As Apple itself recently noted, most new year’s resolutions don’t last very long. When it comes to daily gym visits and diets, so many people have given up by the second Friday in January that it has come to be known as Quitter’s Day.
But there are some steps you can take with your Apple devices that make it extremely easy to keep up new habits once you’ve done the simple prep …
Sleep tracking
Getting enough high-quality sleep is one of the biggest favors we can do for our own health. If you wear an Apple Watch, there’s a really simple way you can use it for sleep-tracking as well as all-day use.
As I discovered some years ago, you can wear an Apple Watch all night, put it on charge while you do your morning routine of showering and breakfast and so on, and then put it back on when you leave your home or start work. It will then be recharged ready for the day.
Once you’ve incorporated this into your morning routine for a week or so, it becomes automatic. If you prefer not to have to think about it, then a smart ring or simpler fitness band may be a better bet, as these go longer periods between recharges.
Zap apps and notifications for mental health
One of the biggest favors I did for my mental health was to remove time-suck apps – those that ended up taking more of my time than was justified by the pleasure or benefits I got from them – and to switch off or tone down most notifications.
You can read here about the approach I took, and it’s something I highly recommend everyone do.
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