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Tradition suggests that January 1 is the perfect time to decide to improve your health. But our collective success rate there is grim: One survey found that only about 17 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions stick them out for more than one month. So when do we make behavior changes that really stick?
Research has shown that more people start diet and exercise regimes, quit smoking, and make doctors’ appointments on Mondays than any other day of the week. Now, a new analysis of online search queries show that health-related contemplations are also most likely to take place on a Monday.
The study, published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that health-related Google queries peak on Monday and Tuesday. They then decline throughout the week before plunging on Saturday and rebounding again Monday.
“These findings show that healthy thinking and behavior is synced to the week, with Monday being the day we’re most likely to start healthy,” said Morgan Johnson, a co-author of the study. “This suggests that people see the new week much like a new beginning—a January 1st that happens every seven days.”
This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Read the complete article here.
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