10 New Year’s Resolutions for a Healthier You in 2025

I recently published a post mocking funny New Year’s Resolution failures to get a good laugh and prepare us for the new year. But who said we can make and achieve realistic New Year’s resolutions? With the right information and tips, you can achieve your New Year’s resolutions and feel super satisfied at the end of the new year.

Do you want to live healthier this new year? This post contains some top New Year’s health resolutions to help you achieve your health goals this new year.

To make it more interesting, I stumbled across some healthful New Year’s resolutions on the World Health Organization’s website. These resolutions emphasize daily routines that are beneficial to overall health and vitality. If you desire to live healthier this New Year, these are resolutions you should make and work towards achieving.

10 New Year Health Resolutions for 2025

Working towards achieving these New Year’s resolutions can enhance your physical fitness, weight control, immunity, and other aspects of health, as you will see below. The information here is fact-checked against current research and WHO publications.

1. Exercise regularly

Many people make vague New Year’s goals and resolutions without specifying actionable steps to achieve them, which is why most do not achieve the resolutions they make.

A survey of 1,000 US adults by Forbes Health and OnePoll in October 2023 showed that nearly 48% of respondents maintained physical fitness as one of their top resolutions for the new year.^[1]Top New Year’s Resolutions For 2024 – Forbes Health But in addition to physical fitness, regular exercise has many other health benefits.

Current literature has provided sufficient evidence to support the role of physical activity in preventing chronic diseases and premature death. Regular physical activity acts as a primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers, hypertension, obesity, depression, and osteoporosis, as well as prevention of premature death.^[2]Warburton D.E, Nicol C.W, Bredin S.S. “Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence”. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2006

You can try being more consistent with physical exercises, such as weight-bearing muscle-building exercises, aerobics like swimming, cycling, and gymnastics. Exercise has both short-term and long-term benefits on your heart and entire body system.

2. Balanced and healthy diet

Dietary modification is a compelling way to achieve excellent health all year round this new year. This is so much that Hippocrates, the renowned father of medicine, clearly stated in his teachings “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”, emphasizing the importance of proper nutrition in the prevention and treatment of many diseases.^[3]Reddy, Koushik R. et al. 2024. “Food Is Medicine: The Time Is Now.” The American Journal of Medicine. Vol 137

Epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that special dietary patterns reduce the risks of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer. The nutritional patterns include Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diets.^[4]Cena H, Calder PC. “Defining a Healthy Diet: Evidence for The Role of Contemporary Dietary Patterns in Health and Disease“. Nutrients Journal. Jan 2020.

Eating healthy is a rational decision. Even though money can significantly determine how healthy an individual’s diet is, studies have shown that healthy foods are generally cheaper than junk/unhealthy foods. This has been verified by a survey conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, which shows that sometimes healthier food is consistently cheaper than unhealthy processed foods.^[5]Andrea Carlson & Elizabeth Frazão. Are Healthy Foods Really More Expensive? It Depends on How You Measure the Price. 2012. USDA ERS.

Instead of junk and snacks, prioritize whole foods and non-processed foods. Including adequate vegetables and whole fruits in your diet can enrich your body with sufficient minerals, vitamins, and fiber. Processed sugar, beverages with artificial sweeteners, etc., may be unhealthier and more expensive than healthier options.

A balanced diet is not primarily about quantity but quality. Prioritize having a balanced diet and avoid overfeeding and other unhealthy feeding habits. In addition, intermittent fasting may be more beneficial than binge or overeating.

3. Quit tobacco or vape

Smoking harms almost every organ of the body and is regarded as a major risk factor in the development of lung cancer, which is the main cause of cancer deaths in men and women in the United States and the world at large. Smoking is also strongly associated with cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).^[6]Health Effects of Smoking – American Lung Association^[7]Saha S.P, Bhalla D.K, Whayne T.F. Jr, Gairola C. “Cigarette smoke and adverse health effects: An overview of research trends and future needs.” 2007. International Journal of Angiology.

Tobacco smoking kills over 8 million people a year around the world. More than 7 million of these deaths result from direct tobacco use while around 1.3 million involve non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke, what is referred to as passive smoking. Not only does tobacco smoking increase the risks of disease and death among smokers but it also does the same for non-smokers who frequently get exposed to tobacco smoke.^[8]Tobacco – World Health Relationship

With the right determination and information, you can successfully achieve your New Year resolution to quit smoking and avoid its deleterious health consequences. If needed, recovery centers and rehabilitation counselors may be helpful.

4. Limit alcohol intake

Alcohol is a risk factor for several non-communicable diseases like cardiomyopathy, hypertension, arrhythmias, liver and pancreatic diseases, and even cancers in several organs of the body. Cancers of the head, neck, pharynx, liver cancer, breast cancer, esophageal, and colorectal cancers are strongly associated with alcohol abuse.^[9]Alcohol’s Effects on the Body – National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

The World Health Organization stated that there is no safe amount of alcohol that does not affect health. Currently, available evidence cannot indicate the existence of a threshold at which carcinogenesis begins in the body.^[10]No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health – World Health Organization International Thus, limiting alcohol consumption will be a New Year resolution that will boost your overall health and prolong your life.

