Well here we are at the end of another year, where has the time gone? If you celebrate Christmas I hope you had a good one. We hosted my Dad and my wife’s family, and whilst I had wondered if it would be emotional as the first Christmas without my Mum, plus the recent passing of my wife’s Dad, it was in many ways a great celebration of family and of the health that we are lucky to enjoy. We had a lovely time, ate and drank too much, and in fact I can’t recall the last time so much chocolate passed my lips (I rarely touch it normally!)
In reflecting on the year gone, it’s hard not to think first and foremost about all the geopolitical turmoil in the world, and wonder when it will ever end. I honestly think for me it’s best not to think about those things too much as it all gets rather depressing, and there is precious little if not nothing I can do about it anyway. I’m always a positive person, and so best to focus on what is in my sphere of influence, and look to make change for the better.
In this week’s research video, I give a brief rundown of what I consider to be the most impactful and/or interesting heart research studies of 2025, so do give it a watch and see what might apply to you and yours.
I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions as tend to think if something needs changing in my life why wait until New Year to do it? Just get on with it. However out of curiosity this year (and probably as with a few days off over Christmas I finally had some time to think) I gave some thought as to what I might resolve to do if I were that sort of person!
So what did I come up with? Most common resolutions resolve around diet and exercise. I’m already really nerdy with exercise, there’s virtually nothing there for me to change. If I was hyper-critical I would say I need to stretch more (daily instead of 4-5 days a week). I don’t think there’s any changes needed to my diet. If I was hyper-critical I would say increase my meat-free days from 3 per week (often tricky with my kids!). No, the area of my life I really need to improve upon is its organisation, its busy-ness. Every waking moment seems to be taken up with something, as if I’m trying to master time, a notion which is clearly impossible. There is precious little time to just be; to reflect on the day. I’m always doing, planning, hustling, organising. It is stressful and will only lead to burnout.
How to best achieve this? The first thing that comes to mind is to protect my ‘no’. I’ve always been a habitual people pleaser, and will say yes to things to help them often even if I don’t have the time or inclination. I am getting better at saying no to things, and maybe 2026 will be better still. A good starting point is to imagine if the thing I’m being asked to do is tomorrow, not at some future date. If I don’t want to do it tomorrow, say no. This shouldn’t come across as selfish, as in fact it means I’m much more able to 100% show up and be present for the things I say yes to.
Have a think now in your own life about New Year’s resolutions. If there anything that jumps out? As I said above, for many it is some sort of lifestyle change for the purposes of improved health and wellbeing. Is there anything I can help with? When I reflect on the health themes for 2025, one of the big ones is an increased focus on personalisation. The notion that one size fits all in health should be dead and buried, from how people respond to different tablets, diets, exercises, infections… we are all individuals. There is also more focus on biomarkers – something we can measure that tells us about health – whether a blood pressure, a cholesterol test, or weight… the point is we should be changing and measuring, changing and measuring. Despite all the advances in heart healthcare, heart disease remains the no.1 killer worldwide. Much of this is down to poor metabolic health, obesity and hypertension, which underscores how far we still have to go with prevention.
As I wrote at the outset, I’m keen to keep to what is in my sphere of influence, and helping people live healthier happier lives is absolutely at the core of what I do. That’s something I love to say yes to.
Wishing you a very happy New Year!