Psychology says that the best time of year to set resolutions is not January 1: it is now in spring

It is a classic among many people: reach January 1 and resolve to go to the gym, eat better, learn a language or quit smoking. But in many cases by mid-February this purpose has already been abandoned and waiting for a new year to start the cycle again. We usually blame our lack of willpowerbut science has a much more compassionate and practical explanation, since, according to experts, winter it’s not the best time to change life. The real mental and biological “reset” happens now, in spring.

It has a name. The basis of this phenomenon is known in psychology as the “fresh start effect.” Here our mind does not perceive time as an uninterrupted continuum, but as a book divided into several chapters, so the change of season, birthdays or the beginning of the month act as temporal milestones in which we seek to make this change in a lifestyleFor example.

Because? Having a temporal milestone for the brain has an interpretation, and that is that it creates a psychological barrier that allows us to disconnect of our “imperfect self” from the past who, for example, smokes or doesn’t go to the gym.

This is something that was demonstrated in 2014 in an investigation where it became clear that these symbolic dates such as birthdays restructure our temporal perception. Precisely in one of their experiments they compared how participants reacted to the same date presented in two different ways.

The results. Based on this study, they compared two different dates:

• The first day of spring, since we are facing a temporary milestone and specifically 25.6% of respondents chose to set reminders to start new goals right here.
• In comparison, a normal day of any day was used, such as Thursday, where only 7.2% of participants showed motivation to make a habit change.

That is why, comparing this data, it was seen that such a simple change of perspective can quadruple the intention to pursue healthy goals, causally validating that emphasizing a milestone as a “new beginning” triggers our motivation.

The spring. Here the question we can ask ourselves is if the new year is also a temporal milestone because we begin a new year… Why is spring superior? The answer lies in biology and the environment. And while in January we are coldshort days and the dreaded economic downturn, in spring we have a progressive increase in sunlight. An environmental factor that joins a series of physiological advantages.

When we talk about spring ‘altering blood’, we are not telling lies because it has been seen that sunlight raises serotonin and dopamine levels, drastically improving mood, increasing energy and a willingness to make changes. Furthermore, the end of winter eliminates physical and psychological barriers such as external cold and frees energy to begin investing it in creating habits.

Motivation is not enough. Logically, we talk about factors that help, and seasonal change gives a boost to people. Psychologists here explain that the new seasons offer us the ideal mental framework to “evaluate” and plan fresh strategies without the weight of guilt from previous failures.

However, there is a warning backed by scientific consensus: although symbolic dates are excellent psychological catalysts for starting a habit, the initial motivation always wanes. That is why, for the habit to last beyond the spring fever, it is strictly necessary to accompany this “rush” of energy with a solid structure, realistic routines and repetition systems.

Images | Mink Mingle

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