Health Watch is a Public Service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.
This week on Health Watch, we’ve been talking about sticking to your New Year’s resolutions so that they become ingrained as habits. It’s good to try to improve your life through changes such as eating better, exercising more and quitting smoking. But you shouldn’t let your resolutions get you down.
Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, an expert on mood disorders at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says unrealistic resolutions can lead to a let-down. If you aim too high and don’t stand a chance of succeeding, you may just frustrate yourself, which makes it too easy to give up. It’s better to aim for something you can do, and then raise the bar once you reach that goal, than to aim too high, miss, and give up. If you aren’t doing as well as you would like, don’t dwell on where you’ve gone wrong. Focus on what you have accomplished.
One other thing to note: exercise may be on your list of resolutions, but it also helps put you in a better mood!
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January 2007
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