can help guard against heart attack and stroke by preventing blood clots from forming and by dissolving blood clots that do develop. Drinking moderately also may help keep blood pressure levels in check.

Take note however, these benefits may not apply to people with existing medical conditions, or who regularly take certain medications.

Eat Healthy Food

Who wouldn’t want to be healthier. Not too many people would say no or “not me.” Unless you are already eating healthy, have some condition that prevents you from eating healthy this is a resolution most of us could relate to quite easily. Here are a few tips and links to more information to help you learn more and eat healthy at the same time.

60 Healthy Food Tips

Choosing Healthy Meals as You Get Older
Eating Foods Away from Home
Build Healthy Mealtime Habits for Preschoolers

10 healthy tips for teen girls
Enjoy Foods from Many Cultures
Make Healthier Holiday Choices

Lose Weight

Many of us would like to lose weight. I hear women all the time talking about losing weight or going on a diet so they can lose weight. Here in the U.S. there seems to be an over weight problem. It’s true also for youngsters. How many times have you seen little children that are over-weight, some weight more than some adults. That’s a terrible situation to be in. If being overweight is a problem for you then by all means make this your New Year’s resolution and the important thing would be to follow up and do it.

Manage Debt

So many of us have problems with debt. In many of those cases we make too little and spend too much. But that’s not always the case. Some of us make good money or even ridiculous amounts of money yet still run out of money or charging credit cards heavily even though we don’t know where the money is coming from to pay those payments. If you’re in debt or spending money like it’s going out of style and you don’t have the income to support it then this New Year’s resolution is begging for your attention.

Manage Stress

Not all stress is bad. Stress can help protect you in a dangerous situation. But preventing and managing chronic (ongoing) stress can help lower your risk for serious health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression.

You can prevent or reduce stress by:

Planning ahead
Deciding which tasks need to be done first
Preparing for stressful events

Some stress is hard to avoid. You can find ways to manage stress by:

Noticing when you feel stressed
Taking time to relax
Getting active and eating healthy
Talking to friends and family

New Year Resolutions

Take a Trip

Although this might sound like a luxury it may not be. Many of us work so much and never really get a chance to take a vacation that taking a trip may bring you some comfort and relaxation you cannot get by staying home. There are almost always some travel destinations that are within your budget, if even just getting away for the weekend in your own city.

Want to stay in the country or Canada? Well there are many historic American places and preservation resources here as well as in Canada. Here in this country you can easily explore air, road, and train travel, historic places, and tourism resources.

If you want to travel outside the country then practically the whole world is within a day or so travel time if you travel by plane. Do take note that some exotic places require planning and making arrangements well in advance. That could mean even a year in advance such as if one is going on an African Safari.

If you have the money or can save the money to take a trip it just be well worth your while to make this one of your New Year’s Resolutions.

Get a Better Job

There are many of us that could do better by getting a better job. The past three years have be devastating to the American job market. Nonetheless the job situation may not recover fully because of a lot of reasons, including many jobs are being outsourced to other countries due to cheaper labor costs.

This could mean you need to look into getting education in new of a different field if you want to make more money or get out of a job that might become obsolete. There are too many things to go into as far as getting a better job, but don’t forget to consider a government job if you’ve never considered one before. Back when I was a teenager, long ago I had a part-time job with the Post Office. It was my first job outside of working part-time for friends or the neighborhood store.

I will never forget seeing so many older folks that seemed lazy and after talking to some of them and learning they hated their job. However as a government employee in the Civil Service system they had good pay and excellent benefits. Many of them said they wish they could quit, but because of a good salary and such good health and pension benefits they couldn’t.

Well guess what. It seems the tables have turned over these many years. Nowadays government jobs are generally much more secure than jobs in the private sector. Of course there are exceptions and the example I just gave about the Post Office is one of them, with big layoffs facing many there as the Post Office announced they will probably be closing a lot of post offices.

The state of California is another example of big job problems due to trying to stave off bankruptcy. But generally government jobs are one area one should not forget when looking for a better job. Here is a possible shortcut to finding out what government jobs are available and other job information.