It’s that time of year when many of us naturally start to think about making new year’s resolutions, to lose weight, to lift weights, or just to wait on both those activities.  The self-pressure can get intense, and deplete the holidays of their joyful, carefree days of indulgence.  So rather than think in guilt-inducing, non-productive ways about what your new year’s resolutions might be, here’s a simple set of questions to ask yourself as you get ready for a great start to 2025.

  1. How would you like to be more creative?
  2. How would you like to increase both your short- and long-term memory?
  3. How would you like to increase the likelihood that you will remember to vote in the next election?
  4. How would you like to increase your empathy?
  5. How would you like to delay or reduce your chances of falling victim to dementia?
  6. How would you like to improve your brain’s connectivity?
  7. How would you like to live two years longer?

I imagine you answered ‘heck, yes!’ to all or virtually all of these desiderata, right?

And even if you only could manage to muster enthusiasm for, say, five of these amazing outcomes, what could possibly hold you back?

Well, I have wonderful news for those excitedly – or worriedly — guessing what incredible exercise regimen they have to embrace starting January 2nd next year in order to begin winning on all these fronts.  You’re thinking it might involve cryogenic bathing, prolonged fasting, and standing on your head for weeks at a time, right?  Not to mention running a marathon a day for days on end.

But no – the good news is that you only have to do one thing:  read a physical book for 30 minutes a day.  Preferably a novel.

That’s it.

All these benefits will flow from turning off your phone, finding a comfortable chair and a good light, and settling in for a fun half-hour of fiction.

Yes, that’s all it takes!  Reading increases creativity, enhances memory, reinforces the likelihood of voting (but only if you read a book about someone who had to work hard to vote), grows empathy, delays dementia, adds to lifespan, and strengthens the interstitial synapses in your brain.

Online reading doesn’t seem to have the same effects, so don’t imagine you can simply whip out your cell phone on your lunch hour and scroll through a bunch of reels on silent with the subtitles on.

It’s hard to imagine getting more bang for your buck out of any 30-minute activity except perhaps for swimming – and if you read you don’t have to wash the chlorine out of your hair when you’re done.

This is surely the simplest of New Year’s resolutions, the most amiable of nudges, and the handiest of items on your to-do list for the sheer hugeness of the benefit-per-minute-of-expended-effort ratio.

What are you waiting for?  Why begin on January 1 when you can start now?  These amazing benefits await you beginning – tonight!

You’re welcome, get started now on that New Year’s resolution, and Happy Holidays.