Experts reveal the 'secret' on keeping to your New Year's resolutions this time - as figures show two thirds of people abandon theirs
Experts have revealed what they believe to be the 'secret' to maintaining your New Year's resolutions this time around, with the answer proving to be simpler than you'd expect.
Nearly one fifth of Britain is aiming to get fitter in the New Year, although just one third of people who take up a new resolution manage to see it through long enough to make it a hobby, according to new data released by YouGov.
The key metric to breaking into that motivated minority has finally been divulged by academic scholars who say that sleep is the main factor in a resolution's success or failure.
Researchers from multiple universities followed over 100 people around for a week, texting them at random times to estimate their levels tiredness.
For those who endured a bad night's sleep, they were far more likely to be engaging in habitual behaviours such as binge eating or foregoing exercise for time in front of the television.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Benjamin Gardener, the study's director and head of the Habit Application and Theory Group at the University of Surrey, said: 'When we're trying to make positive changes to our behaviour, feeling drowsy can put us at real risk of lapsing back into our old, unwanted bad habits.
'Lapsing can cause us to lose confidence in our ability to change and make us give up'.
Therefore, in summation, the study puts forward the argument that when our brains are tired, we simply switch on to autopilot as a coping mechanism and revert back to the habits we are most familiar and comfortable with.
New research has found that sleep is the most important factor in maintaining your goals for the new year
Tiredness can promote falling back on old bad habits, the survey has found
Research has also proven that tiredness can make self-control more difficult and in-turn promote falling back on old, unhealthy habits.
Fear not though, for there is some good news for those about to embark on their 2025 resolutions, whether they be fitness-based or otherwise.
Studies also reveal that once healthy habits become ingrained in the human brain, that it will then opt to repeat them even in the presence of fatigue, as they eventually seem like the easy option to your body.
The study's co-author and associate professor at the University of South Carolina Dr Amanda Rebar spoke to the survey's findings.
'Our study shows this definitively: people were more likely to act habitually when they reported feeling sleepy.
'While this can result in higher levels of good habits, it can also lead individuals to fall back on bad habits'.
Unfortunately though, over a third of Brits sleep less than six hours a night, with one fifth of the public also suffering from extreme daytime tiredness.
Reinforcing the importance of sleep in maintaining New Year's goals, Dr Rebar added: 'Feeling sleepy diminishes our ability to exert that determination over other competing desires and temptations. That can lead us to act habitually, in a way that goes against our goals.
'When our ability to control what we do is depleted by sleepiness, we tend to act more on autopilot, with minimal forethought.'
