Healthy Habits | by Michelle Crouch, AARP, May 5, 2021, | Shield Insurance Blog | Start A Quote Today!
Science-based advice on how to become a better you as we enter a post-pandemic world
As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to roll out across the country and life slowly starts to return to normal, experts say it’s a great time to reevaluate your habits and consider making changes to improve your health and well-being. Research shows that the start of any new phase — be it the resumption of post-pandemic life, turning a year older or the invigorating days of spring — can serve as powerful psychological motivation to kick-start new habits. It’s called the fresh-start effect.
The end of the pandemic is “this momentous, collective fresh start that has all the features you need if you want to jump-start change,” says Katy Milkman, a behavioral scientist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of the new book How to Change. “Maybe you didn’t achieve your fitness goals or build better routines, but that was the ‘old you’ during the pandemic. The new you can do it in this new era.”