5. Adequate hydration

If you did not adequately rehydrate in the outgoing year, now is a great time to make a resolution to do so this new year. Drinking water regularly helps maintain normal body weight, aids in optimal functioning of body cells, organs, and tissues, and aids in circulation, among other things.

Based on the estimated body daily fluid loss, adult and elderly men need about 2500-3700L while women require 2000-3000L daily for optimal body functioning. This may be higher depending on your level of physical activity, physiologic state, or extreme weather conditions (hotness and low humidity).^[11]Armstrong, Lawrence & Johnson, Evan. (2018). Water Intake, Water Balance, and the Elusive Daily Water Requirement. Nutrients.

Adequate water intake also benefits your kidneys by preventing perfusion-related kidney injury, the formation of kidney stones, ensuring optimal excretion of metabolic wastes that would harm the kidneys.^[12]Healthy Hydration and Your Kidneys – National Kidney Foundation

6. Get adequate sleep

Sleep is important for your overall health and immunity and helps boost your memory and productivity. Sleep is the body’s natural way to refresh itself and restore your energy balance, and not getting enough of it can lead to immune and physiologic breakdown.^[13]The Benefits of Slumber, 2013 – NIH News in Health

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends a daily sleep requirement of at least 7 hours (average 7-8) for adults 18 years and above. Children and teens need more hours of sleep a day compared to adults.^[14]How Much Sleep Do You Need? – Sleep Foundation

Research shows that lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, and infections by modulating stress hormones that affect body weight, control blood pressure, and boosting body immunity through tissue repair.^[15]Ibid. NIH News in Health, 2013

Growth Hormone (GH) is secreted in a pulsatile pattern that peaks shortly after sleep onset.^[16]Van Cauter E, Plat L. Physiology of growth hormone secretion during sleep”. J Pediatr. 1996 Growth hormone is primarily responsible for growth and bone development.

GH also impacts metabolism by up-regulating the production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and its subsequent effect on target cells including the pancreas. Thus, ongoing research suggests that lack of sleep can produce diabetic-like conditions in otherwise healthy people.^[17]Brinkman J.E, Tariq M.A, Leavitt L, et al. Physiology, Growth Hormone. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: … Continue reading^[18]Ibid., NIH News in Health, 2013

7. See the doctor more often

In some parts of the world, health-seeking behavior is sub-optimal. The result is unfavorable health outcomes, increased morbidity, and mortality from preventable causes. Poor health-seeking behavior is particularly prevalent in poor resource countries and low-income individuals.^[19]Latunji O.O, Akinyemi O.O. “Factors influencing health-seeking behaviour among civil servants in Ibadan, Nigeria“. Ann Ib Postgrad Med. 2018

Rather than take unnecessary health risks this new year, resolve to see your doctor more regularly, especially when you have a concerning health challenge no matter how small it might seem.

Whether it’s a recurrent/persistent fever or retractible symptoms that refuse to resolve, see the doctor early before the condition becomes more serious and life-threatening.

8. Use antimicrobials the right way

Antibiotic resistance has become a major health problem globally. This is largely because of gross antibiotic abuse.

Individuals in several parts of the world self-prescribe antibiotics and antimicrobials for illnesses that do not require such antibiotics, resulting in microbial resistance that affects the antibiotic’s effect when it is needed.

Living more healthfully in the New Year will require you to be more judicious in using antibiotics. Ensure that you get a prescription before using any antibiotics, or you know a lot about the condition and the antibiotics before taking over-the-counter medications.

9. Prioritize your mental health

Numerology predictions for the year 2024 suggested that maintaining mental and emotional health would be paramount to achieving success that year and this was largely true, retrospectively. However, the outgoing year is not the only year to prioritize your mental health, the new year is too.

External factors may threaten your inner peace and joy, but you must always keep a positive mindset. Rather than allowing environmental influences to ruin your mind and emotions, choose to stay happy always.

Prioritize self-love, get rest and sleep when you need to, and ensure to avoid triggers that threatens your inner peace.

10. Practice safe sex

Safe sex or safer sex refers to precautionary measures that protect you or your partner from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancy. It refers to the idea that unprotected sexual intercourse is a high-risk activity for STIs, and unplanned pregnancy and its sequelae. Thus, interventions need to be put in place to prevent these outcomes.

The principles of safer sex begin with having a faithful partner with whom you can have sexual intercourse. Use condoms each time you have sex with your partner when you are not married. Thirdly, use contraceptives like spermicides, in addition to condoms.

Other guidelines for safer include regular testing for STIs, avoidance of alcohol and substance abuse as these increase your chances of participating in high-risk sexual activity, regular pelvic examinations, PAP smear tests in women. Women should also avoid douching after sex as that increases the likelihood of acquiring STIs and pelvic infections.

Sexual relationships should be with explicit consent and free from coercion, discrimination, and violence for physical, psychological, and biological safety.

Final words

If you want to live healthier this 2025, here are 10 important New Year resolutions for you. These will benefit your health and other aspects of your life that depend on it.

Which of these healthful New Year resolutions resonate well with you, and which have you practiced the same year?

Happy New Year!