Written by Andrew van Baal:
New Year, New Me? So say millions of people across the world upon the resetting of our Mayan calendar system on the night of December 31. New Year’s resolutions have been happening for thousands of years, but as of the past few decades, they seem to take a similar shape from person to person. I will attempt to take a thorough look at what patterns and interesting statistics New Year’s resolutions are generating as of late and offer my own take on potential explanations for both the consistencies and the shifts.
FIRST STAT: 1.33
1.33 months – or 40 days – is the estimated amount of time that it takes for Americans to “fall off the wagon,” hence the name “Fall of the Wagon Day.” This day represents the point of convergence in which the number of weekly reported visits to a fast food restaurant exceeds the number of weekly visits to the gym. This is by no means a statistic representative of everyone; Strava – a fitness tracking app – reports that 94% of users remain active 9 months after starting to log activity in the New Year, a much more optimistic statistic. However, the typical user of the Strava app may be one who is more prone to staying active than someone who just tracks fitness through a more generic tracker such as FitBit or Apple Watch or a free app such as Apple Fitness and Nike Fitness. I, for one, know that Strava has somewhat of a “crunchy” reputation, so maybe my perception can aid in the understanding that their users may just be more active in general, but a study would need to be conducted for assurance. I’d be interested to see when “Fall of the Wagon Day” falls for U-M students given the myriad of factors at play on campus currently: a closed CCRB as well as the lack of typical ‘fast food’ options available in Ann Arbor (one can only dream of the simple pleasure of being able to walk to a McDonalds or Chick-Fil-A after class). These factors, combined with the busyness of reorienting ourselves to new semester schedules, make me interested in chatting with students about their “Fall of the Wagon Day”.
SECOND STAT: 1/3
37%, or more than one-third, of Americans have created some sort of goal or resolution for themselves to pursue in the year 2023. While these goals take various forms, I found this percentage of people making resolutions lower than I anticipated. So, I decided to look back 10 years and see if people’s resolution-setting habits and frequency have changed. According to a study analyzed by Pew Research in 2013, trends show that people are making fewer resolutions, down from 44% or almost half of Americans doing so 10 years ago. Why is this? I found myself considering if I was going to make goals or resolutions to start the new year. While I have habits I would like to cultivate in a more meaningful way, I was not keen on setting somewhat idealistic goals such as ‘saving money’ just to say I set them. I find habit-cultivating much more meaningful than making grandiose resolutions – maybe this is a thought pattern that others share with me, explaining the decrease in resolutions being made. Or maybe it reflects the rather grim state of our society today, sucking the hope out of fulfilling resolutions.
THIRD STAT: 45
This is the percentage of people that are making mental health their top New Year’s Resolution this year, according to a Forbes Health study. I see this as a clear result of finally emerging out of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we all seek this in a world that is requiring us to return to normalcy. What made this statistic even more interesting was that more people are making mental health their main focus entering 2023 than simply improving fitness, of which 39% of respondents indicated was their top priority. This could be because mental health is more all-encompassing; self-care can look like taking care of yourself both in the gym and outside of it, from going on runs to journaling before bed. Physical activity falls into the category of mental health benefits. I am again wondering if my aforementioned idea of a more habit-cultivating headspace is capturing the minds of more and more resolution-makers, drawing attention away from a solely fitness focus and towards a holistic and gentler approach to self-improvement.
CONCLUSION
Resolutions for a new year continue to be a source of statistical intrigue for many, including myself. Habits and the psychological trends behind the anticipated ‘life reset’ that a new year brings provide an interesting glimpse into how people go about their self-improvement journeys, and potentially how to strengthen them by making more attainable, realistic, and holistic goals. It seems as if people are more apt to setting goals on their own time as we look forward to the future. Maybe that is not a bad thing, but we have a long way to go to escape this cycle – the grip of Planet Fitness’ New Year’s deals.