Make A Resolution to Make 2023 Your Healthiest Year Ever!

Make A Resolution to Make 2023 Your Healthiest Year Ever!

Stephanie Czuhajewski, MPH, CAE, Executive Director

For most of us, this season is just plain hectic. The hustle and bustle of holiday activities, mixed with frantic year-end must-dos for business owners, the mad rush to finish collecting, documenting, and submitting re-licensure requirements, all while meeting the demands of a busy clinic schedule, doesn’t leave much time for thinking about next year!

Yet, 2023 is just around the corner, and there is no better time to take action to make resolutions (and keep them) to make 2023 your healthiest year ever!

Here are three suggested New Year’s resolutions:

1. Take Care to Take Care of Yourself
Self-care isn’t selfish, it is selfless. If you don’t take care of yourself, you cannot care for your loved ones, your patients, or your business. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, self-care means, “taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health.” Self-care includes things like eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep (you know, the things that keep you alive, alert, and agile enough to escape predators). It also includes activities to manage stress, burnout, and support mental well-being.

One important self-care tool is mindfulness. I encourage you to read, An Introduction to Mindfulness for Audiologists, by Dr. Carolyn Smaka, beginning page 16 of this issue of Audiology Practices for an overview of mindfulness and how you can use mindfulness to improve your wellbeing.

2. Give to Others to Get a Health Boost
Studies demonstrate that the act of giving, either through volunteer service to others or through donating resources to social causes can improve well-being. Health benefits associated with giving and volunteering include increased self-esteem, lower rates of depression, lower blood pressure, lower rates of reported stress, and longer life.

If you are looking for meaningful ways to give or give back to the profession of audiology, consider mentoring a student, or an early career professional, volunteer for an audiology mission trip, and join an ADA committee or sign up to lobby for pro-audiology initiatives in your state or federally.

3. Go Beyond and Grow Your Skills
Learning something new promotes a healthy you! Evidence shows that learning new skills improves memory, confidence, and supports brain health and wellbeing. The skill doesn’t have to be workrelated to be effective. Take up a new hobby or master a new game. Take an art class or a foreign language. Read poetry if you typically read non-fiction. You may also find that the things you learn outside of your normal sphere, will spark new creative ideas that you can apply to your clinical or business pursuits.

When it comes to audiology education in 2023, make a resolution to reduce your intake of “fatty” content--and instead, go beyond! Make plans to go to AuDacity 2023, Go Beyond, which will be held November 2-5, 2023, in Bonita Springs, Florida, and take your clinical and business practices beyond!

AuDacity, Go Beyond, will combine unmatched learning opportunities and unrivaled social activities to help you build your network, your clinical expertise, and your business. Meet new people and new ideas, while meeting up with old friends in a beautiful, rejuvenating setting!

Here’s to a Healthy, Happy 2023! ■

References

  • Davidson, R.J. et al (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation.Psychosom.Med 65, 564-570.
  • Holzel B.K., Carmody J, Vangel M. Congleton C., Yerramsetti S.M. Gard T., Lazar S.W. Mindfulness practice leads to increase in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jan 30; 191 (1): 36-43. Doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.08.006.
  • Moore A. Gruber T., Derose J. Malinowski P. Regular, brief mindfulness meditation practice improves electrophysiological markers of attentional control. Front Hum Neurosci. 2012 Feb 10:6:18. Doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00018.
  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Website. Caring for Your Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/caring-foryour- mental-health. Accessed on November 25, 2022.
  • Aknin, L. B., Dunn, E. W., Whillans, A. V., Grant, A. M., & Norton, M. I. (2013). Making a difference matters: Impact unlocks the emotional benefits of prosocial spending. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 88, 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2013.01.008.
  • Lawton, R.N., Gramatki, I., Watt, W. et al. Does Volunteering Make Us Happier, or Are Happier People More Likely to Volunteer? Addressing the Problem of Reverse Causality When Estimating the Wellbeing Impacts of Volunteering. J Happiness Stud 22, 599–624 (2021). https://doi. org/10.1007/s10902-020-00242-8
  • Binder, M., & Freytag, A. (2013). Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy. Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 97–119. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2012.11.008.
  • Borgonovi, F. (2008). Doing well by doing good. The relationship between formal volunteering and self-reported health and happiness. Social Science and Medicine, 66(11), 2321–2334.
  • Richard Waller, Steven Hodge, John Holford, Marcella Milana & Sue Webb (2018) Adult education, mental health and mental wellbeing, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37:4, 397-400, DOI: 10.1080/02601370.2019.1533064.
  • Association for Psychological Science. “Learning new skills keeps an aging mind sharp.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 October 2013.