10 Fun and Useful Health Tips for a Happier New Year

What changes could you make now to enhance your mental and physical health in the coming year? I'm not referring necessarily to a grand New Year's Resolution, inspiring and important as that may be. I'm referring to the small changes that may seem trivial but could create positive ripples in your life.

To find the best health tips for the new year, during 2023, I decided to collect "good news" in my usual interest areas of healthy aging, happiness, and habit change. I've defined "good news" as quick-fix actions almost anyone could take to improve health and happiness in their daily life.

Of course, sometimes you'll have to take actions for your health that require long-term planning and perseverance—like establishing an exercise routine or a healthy eating program—but it's always good to have a few relatively effortless tricks up your sleeve.

Here are 10 small action steps from my "Good News in 2023" folder:

1. Chat with acquaintances and strangers to improve your life satisfaction.

Amazing as it may sound, a recent study finds a strong correlation between brief interactions with strangers and acquaintances ("weak ties") and life satisfaction. As the researchers put it,

"We found that having conversations with strangers and weak ties, as well as simply greeting and thanking weak ties, predicted greater life satisfaction.”

Incredibly, these brief interactions have a powerful effect on happiness. If you've ever experienced the pleasure of a fun interaction with a server in a restaurant or a stranger in a line at the supermarket, you can probably confirm the truth of this study. The research is described in detail by PT blogger Gwendolyn Seidman.

The takeaway: Say hello. Thank people. Take a few minutes for small talk. You'll improve your overall well-being.

2. To reduce your risk of dementia, get vaccinated.

Last year, I wrote that getting at least one flu shot was correlated with a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Research from 2023 now indicates that other vaccinations may have a similar effect. The study, from the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, found that older adults who got diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT), herpes, or pneumococcal pneumonia vaccines were less likely to develop dementia over eight years than those who did not. Why might this happen?

Senior author Paul Schulz, M.D., hypothesized,

“The findings suggest to us that vaccination is having a more general effect on the immune system that is reducing the risk for developing Alzheimer's."

So, keep up with your vaxes; your brain will thank you.

3. Take a multivitamin every day.

For years, researchers have been hemming and hawing over the value, or lack thereof, of taking a daily multivitamin. In 2023, two new studies strongly indicated that taking a multivitamin every day is correlated with better memory in adults 60 and over. (The multivitamin used was Centrum Silver, which was donated for the purposes of the studies.) Taking multivitamins is easy to do and relatively inexpensive. So, why not do it? That advice is pretty easy to swallow.

4. Want to say no to that invitation? It probably won't ruin your relationship.

Have you ever accepted an invitation to a social event when you would have preferred to decline it? In five experiments involving 2,000 people, those whose invitation was rejected were not as upset as the "rejecters" imagined.

That was because the "inviters" tended to focus less on the rejection itself and more on why the other person couldn't make it. (The reason given in one experiment was that the invitee had had a busy day and needed to relax in the evening.) Not that inviters weren't unhappy, but the consequences were not as severe as those imagined by the invitees. For anyone who struggles to be assertive, this is good news indeed.

My takeaway: Explaining your situation can apparently help soothe the pain of rejection.

5. For better skin, lift weights.

Lifting weights (also known as strength training, resistance training, or weight training) is frequently recommended to strengthen bones, improve metabolism, reduce blood pressure, and nourish a healthy brain. Now, it appears to have yet another benefit—healthy skin.

Exercise expert Gretchen Reynolds wrote in The Washington Post of this surprising research,

“Skin is not an obvious beneficiary of exercise. We can see or feel how physical activity reshapes our muscles, heart, lungs, and other organs… But our skin?”

While both aerobic exercise and weight-lifting helped rejuvenate aging skin, weight-lifting produced more benefits, specifically by pumping up the thickness of the dermal area (the layer under the epidermis).

Because this was a small study, its conclusions need to be verified by further research. However, exercise is such a magical elixir that I would not be surprised if it benefits every cell in the body.

6. To stay on task, set a goal.

How can you stay attentive when there are distractions from within—your daydreams, for example—and without—that infernal leaf blower? This research tells us that to stay on task, try this:

1. Set a goal.
2. Make it small and specific but challenging enough to motivate you.

Researcher Matthew K. Robison said,

"Our results provide evidence that a simple and easily implementable change in behavior—setting specific goals for oneself—can significantly improve our ability to maintain task focus over time."

Personal experience and other research compels me to add that your goals can be tiny and still motivate big changes.

7. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat for five minutes.

If you would like to lift your mood and reduce your anxiety, consider a focused breathing exercise. Also called conscious or deliberate breathing, a randomized, controlled 2023 study with 108 participants practiced three different types of deliberate breathing for five minutes a day. A fourth group practiced mindfulness meditation, in which meditators observed their breathing but didn't try to control it.

After 28 days, all four groups reported more positive feelings, less anxiety, and lower heart rate. Surprisingly, the deliberate breathing exercises used in the study got better results than the mindfulness meditation group at the same time.

Is five minutes too much time for you? How about five breaths? Taking five deep, focused breaths can relieve stress, as I write here, and only takes about a minute.

8. To fight loneliness, find purpose.

In a study that surveyed 2,300 adults in Switzerland, those with a sense of purpose in life (PiL) were less lonely than those without. That's important because studies have found that loneliness may raise mortality risk. "Purpose" could include a variety of goals and activities: a meaningful hobby, receiving from or giving support to others, planning for the future, or working on a special project. While having PiL sounds like a rather grandiose goal, any meaningful activity can give you a boost.

You can find purpose at any age. Possible first steps:

1. See a career counselor or therapist.
2. Join or create a support group of others looking for the next step in their life.
3. Use the 988 helpline to find resources in your community.

9. Read, do a crossword, play cards—and lower your risk of dementia.

Whether keeping your mind active can stave off dementia is another controversial question. However, this research summary offers evidence from three 2021, 2022, and 2023 research studies that brainy activities—such as letter-writing, reading, doing crosswords and puzzles, and taking classes—can delay or reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. Why?

One answer might be that these activities boost brainpower by increasing your "cognitive reserve." Another is that mental exercise stimulates multiple parts of the brain at once. Playing games can also be helpful because social engagement is also good for the brain.

10. Watch the birds to reduce stress.

To cheat just a bit, I only recently became aware of two studies from 2022 confirming the healing power of birdsong and bird watching. The gist is that birds—watching them, listening to their songs—link us to nature and boost mental health.

In one study, researchers analyzed data from smartphones worn by 1,300 participants and "found a significant positive association between seeing or hearing birds and improved mental well-being, even when accounting for other possible explanations, such as education, occupation, or the presence of greenery and water, which have themselves been associated with positive mental health."

This benefit lasted for several hours. Another study found that just listening to birdsong reduced feelings of anxiety, depression, and paranoia.

These studies confirm and add to what we already know—that contact with nature is good for our mental and physical health.

To end on another high note, I wish you all a happy new year. May you enjoy the gifts of good health and happiness all year round.