HEALTH WATCH: Get Up, Give Up

WITH vague recollections of the previous night’s revelry and your body showing the ravages of the party season – the early hours of New Year’s day feels like the worst possible time to start radically changing your life.

Assuming, like most eager resolutionaries, you leave it until you’ve woken up the next day to begin your lifestyle makeover, where should you turn, bleary-eyed and hungover, to begin the path to health and happiness – especially if you’ve failed in the past?

This year, tell yourself it’ll be different – and mean it. 2005 could be the year for a newly invigorated, and revitalised you.

STUB IT OUT

Smoking bans are gaining momentum across the world, and the UK is following suit. You’ve always intended to give up, so why not stop before you’re forced to?

Counsellor Brian Jones from charity QUIT says once you’ve decided to give up, you need to find something else to do at the times you would be smoking.

“If people are ready to quit we often suggest they develop a personal plan to help them quit.”

While the long-term benefits with reduced cancer and heart disease risks are well documented, Jones says there are other health benefits that you will notice immediately.

“Your blood pressure and heart rate will return to normal, and so will your blood oxygen levels within a very short period.

“The nicotine will leave your body within 48 hours and your ability to taste and smell, and your breathing will also improve.”

While the NHS can provide you with patches, gum or other nicotine replacement therapy, or even non-nicotine based drugs to help you give up, you must really want to stop. ” None of these products are miracle cures in themselves, so people still need that determination and motivation to quit.”

SLEEP

Having enough sleep can make a huge impact on your health. Sleeping well means having more energy, and feeling better, so you can fit more into your day, and feel better doing it.

Professor Jim Horne, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University says if you’re not getting enough sleep, it’s probably your own fault.

“Generally if we’re having too little sleep it’s self-imposed. People have things they want to do in the evening and these can get in the way of your sleep.

“The biggest factor is your state of mind when you go to bed – if you’re at peace with the world you can probably sleep on a park bench.”

However, Professor Horne adds that there are simple ways to improve your sleep patterns.

* Don’t lie there if you can’t sleep – get up and do something in another room.

* Keep the bedroom for sleeping rather than a place of entertainment

* Always get up at the same time in the morning. Even if you go to bed late, don’t have a long lie-in.

* Don’t nap for longer than about 15 minutes

DUMP YOUR DIET

Some three million Brits took up the Atkins diet when it caught the public eye, and some found it helped them shed the pounds and still eat the fatty foods they wanted.

But 2004 has been the year of the Atkins backlash, as dieters, and nutritionists, have weighed in against the controversial programme.

* Celebrity Big Brother and Chicago star Claire Sweeney blames Atkins for a kidney infection that caused her to collapse. * Atkins is blamed for flatulence. Dieter and Pop Idol judge Neil Fox blames the diet for making him break wind more often.

* Experts say low-carb, high-fat regimes can cause nutritional deficiency, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

* Government diet experts say a balanced diet, which includes carbohydrates like potatoes and bread, is the best way to stay healthy.

ALCOHOL

Few of us would consider dumping alcohol entirely, and doctors say there are some health benefits to the right kind of modest tipple. However, cutting out binge drinking, or cutting down on your alcohol intake can improve your health without destroying your social life.

* Know what you want to do. Whether it’s drying out completely or not binge drinking, set your goal and plan accordingly. * Start on a day you’re not likely to be offered alcohol, and buy alternatives to fill your drinks’ cabinet at home.

* Health benefits include lower blood pressure, less chance of a stroke, developing liver problems or coronary heart disease or getting cancer or diabetes.

* Even if you don’t get any of those very serious illnesses, alcohol can also be to blame for sleep deprivation, depression and anxiety.

Drinking less means you can can concentrate more, sleep better and suffer less headaches.

DON’T GIVE UP GIVING UP

Whatever it is you’re trying to change about your life, experts say you have to really want the change if you’re going to carry it through. “Only take on what you’re really prepared to commit to. Saying you want to do something because it would be quite nice isn’t enough. It won’t happen,” says lifestyle coach Nicola Bunting.

“It’s better to make fewer resolutions which you’ll actually follow through.”

* Be specific. Saying ‘I want to lose weight’ isn’t specific enough. Say to yourself: ‘I’m going to lose half a stone by March.’

* Set yourself a measurable time frame:

Make sure your goals are measurable, and realistic. There’s no point saying: ‘I’m going to go to the gym five times a week,’ if you already have a busy schedule. Ask yourself what you can do realistically and by when. Then break it down into intermediate points.

* Tell your friends. But only if it’s realistic – otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for being tormented.

* The NHS Quit Smoking Hotline is on 0800 169 0169

* Contact QUIT, the stop smoking charity, on 0800 002 200, visit www.quit.org.uk or email stopsmoking@quit.org.uk

* Nicola Bunting is a personal and professional coach at her company La Vita Nuova. For more information see www.la-vita-nuova. com, email nicola@lavitanuova. com or call 0845 222 0258.

* Contact Alcoholics Anonymous on 0845 769 7555.