Making New Year's resolutions is always a risk, as well as a commitment. With the half way point of the month drawing ever nearer, we're betting more than a few of us have fallen down the slippery slope to failure. Whether that glass of wine somehow managed to find its way into your hand or your gym bag has remained empty for a week, those goals, that seemed so achievable after downing the bubbles on New Year's Eve, now seem a completely foreign ideal. Adopting small goals seems a more user-friendly New Year's policy to take, and according to health experts it has increased health benefits too. Check out our five 'small' step guide so you can finish the end of your month with a bang. Remember slow and steady wins the race..

Don't join a gym

If you're alien to the word exercise, buying a gym membership will most likely be a waste of money. Pretending to be a gym bunny for two weeks encourages individuals to adopt a reward system. Working out equals a couple more biscuits as elevenses every day. And then before you know it, the inches won't have shifted from your waist in the way you had hoped for. Instead of slogging it out on the treadmill in resentment of all the Quality Street you consumed at Christmas, the best thing to do is move about more. 

'There is a lot of evidence to show that it's the people who do nothing at all who benefit the most from just doing a little bit. The biggest benefit comes from getting off the couch. Then you need to start walking: it's the best exercise for the cardiovascular system,' says Dr Domhnall MacAuley, former editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Be step wise this year, and chances are you'll notice a big difference by next Christmas.

Enforce a two day ban

As Doctor Christian Jessen noted in our previous post 'Detox delusion', going cold turkey on the alcohol front is 'devoid of all scientific sense'. The sentiment was also echoed in a report published by the House of Commons science and technology committee, urging Britons that it's better to abstain frequently rather than once a year in one T-total swoop. Abstaining from alcohol for two nights a week does the trick, and is certainly manageable. After all, no one wants to be crowned 'regular of the year' in the local pub.

Turn the tele off

On average, every hour of television watched after the age of 25 years reduces your life by nearly 22 minutes, according to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. While this is not conclusive evidence for every couch potato in Britain, there's something to be said for the fact watching television is done sitting down, with little movement. Only watching the programmes you really want to will not only boost your leg exercise and general health, but encourage you to find new ways to enjoy your evenings.

Quit the cigs

No health kick will make a difference if you continue to smoke. With every cigarette shortening your life by 11 minutes, and the fact that lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis if no one smoked, it makes sense to cut the habit. In a decade with more anti-smoking paraphernalia than ever before, there's plenty of help at hand. Visit www.nhs.uk/smokefree to get yourself started.

Sleep tight

Getting seven or eight hours sleep a night – the optimum amount according to the Loughborough Sleep Research Centre – will make the world of difference. Tucking ourselves in for a good night's sleep means we wake up with a clear head and are more focused, productive and generally in a more sprightly mood. It's a no brainer, so make 2012 the year you get cosy.

Picture credit: danielmoyle