Sedgebrook	UPDATED: Friday, January 12, 2007
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Are New Year’s resolutions doomed from the get-go?

Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007

New research explores why old habits are hard, but not impossible, to break

By Melissa Borgerding
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

The recent bombardment of ads for diet pills, health clubs, and nicotine gum are testimony to just how seriously Americans take their New Year’s resolutions. How serious we are about keeping them is another story. Forty-three percent of people who make a resolution won’t follow through, according to a poll by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. Some experts even point to February 2, Groundhog’s Day, as America’s official “Break Your Resolution Day.” By this date, millions of people will have already thrown in the towel.

So how can you make your resolution stick beyond the one-month mark? Or are we, as some scientists argue, hard-wired to give in to our old habits?

Blame it on the brain
New research suggests that habits may be all in your head—specifically, in your basal ganglia, the part of the brain that controlslearning. Learning a new habit is vastly different from, say, learning a fact—for instance that flagmaker Betsy Ross was born on New Year’s day back in 1752. Habits are slow to develop, requiring many repetitions reinforced with positive and negative feedback, according to an MIT study of habit formation.

The bad news is that old habits become ingrained. The good news: they’re not carved in stone. If we taught ourselves those bad habits to begin with, we can teach ourselves newer and better ones. “The brain is so malleable we can develop our own pattern generators,” says Professor Ann M. Graybill, who conducted the study.

So how long will it take to develop a new habit? The brain is as individualized as a fingerprint, the study finds. Using repetition and reinforcement, it might take one person a week to develop a new habit—good or bad. For another person, it may take months.

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America’s favorite bad habits
So what are the bad habits that most Americans resolve to break? FirstGov, the U.S. government’s official Web portal, lists losing weight, quitting smoking, saving money, getting fit, and volunteering in the community as some of the most popular New Year’s goals—and possibly for good reason.

The American Heart Association estimates that 25.6 million men and 22.6 million women in the U.S. smoke. In Illinois alone, 60% of the population is overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the average American now holds eight credit cards.

But while Americans have plenty of reasons why they make resolutions, most don’t have a plan to keep them, or they expect to see immediate results.

Secrets to New Year’s success
“Some people tend not to think of their goals until New Year’s Eve,” says Guy Petty, fitness coordinator at Sedgebrook. Petty works with community members to design individualized fitness programs, so they can meet their 2007 goals. “Then, they simply toss out something they wish they could achieve but aren’t committed to. It’s usually all-or-nothing.”

Instead, Petty recommends setting small reachable goals on the path to a larger goal. “Don’t give up,” he says. “Keep exercising on a regular schedule until it becomes a habit.”

A trainer or a coach like Petty can give you some extra motivation and keep your routine from feeling so, well, routine. However, keep in mind that few personal trainers at the average health club are experts in the fitness needs of older adults.

That’s where people who live at communities like Sedgebrook have a few more advantages, Petty says. “Everything you need is on-site. Our Fitness Center is equipped with top-of-theline equipment and a highlytrained staff. Add to that group exercise classes, the swimming pool, and special events. Our residents don’t have to go to a public health club where the staff rarely, if ever, has a chance to work with people in their 70’s or even 80’s.”

Above all, though, Petty advises setting short-term and long-term fitness goals, and visualizing yourself completing them successfully.

A simple plan
The same advice can be applied to just about any New Year’s resolution. Whether you’ve resolved to spend more time with family and friends or to kick a five cup a day coffee habit, a positive attitude can be a powerful motivator, but it takes strategy to get the job done.

For starters, break your resolution into smaller steps, suggests WebMD, a leading online source of medical news and information. If you’ve resolved to de-clutter your house, plan to tackle the closets by March, the spare bedrooms by April, and so on.

Write down your resolutions and post them where you can see them. The act of writing down your goals will reinforce your commitment. Just because you slip up once, twice, even twenty times doesn’t mean that you’ve broken your resolution or given in to old habits. It’s never too late to bounce back. Even if old habits are written into our brains, with the right resources, the right plans, and the right motivation, we can write healthier and more positive habits right over top of them.

To find out more about how the right environment at Sedgebrook can help you make your New Year’s resolutions stick, visit www.ericksoncommunities.com/sed