By Pam Molnar

Author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, “Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.” Make 2025 the year you will challenge yourself to finally make your health a priority. 

Improve Your Sleep According to the Sleep Foundation, adults should have at least seven hours of sleep each night. A good night’s rest boosts your immune system, improves your cognitive and mental health and lowers your risk for serious health problems like heart disease. 

Challenge yourself to add time slowly­ ­—15 minutes more a night until you reach your goal. If you are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime, disconnect electronic devices, and adjust the temperature to make the room cooler. Try these apps for better sleep: Calm, Headspace, or Stella Sleep.

Dry January As much as we probably hate to admit it, we overdid it this holiday season. Moderate alcohol drinking is defined as two or fewer daily drinks for men and one or fewer daily drinks for women per the CDC. Dry January is a public health initiative launched in 2013 by Alcohol Change UK, challenging you to remove alcohol from your diet for 31 days. People completing the challenge report better sleep, weight loss, and money savings. To get you through this cold turkey challenge, try mocktails or alcohol-free beer and wine. Dry January apps to keep track of your progress include Try Dry or Drinker’s Helper.

10,000 Steps Walking 10,000 steps is the equivalent of approximately five miles. That sounds like a huge undertaking, but the Mayo Clinic reported that most adults walk 3,000-4,000 steps just doing things around the house and at work. While everyone’s pace is different, a 30-minute walk is roughly 2,000 to 3,000 steps. Start your journey with a 30-minute walk with the dog or a friend and expand on it until you get to 10,000. Try these apps to track progress: Charity Miles, Map My Walk, or Footpath.

Drinking Water We all know what is good for us, but how much is enough? According to the Mayo Clinic, eight cups of water a day is easy to remember and a reasonable goal. However, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggests that an adequate daily fluid intake for healthy adults is 15.5 (124 oz.) cups of fluids a day for men and 11.5 (92 oz.) cups a day for women. If just drinking water is too overwhelming, try adding vegetables with high water content to your diet such as celery, cucumber, and zucchini. You can also drink fruit and vegetable juices as well as milk and herbal teas. To keep you on track, use these apps: Waterllama or Daily Water Tracker Reminder.  

Digital Detox According to Reviews.org, Americans average four hours and 25 minutes of screen time each day on their mobile devices. To check your screen time on  iPhone, Open Settings > Screen Time > See All Activity. On Android: Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls.

Time for a detox? While I don’t think many of us can go cold turkey, it is probably reasonable to challenge ourselves to cut our usage in half. You can also remove social media apps from your phone or try apps for setting time limits: Offscreen, OneSec, or Opal.

Get Outside Among the many outdoor challenges, 1,000 Hours Outside, suggests a goal of that many hours outdoors every year. It was created based on a study that suggests that children spend 1,200 hours a year in front of screens and 1,000 hours outdoors is a way of counteracting that. 

The median screen time is 1,100 — about three hours a day. Why not challenge your family to an equal amount of hours they outside? Try the apps 1000 Hours Outside or NatureDose.

Eat 30 Plants Thirty different plants is a challenge but when you break it down, it’s less than five a day. Eating a variety of plants creates a more diverse gut biome, which helps you to fight disease and infection, and properly digest food. The good news is that plants also include beans, grains, and nuts. 

However, to create diversity in the plants you eat, you can only count each different plant in your challenge. That means if you eat carrots three times a week, that only counts as one. These apps offer recipes and tracking: Foodmonster, Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen, or Zoe. 

Pam Molnar is a writer and mother of three who strives to make her health a priority.