Countless central Ohioans will make New Year’s resolutions next month pledging to exercise more, eat better or lose weight.

But experts say that other, less tangible goals are also important, such as finding the right work/life balance, reducing stress, prioritizing mental health, or dropping bad habits such as smoking or excessive drinking.

“I wish stress reduction came up more” in conversations with patients, said Jennifer Middleton, a family medicine physician for OhioHealth. “I think prioritizing mental health is something that a lot of us neglect.”

Achieving these unconventional resolutions, however, isn't easy or simple. 

The path to improved mental health or a life with fewer destructive habits can depend on the individual, but experts said there are a few good ways to get started.

And they stressed that a healthy life starts with a healthy mind.

“If your mental health is not optimized, it makes it so much harder to succeed at other things,” Middleton said.  “If you want to quit smoking, if you want to eat healthier, you have to first be in a place where you are able to think and make good decisions.”

Know why you’re doing it

The first step to accomplishing any goal is understanding what you really want, experts say.

A New Year’s resolution to eat right and exercise, for example, likely has more to do with living a healthier lifestyle.

“If you don't have a clear sense of why, it can be difficult to sustain the effort to make any sort of change,” said Jennifer Middleton, a family medicine physician at OhioHealth.

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Motivation is another significant piece of the puzzle. When patients come to Middleton with resolutions or goals, “one of the first things I'll do is try to assess how confident they are that they can make the change, and how important it is to them that they make the change,” she said.

The answers give physicians the information they need to come up with a personalized plan.

“You have to make sure folks really are ready to make the change before they do specific planning,” she said.

How to get started

For many people, finding the underlying reasons behind problematic behaviors is a key first step, Middleton said.

If a patient can say “here are places that tempt me to pick up a cigarette or tempt me to pick up a drink again, they've already got a plan to help them succeed,” she said.

In terms of reducing stress or improving mental health, people need to identify the facets of their work and home lives that cause stress in the first place, Middleton said.

“Understanding first the things that are stressful helps us better tailor our strategies,” she said.

The physician said she also asks patients what they’ve tried in the past and determines why those strategies didn’t work, and what tactics might work better.

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Continuing habits

Regan Walsh, a business and career coach based out of the Short North, said there is one tactic that can both reduce stress and improve your productivity: breaks from work.

Countless pages of research shows that workers get more done if they have a full lunch break or take short breaks regularly throughout the day.

“People who play regularly are going to be more creative, more invigorated, and more effective,” she said.

Walsh also stressed the importance of breaking out of a regular routine and doing something spontaneous.

Such excursions can be small, such as a 15-minute walk in the middle of the day.

But Walsh also recalls a weekend trip to King’s Island amusement park near Cincinnati after an especially stressful week of work.

“It was one of the most joyful days, and just by breaking the cycle, it gave us so much of our life back,” she said.

pcooley@dispatch.com

@PatrickACooley