As the calendar flips to a new year, there is an undeniable buzz of optimism and determination. It's the season of resolutions—when we set grand intentions to transform our lives. Among the most popular? Health, fitness, and better eating habits consistently top the charts. More than half of us begin January with the promise to focus on our physical selves, but research paints a sobering picture: just 8% of those who make resolutions achieve their goals, and 80% abandon them by February.

But this year, we're rewriting the script. Welcome to 2025- a year for practical, achievable fitness goals. This isn't about setting unrealistic expectations or chasing fleeting motivation. Instead, it's about embracing a sustainable approach to health, one step at a time. Ready to start? Here are 10 resolutions you can actually keep—and they might just change your life.

1. Start Slow: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

It's so tempting to dive into those rigorous fitness regimens as a new year dawns, but sudden and drastic changes can lead to burnout or even injury. Instead, start with tiny, manageable actions: walk more, take the stairs, or try a short workout session. Gradually increase intensity as your body adjusts. This steady approach builds a strong foundation and helps you stick to your goals in the long run.

2. Be Realistic

Ambition is good, but unrealistic goals can be a recipe for disaster. Instead of promising to never eat your favorite comfort food again, commit to eating it less often—maybe once a week. Similarly, exercising seven days a week is unrealistic for most working people with family responsibilities. Aim for balance by targeting four workouts per week, leaving room for rest and recovery.

3. Just Start

Planning is important, but action is where the magic happens. Whether it’s starting a fitness program, signing up at a gym, or trying a new recipe, don’t overthink it. Taking that first step can be the hardest part, but once you’re in motion, momentum builds. Break the cycle of procrastination and let 2025 be the year of decisive action.

4. Anticipate Motivation Dips

That new year excitement is strong at the start, but it fades out quickly. Motivation does not stay throughout the entire year. Don't get discouraged if motivation falls—this is the rule of the game. Now comes the planning: do a workout as you set those non-negotiable appointments, prepare your meal a day in advance, or put out that spare exercise outfit the night before. These keep the flow moving forward even if you falter on motivation.

5. Acknowledge Little Victories

Every milestone deserves recognition. Did you complete your first week of workouts? New gym gear is in store for you. You've been good with healthier eating? Then a relaxing movie night will be waiting for you. Celebrating the small stuff keeps the journey fun and reinforces positive habits.

Also Read: Top Exercise-Related Injuries And How To Prevent Them

6. Accountability Partner

Motivation spreads. If you team up with a friend or family member, then you actually have a decent shot at following through with your new "habit." People are much more likely to maintain a fitness program if they have someone to exercise with. Whether it's going to the gym, a yoga class, or a morning jog, knowing someone's counting on you will keep you committed.

7. Seek Out What Energizes You

Fitness isn't one-size-fits-all. Your best friend might be training for a marathon, but you love dance classes or weightlifting. Choose activities that get you excited and align with your goals. When your fitness journey feels personally fulfilling, you're more likely to stay engaged and consistent.

8. Make Fun a Priority

Fitness doesn't have to feel like a chore. Infuse your routine with activities you genuinely enjoy. Experiment with group classes, outdoor adventures, or even virtual workouts. The more enjoyable your regimen, the easier it becomes to maintain. Remember: having fun is just as important as hitting your goals.

9. Quit the Comparison Game

Your fitness journey is uniquely yours. While social media and fitness communities can be inspiring, they can also foster unhealthy comparisons. Resist the urge to measure your progress against others. Celebrate your milestones and focus on the path you’re carving for yourself. Progress, not perfection, is what truly counts.

10. Be Patient and Consistent

Real change takes time. It didn’t take weeks to form bad habits, and it won’t take weeks to reverse them. Stay patient and trust the process. At the start of your journey, weight fluctuations are common, often due to inflammation as your muscles adapt to new challenges. Don’t let temporary setbacks discourage you. Stay consistent with your workouts and balanced diet, and you’ll see sustainable results over time.

PRO TIP- Prioritize Mental Health Along the Way

Fitness is not only physical but deeply interrelated with mental health. During your pursuit of achieving a healthy lifestyle, ensure your mind is nurtured just as much. Include mindfulness activities such as meditation or journaling. Seek professional help when necessary. The mind is the base upon which the body will rise.

2025 is your year! It's about being healthy and fit while keeping with the realistic goals, working diligently, and having an appreciation for the process in general. No more those momentary resolutions but for living a lifestyle that comes first to one's well-being and happiness. And to a healthier, more powerful you! Let's make it happen!

New Year’s resolutions: Who makes them and why. Pew Research Centre. 2024

Fixing your posture is about more than just sitting up straight. Specific yoga poses can really help your back and make your spine healthier. These poses gently stretch and make the muscles that support your spine stronger. This leads to better alignment, less pain, and easier movement over time.

