Plan Your New Year Resolution

New Year's resolutions need not end each year in failure, according to an Australian study which suggests that all that's needed is planning.

Two out of five people who spend time planning and considering their resolutions have succeeded by the year's end, said Duncan Murray, of Griffith University in Queensland. By contrast, three-quarters of those making snap resolutions tend to drop them by the beginning of April, and only one in six, the survey found, will persist up to the end of December.

The study, of 160 gym members, found that the excuses made by the quitters were no more a problem for them than for those who stayed the course.

Dr Murray said: "For people who make impulse resolutions, real-life situations come along and knock them for six."

His advice to those with festive hangovers was to delay a life change. "Spend all of January at least thinking about the resolution and pick a start date of first of February or March - when you've considered the implications."