Three Fun and Easy Ways to Improve Your Health in 2012

Put down the butts. Eat more fruit and vegetables. Get to the gym. Ease up on the alcohol. If you choose any of these tried-and-true resolutions, you’ll boost your health in 2012.

But here are three more health-promoting strategies to consider for the New Year:

Dig In 

Gardening brings multiple health benefits. When you dig, weed, rake, plant seedlings, and harvest, you’ll burn roughly 167 calories in a half hour if you weigh approximately 155. You’ll burn more calories if you weigh more, fewer if you weigh less.  Gardening in the sun allows your skin to produce vitamin D, which helps protect against weak muscles, porous, brittle bones, heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Vitamin D also improves your uptake of calcium, which especially important for women. Just don’t overdo the sun exposure to guard against skin cancer—no more than five or 10 minutes, and not between peak sun hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Your garden can help improve your diet, too. Less than half of the U.S. population eats the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Growing your own increases the likelihood that you and your family will consume fresh produce. And, gardening increases satisfaction with life, according to a Texas A&M University study of people older than 50.

No yard? A sunny spot on the porch or patio will do to grow your own crops in containers. Even in a cold, wet January in Southern California, you can get started with artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chives, collards, favas, kale, lettuce, parsley, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, or turnips in pots. 

Check out the for some ideas on ways to help that garden grow just in time for healthy Spring and Summer treats.

Listen Up

Music lowers anxiety in people undergoing treatment for heart disease and cancer, and may have positive effects on mood, pain, and quality of life. Cancer patients who listened to music also had modest improvements in blood pressure, respiratory rate, and heart rate, according to a Drexel University study. People who are not undergoing medical treatment derive mood-enhancing benefits of music, too, regardless of the type of music they listened to. And Finnish researchers recently used MRI imaging to examine music’s effects on the brain. Their analysis showed that music activates emotional, motor, and creative areas of the brain. So crank up your favorite tunes to ease your stress, increase your optimism, and sharpen your wits in 2012.

Get Together

Friends are good for your health. The company you keep can help you battle illness, stave off depression, get well sooner, feel and look younger and live longer. The more friends you have, the less likely you are to have a cold this winter, according to a study done at Carnegie Mellon University. As part of your 2012 health regimen, make standing dates with friends. Instead of getting together for drinks or dinner, take a bike ride, go for a walk, or play tennis or any sport you enjoy. For an extra health boost, listen to music or jam on instruments with friends. Or do as composer and producer Brian Eno does every week with a group of his pals: get together and sing.