The reason why people who have poor posture are encouraged to do yoga is because it allows your core muscles to grow stronger and when you have a strong core your body finds it much more easier to support your back. Yoga also makes you more flexible, so your back can bend and twist more easily. Plus, it improves your body awareness. This means you'll notice how your body feels and holds itself, helping you to correct your posture before you even start to slouch.

Yoga Poses That Help You Fix Your Posture

Fixing your posture is about more than just sitting up straight. Specific yoga poses can really help your back and make your spine healthier. These poses gently stretch and make the muscles that support your spine stronger. This leads to better alignment, less pain, and easier movement over time.

Cow Pose (Bitilasana)

This gentle pose helps your spine move more freely by arching your back. It stretches your stomach and neck, making your spine more flexible and ready for other movements.

Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

This basic yoga pose makes your whole spine longer, from your tailbone to the top of your head. It stretches your legs and strengthens your arms, taking pressure off your back and helping your whole body line up correctly.

Plank Pose

Plank is fantastic for building a strong core, which is super important for a healthy spine. It works your stomach, back, and shoulder muscles, teaching your body to stay straight and preventing slouching by making you more stable.

Sphinx Pose

This easy backbend gently curves your spine, which is good if you sit a lot. You lie on your belly and lean on your forearms. Sphinx opens your chest and strengthens your lower back, helping your spine keep its natural curve and reducing stiffness.

Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

Cobra is a deeper backbend than Sphinx, making your whole back stronger and more flexible. When you lift your chest using your back muscles, it stretches your chest and stomach, improving how your spine moves.

Seated Twist

Seated twists gently turn your spine, making it more flexible and releasing tightness. This pose helps your insides and stretches your back muscles, keeping your spine hydrated and mobile, and improving posture by balancing your muscles.

Cat Pose (Marjaryasana)

Often done with Cow Pose, Cat Pose gently rounds your spine, stretching your back and releasing tension. It improves spinal flexibility and coordination, helping to warm up the back muscles and improve overall spinal mobility.

Child's Pose (Balasana)

This restful pose gently stretches the lower back and hips, decompressing the spine. It calms the mind and body, providing a gentle release for spinal tension and encouraging relaxation, which can greatly benefit overall back health.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

This pose strengthens the back muscles, glutes, and hamstrings while opening the chest and shoulders. It helps to lengthen the spine, counteracting the hunching often seen with desk work, and improves overall spinal support and posture.

For most people (add me!), the daily struggle to fit more exercise into an already hectic routine is a battle against fatigue, motivation, and not least of all, time but strangely the answer lies not in trying to find that ideal workout or buying new running shoes? A significant new study, suggests that a simple change to your bedtimes—going to bed earlier, that is—may hold the key to a more active lifestyle.

The study, released by Monash University scientists in Australia, examined the connection between bedtime and exercise. Although it does not unquestionably prove that an early night leads to more exercise the next day, the results strongly indicate a connection. The scientists analyzed wearable information from close to 20,000 individuals over the span of a year, creating a wealthy dataset that contained nearly six million night-and-day time stamps.

Their key discovery: people who went to bed earlier tended to engage in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity the following day. Those who hit the hay at 9 p.m. clocked in an average of 30 more minutes of exercise the next day than those who went to bed at 1 a.m. Even an 11 p.m. bedtime, which was the average among participants, resulted in 15 fewer minutes of movement compared to the early birds.

Why Earlier Bedtime May Lead to More Exercise?

The relationship between sleep timing and exercise is more involved than just getting extra sleep. The research revealed that even if individuals had their typical level of sleep, sleeping earlier than usual still increased physical activity the following day. What this implies is that sleep timing, rather than duration, has an independent contribution in the regulation of our energy and motivation towards exercise.

Psychologist Josh Leota, a lead researcher, thinks that this finding might provide a straightforward but potent public health message. "Instead of pushing for sleep and activity separately, campaigns might push for earlier bedtimes to promote more active lives naturally," he explained.

The reasons are both physiological and behavioral. Late sleepers may naturally be more fatigued during the day or experience what researchers call “social jet lag”—a mismatch between biological rhythms and social schedules like a 9-to-5 job. This can reduce not only sleep quality but also daytime energy and motivation, ultimately impacting one’s willingness to exercise.

Strangely enough, people who went to sleep earlier but still slept for the same number of hours that they usually do tended to achieve personal records for their levels of physical activity. This indicates that it's not only about sleeping more—about when you sleep.

Why would earlier bedtimes lead us to be more likely to get moving? The researchers suggest a few reasons:

Less social jetlag: Most individuals' internal sleep clocks ("chronotypes") don't fit typical 9-to-5 routines, creating "social jetlag"—a discrepancy between internal and external schedules. This may result in more disturbed sleep and more daytime sleepiness, draining energy for exercise.

