Don’t fear failure. If you’re trying to get a new routine to stick -- whether it’s exercising more regularly, eating less sugar, or learning to play the ukulele -- scholars who study human behavior say the secret is accepting failure as a part of the process. Expect that at some point you will mess up. And when that happens, don’t give in to the “what-the-heck” effect -- the feeling that since you’ve faltered, your whole plan is a bust. Don’t beat yourself up. Just get back to taking steps toward the goal.
Whatever your goals or dreams for yourself and your family, NPR’s Shots team aims to help. Here are six “life recipes” for good mental health from research our reporters covered this year:Feeling stressed? Just eight techniques -- a “buffet of life skills” -- can make a significant improvement in well-being, say scientists who taught the techniques to caregivers of people with dementia. These family caregivers -- who learned tips on keeping a gratitude journal, for example, and how to quickly reframe negative experiences in a positive light -- reported impressive decreases in both stress and anxiety. |
| Never, ever make fun of a child or teen about their weight. Even well-intended conversations about dieting can cause long-term physical and psychological harm to overweight kids, studies show. And it backfires -- young people teased about their weight gain more weight. To help the child, therapists instead suggest the whole family eat and live healthfully. Don’t single out any individual.Many patients -- and doctors -- associate depression with feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and lack of motivation. But a growing number of psychiatrists say depression is also behind some hypercritical tendencies and outbursts of anger. The good news: This sort of irritability is responsive to counseling and medication. You can support a partner who has an anxiety disorder without sinking yourself, say therapists: First, don’t try to fix things immediately. Instead, acknowledge your loved one’s perspective. “You can move to logic, but not before the person feels like they're not being judged and ... misunderstood," says licensed psychologist Carolyn Daitch. Learning how to gently maintain boundaries is important, too. |
Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images |
| Maria Godoy, one of NPR’s editors, learned to love exercise when she realized every little bit counts. “I reframed what I thought of as exercise,” she says. Vacuuming with gusto, taking the stairs -- these little bursts of movement throughout the day add up, like pennies in a piggy bank. Having a purpose in life seems to have a more powerful impact on decreasing a person’s risk of premature death than exercising regularly or curbing drinking and smoking. Maybe you find greatest meaning in guarding the environment, raising good children, making music or touching lives through volunteer work. It doesn’t seem to matter what your life’s purpose is, a growing body of research suggests. What matters is that you feel you have one. |
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| More of this week's health stories from NPR |
We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.
May the new year bring you laughter and light.
Your Shots editors,
Emily Vaughn and Deborah Franklin
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