With a new year, for many people, comes New Year’s resolutions.

Popular resolutions include getting fitter, losing weight, eating healthier, bettering oneself, improving mental health and sleep—all admirable goals!

What mightn’t come as a surprise is that a large proportion of people don’t achieve and sustain their New Year’s resolution. The success rate varies depending on which study you look at:

• In one study that followed 200 New Year’s resolvers, 77% maintained their resolutions 1 week into the new year, 55% after 1 month, 40% after 6 months, and 19% after 2 years.¹
• In perhaps the largest study to date that followed 1,066 adults, 88.8% maintained their resolutions 1 month into the new year, 67.8% after 6 months, and 54.7% after 1 year. (The higher success rate in this study might be in part due to some participants receiving greater support, such as from friends and family.)²

Does this mean that you shouldn’t try to set out on a New Year’s resolution?

Absolutely not.

It can be helpful, however, to appreciate that it’s challenging to change your lifestyle and habits.

Failure is also normal and okay (it shouldn’t have the stigma that it has). There’ll be setbacks but there’ll always be more opportunities to try again, and you don’t have to wait for 2024.

We’ll provide some advice and recommendations soon that will hopefully help you to achieve your goals a bit easier.

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References:

1. Norcross & Vangarelli (1988) (PMID: 2980864)
2. Oscarsson et al. (2020) (PMID: 33296385)