Less late-night distraction: Late-night activity usually translates into more computer/TV time and less time for restorative sleep, which leaves individuals drowsy and less motivated to exercise.

More regular wake times: While the study did not specifically quantify wake-up times, having an earlier bedtime may naturally result in waking up sooner and feeling more alert, with a greater chance of squeezing in exercise before the demands of the day can fill the schedule.

Interestingly, the research also discovered that individuals who slept for an average of five hours recorded 41.5 more minutes of exercise than those who slept for an average of nine hours. This does not, however, indicate that a shorter sleep period is more conducive to fitness. Prolonged lack of sleep can disable the gains of exercise, raise injury risk, and harm overall health. Strive for a healthy equilibrium: sufficient sleep for recovery, but not a quantity so high that it pushes out time and energy for activity.

How to Make Earlier Bedtimes a Part of Your Routine?

So, how do you take this research and turn it into action? If you're motivated to attempt changing your bedtime, here are some real-world strategies to make the transition smoother and prepare yourself for more energetic days:

1. Wind Down Slowly: Begin by creating a "digital sunset" 30 to 60 minutes prior to your desired bedtime. Switch off screens and dim the lights to signal your body that it is time to sleep.

2. Develop a Sleep Ritual: Read, meditate, or do some light stretches. This signals to your body that it's time to unwind.

3. Adjust in Increments: You don't need to transform your schedule in one night. Start by going to bed 15 minutes early every night until you hit your target bedtime.

4. Align with Your Chronotype: We all have an innate circadian rhythm. Although this study indicates advantages from sleeping earlier, adjust your bedtime to suit your body's natural schedule without sacrificing sleep quality.

5. Prioritize Sleep Hygiene: Make your bedroom cold, dark, and silent. Invest in blackout curtains, white noise machines, or whatever will let you sleep better.

6. Keep Consistency: Attempt to keep the same wake and sleep times even on weekends to maintain a stable rhythm.

While the best exercise regimen or the latest piece of exercise equipment can be beneficial, at times the most effective changes are the most straightforward. This research indicates that shifting your bedtime forward—even by one hour—may make you more active, energized, and eager to work out the following day.

We have all seen people who are naturally good at any sport they pick. While anyone can practice sports and get better, there is a question of whether the other people who play better are ‘gifted’ or are they doing things differently. The answer could be both! There are certain people who are naturally better at sports, and research has shown that there is a simple sign that may indicate the same.

Take a look at your hand right now. Is your ring finger longer than your pointer (or index) finger? If it is, new research suggests you might have a natural gift for sports. Published in the American Journal of Human Biology, the study looked at many smaller studies, found that people whose pointer fingers are shorter than their ring fingers (this is called a lower 2D:4D digit ratio) tend to have better endurance and exercise tolerance tougher and longer workouts better.

This research is thought to be the most complete study so far that connects finger length to how well people can exercise and perform in endurance activities. One expert from the study explained that if you have this lower digit ratio, you're more likely to do well in sports that need a lot of stamina, like long-distance running, biking, rowing, or team sports that require a lot of energy. This finger ratio could even be a cheap and easy way to check someone's basic heart and lung fitness.

Study Found About Fitness and Finger Length

The researchers looked at 22 different studies that included over 5,000 people from 12 countries. They specifically checked how the lengths of people's pointer (2D) and ring (4D) fingers were related to how fit their heart and lungs were. This included how well their bodies used oxygen during hard exercise and how long they could work out before getting tired.

The results showed that people with a lower 2D:4D ratio (meaning their pointer finger was shorter than their ring finger) had better exercise tolerance and could keep going longer. However, this finger ratio didn't seem to be linked to other athletic abilities, like how much oxygen their body could use overall.

Can Finger Length Predict Other Things About Your Health?

Other studies have also connected finger length ratios to different traits, like being more physically aggressive or more competitive. The lower 2D:4D ratio has also been linked, though not strongly, to other signs of being good at sports, such as having a stronger grip, being able to sprint faster, and having more explosive power. Some research suggests this link is stronger in men and in sports that need a lot of stamina or sudden bursts of power.

A few studies have even found that people with lower 2D:4D ratios have bigger jumps in the hormone testosterone during tough exercise, which might help them deal with discomfort. Also, top athletes often have lower 2D:4D ratios than people who aren't athletes. However, experts point out that this isn't true for every sport, and the effect is usually small.

Other scientists, however, question how much finger length really matters in sports. They believe it's unlikely that finger size can truly predict someone's ability to endure. Most of the research on finger ratios has only shown connections, not direct causes. More studies are needed to clearly understand why these links exist and if they have any real use in finding talent or in athletic training.

What definitely does improve your fitness, according to experts? Training. Regular exercise, both cardio and strength training, can hugely improve your heart and lung fitness. It's much more likely that your training will affect your performance than your finger length.