Medical matters: New year’s resolutions don’t have to be a sacrifice

S o how was the festive season for you? Did you manage to eat,drink and be merry – at least in moderation? In my Christmas column I mentioned that this age-old mantra has been modified to include . . . “for tomorrow we diet”.

It’s health resolution time for many people this week. I have a slightly jaundiced view of new year’s resolutions. It seems that while 75 per cent of people stick to their new goals for a week, fewer than half are on target six months later.

Certainly beating yourself up over weight gain or overwork isn’t going to help. So let’s look at some less punitive approaches to good health.

Get out and about: Research suggests people with strong social connections live longer than those without. A 2010 study in the journal

PLOS Medicine

found that lack of social bonds can damage health as much as alcohol abuse and smoking and is even more harmful than obesity and a lack of exercise.

Help others: There is some evidence to suggest that we are happier when we volunteer and help other people. And happiness is good for your health. One study found that people with a positive, happy outlook were about 20 per cent less likely than their peers to have a heart attack. There is also a link between positive emotions and increased personal resilience in the face of adversity.

Exercise: Doing something new is usually a little easier than giving something up. So how about some moderate exercise starting this week? A study in the

British Medical Journal

suggests exercise can be as effective as many frequently prescribed drugs in treating some of the leading causes of death. People with coronary heart disease who took drugs such as statins and anti-platelets had the same risk of dying from heart disease as patients who exercised regularly but did not take preventive medication. The same appears to be the case for diabetes.

Avoid health check-ups: That’s rather strange advice for a doctor to offer, is it not? But there is not much evidence for their effectiveness. You are exposing yourself to the risk of a false positive diagnosis – in which the test says you have a disease even though you don’t, and false negatives – where you leave with the false reassurance of a clean bill of health. Then there are the risks associated with some invasive tests which, while justified in someone with symptoms, are not worth it when you are otherwise well.

Sleep more: With the invasion of smart

phones and iPads into our bedrooms, the quality of our sleep has deteriorated. Seven to eight hours’ quality rest is ideal, but how many of us manage that consistently? In the western world the evidence suggests we struggle to get seven hours’ shuteye a night, resulting in a loss of concentration and some cognitive decline during the day. If you can, develop a siesta habit: a 15- to 30-minute nap between 1pm and 4pm seems to work best.

Sit less: In other words stand more. Sitting for eight

hours or more a day has been linked with the development of kidney and other chronic diseases. If you work at a desk and sit for your commute, it’s quite easy to rack up this amount of sitting hours. Consider working from a standing desk, or standing up every time you are on the phone.

Stop worrying about your health: The sensation of being highly stressed can rewire the brain in ways that enable stress to persist. Parts of the brain devoted to executive functioning shrivel under persistent stress, while those concerned with habit formation increase in size. Eventually, high levels of stress hormones persist in the bloodstream, leading to higher blood pressure and other negative consequences. So the very act of obsessing about

health resolutions can immediately negate any benefits you thought would come your way.

I’d like to wish readers a happy and healthy 2015.

mhouston@irishtimes.com

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