Five top tips for New Year’s health, diet, and fitness resolutions that really work.

If you’re already committed to a path to an Olympic gold medal or a marathon run, good for you! For the rest of us, there’s this practical evidence-based advice for our New Year resolutions — to feel better and fitter without spending a ton of money or time. So, here’s our newsletter’s annual look at five key areas of wellness concern. Yes, even in the face of a stubborn and lethal coronavirus pandemic, we can make 2022 a healthier year.

Alas, even while trying to work from home and multitasking like crazy, too many of us still sit too much. We’ve grown sedentary — and our health suffers. We need to get out of our chairs and off the sofas. We need to get and stay moving. This may mean forgoing a few vehicle trips or elevator rides. Instead, build in more walks, whether around the block a couple of times at lunch or up and down the stairs in the house or at the office. Take activity breaks, especially when you must hunker down to concentrate on a project. Don’t stare at a blinking screen for hours at a time without pausing to jump up, dash to take care of a few chores or to grab a glass of water or tea. Stretch your legs and clear your mind.

That fancy new fitness tracker you got for the holidays may help prod you to move more. Don’t become obsessive, though, especially about that 10,000-steps-per-day goal: It was developed as a Japanese marketing gimmick. As you step up your movement (hey, it could be called exercising, and it has demonstrated cognitive and health benefits), you may find yourself feeling chipper enough to do more. Think about gradually boosting the intensity and duration of your efforts, broadening your regimen to include weight and resistance work and stretching and flexibility. Try various other kinds of activities (if you’re a swimmer, add in some walking, or if you’re a walker, throw in some dancing or cycling). Think about including friends, colleagues, and family in your workouts. You’ll find quickly that moderate exercise can be mood-enhancing and so pleasant that you will not only sustain but also increase your movement.

Who wouldn’t be wealthy by now if we had a dime for every friend or family member who launched a New Year diet plan, only to see it crash within a few weeks? The “I’m too fat and I’ll lose a ton fast” efforts can be unhealthy as well as unsuccessful.

Weight loss is tough, and for many it may not be the right goal. Instead of just focusing on pounds and negative notions about individual foodstuffs, health-seekers should think about eating in quality ways, at regular times, in reduced portions. Eliminate excess sugar, salt, and saturated fats, especially in red and processed meat. Instead, add more safe and sustainable seafood, plant-based foods, including nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Grownups can boost youngsters’ lifetime habits by preventing them from getting addicted early to sugary treats and drinks, fatty fast food, and other products aptly described as junk. By eating sensibly — without excess snacking or high-calorie, low-nutrition food — individuals may see the weight control and improved health they strive for so unsuccessfully with expensive fad or hokum diets.

By careful menu planning and focusing on nutritious meals, most of us can and should forgo the array of vitamins and supplements that too many consumers spend way too much money on — without evidence of any benefit. For those who insist on a new diet, the folks at U.S. News and World Report, who rank everything except the quality of tropical sunsets, put out annual ratings of weight-control eating plans, with explanations of how their chosen experts figure their results.

Those regular trips to the Land of Nod play a vital part in keeping us mentally and physically well. Sound sleep helps maintain brain health, as well as allow the body to renew and repair itself. It is vital to helping youngsters grow up strong and for adults to function at their peak. But modern living — whether due to work and life worry, pandemic stress, unrealistic schedules, or the intrusion of electronic devices — has undermined our needed rest with serious consequences.

To turn this around, don’t rely on drugs or alcohol, with their negative effects. Do wind down the day at a regular time, especially for kids, and with a well-understood routine. This means shutting everything down an hour before lights out — all smartphones and other electronic devices, along with the hullabaloo they drag into what should be a calm bedroom (Eeeps, work demands! Ack, scary movies! Gaaa, violent video games!) Maybe a warm bath and a small cup of milk, cocoa, or warming noncaffeinated beverage helps you to snooze. A little soporific reading? Keep your environs quiet, dark, and at a comfortable temperature. While everyone’s feeling warm and snuggly for the holidays, it may be time for challenging talk about your night life — whether you and your four-footed companions and even your beloved partner are well served, sleep-wise, by sharing a crowded bed. Babies and teens, of course, can drive grownups to distraction with their unique sleep needs. Talk to your pediatrician, please. And do seek medical advice if you can’t get great sleep, especially if your intimates say you toss and turn way too much and sound like a sawmill at full tilt.

The coronavirus pandemic has taken a terrible toll on the world mentally, physically, and spiritually, forcing us all to reconsider what’s most valuable to us and how we want to live our best lives. It also has led many, many of us to double down and acknowledge that we need to put urgent efforts into bolstering our resilience — our capacity to dig in and bounce back. It will be sorely tested in the days ahead, so consider what the New York Times reported:

“The tools common to resilient people are optimism (that is also realistic), a moral compass, religious or spiritual beliefs, cognitive and emotional flexibility, and social connectedness. The most resilient among us are people who generally don’t dwell on the negative, who look for opportunities that might exist even in the darkest times … Research has shown that dedication to a worthy cause or a belief in something greater than oneself — religiously or spiritually — has a resilience-enhancing effect, as does the ability to be flexible in your thinking.”

Too many people have tried to deal with isolation, loneliness, economic, and other problems with alcohol and drugs, leading to record overdoses and deaths. The surge of addiction and debilitation due to opioid abuse is unacceptable, as is the damage from misuse of other prescription medications, alcohol, and street drugs (especially a surge in marijuana and other intoxicants tainted with even tiny doses of lethal fentanyl, a synthetic opioid). As 2022 launches, many people will resolve to reduce their intoxicant intake — and this is a good step, especially if it also helps to slash deaths on the nation’s roads. To help all of us bounce back better in the new year, it will be important to at least try steps outlined in this newsletter. But if you also need mental health support, reach out to expert providers. They may be overwhelmed. Be persistent. Consider telehealth services or sage counsel from clergy. You may benefit from talking with a wise, trusted relative, friend, or colleague. Don’t engage in self-destructive behaviors. Ask for help, please.

When researchers reported that loneliness kills, the finding startled many. But the insight has been painfully and powerfully reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic. It has emphasized with urgency the importance of building and maintaining relationships with an array of others to safeguard our own mental and physical health. Humans have thrived across the millennia by relying on each other for mutual benefit and developing a collective altruism that allows civilization to advance.

At the individual level, too many loved ones saw how public health measures left seniors, especially, locked up, withering, and alone in nursing homes and other long-term care institutions. The return to normality, post-pandemic — yes, that time will come — will not be full until more of us restore our range of relationships and our capacities to deal well with others. We can communicate online with zeal, Zooming from dawn to dusk. But we also need to resume our patient, empathetic, concerned, and compassionate dealings IRL (in real life) with family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and people who provide us with the goods and services that make American lives so privileged. By helping others, we help ourselves build critical relationships. We also need to maintain the rare intimacy that the pandemic caused us to experience with our loved ones as we stayed close to home. We’ve got relationship work aplenty in the days ahead, knowing this can only benefit our wellbeing.