6 Health Goals to Consider for the Last Half of the Year

It’s been a long time since you made those New Year’s resolutions, and most of them are probably long forgotten. Maybe you decided to eat healthier and work out more or keep better track of your spending and savings. Perhaps you simply made a goal to manage your time better.

If you’ve let go of your resolutions, you may be inclined to forget about them until next year. But you don’t need to wait until January 1st to decide to make a change in your life. You can start in the middle of summer. Here are six health goals you can set today.

1. Streamline Your Healthcare

A 2017 survey stated that 55% of Americans regularly take prescription medication. Since then, that number has only gotten higher. Prescription drugs help manage both short- and long-term conditions, but balancing medications can be tricky, expensive, and stressful to manage.

One way to simplify your prescriptions is to automate them. You won’t have to worry about calling your pharmacy for a refill. Plus, an auto-filled prescription means you won’t run out of medication before you need more.

Many of your prescriptions can be ordered online and delivered right to your doorstep. How much easier is that than visiting your doctor and pharmacy every time you need a refill?

Take something common and essential for millions of people, like birth control. You can get a consultation and receive your regular doses using online telehealth platforms, all on your preferred smart device.

2. Start Logging Your Meals

It can be easy to indulge sometimes. Unfortunately, overeating can make it difficult to pursue your health goals. A proper diet is a necessary component of losing weight, getting stronger, lowering cholesterol, and improving athletic performance.

To help watch what you eat, set a goal to log your daily meals. Download a free app to your smartphone or grab a notebook to get started.

An app will be a lot easier because it will automatically track calories, carbs, and other nutritional information. This way, you won’t have to look up nutritional information or write it down. Oftentimes you can even scan a barcode to upload items from your meal to your device.

Logging your meals will keep you accountable for what you’re putting into your body. If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll be able to better limit your calorie intake. You can also list your carbs to know when you’re reaching your daily limit.

3. Improve Your Sleep Habits

When it comes to setting health goals, eating and exercise are often the first things that come to mind. However, your sleep habits are just as important when it comes to your overall health. Sleep allows your body to properly recover. It also provides an opportunity to regain energy and better control your emotional health.

The first step to better sleep health is to make sure you get enough sleep. The average adult should log between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. There are a lot of reasons you might not be getting enough sleep.

You might elect to stay up too late to watch TV or maybe you participate in a rough work schedule. See if you can make some changes so you can get to bed earlier.

That leads us to the next step. Your health goal can be to establish and follow a better sleep routine. Set a curfew for yourself, stop bringing your smartphone to bed, and wake up at a reasonable hour. Starting habits now will put you in a great position to start 2022.

4. Prioritize Mental Health

COVID-19 caused a lot of people to prioritize their physical health more. The pandemic also turned a spotlight toward mental health and its importance to overall health. One of the greatest things you can do this year is prioritize your mental health.

While mental health certainly has some chemical, tangible aspects to it, prioritizing mental health is still an abstract concept. Everyone struggles with different issues that require individual mental health solutions. Some thrive on spending time outdoors, while others need counseling and medication to monitor and regulate their emotional state.

The bottom line is that struggling with mental health is nothing to be ashamed of. Develop a personal mental health plan to start prioritizing yourself today. Maybe you need to take advantage of alone time on the weekends or pursue a hobby more intently. Whatever it is, make 2021 the year you made mental health a top priority.

5. Get Rid of Vices

Everyone has a vice; some are just more detrimental than others. Alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and drug use are expensive habits that decimate your physical and mental health with heavy, prolonged use.

There are other vices you might not recognize immediately that you should look for in yourself. Compulsive spending, gambling, hoarding, and eating are examples of bad habits and lifestyles that you could do without.

Set a goal to kick vices to the curb by the end of the year. Get a friend to hold you accountable for your actions and try to replace your bad habits with new ones. Go on a jog when you feel like a cigarette or invest your money instead of hitting up the casino.

6. Live Outside of the Screen

With constant advances in technology, it’s all too easy to get sucked into electronics. Social media, video games, and news apps all command our attention with notifications, achievements, and the fear of missing out.

While technology has its merits, prolonged screen time can affect your relationships. It could also damage your mental health or be a detriment to your physical health by cutting into exercise time. It’s better to control your screen time so it’s not running your life for you.

Learning not to pick up your phone every time you’re feeling bored is hard. It will take patience and diligence to pull off. Start by planning other activities, stop carrying your phone with you around the house, and set no-screen times and zones. You can live a more fulfilling life by embracing who and what’s directly in front of you.

What health goals do you want to accomplish by 2022? Write them down and create a plan. Over the next several months you’ll be able to reach your goals or at least have them within arm’s reach.