Ask Dr. Mike

Ask Dr. Mike: New Year's Resolutions and other Inquiries

The doctor responds to questions about starting anew, disagreements over discounts, children caught in divorce and OCD/PANDAS.

Dr. Mike, Every year my husband and I come up with New Year’s resolutions, and every year we fail to achieve them. Any advice on breaking this horrible trend of ours? I’d like to lose 20 pounds, and he’d like to quit smoking. K in Loudoun County   K, First of all, I don’t think you should be so hard on yourselves. According to surveys, more than 90 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail, with close to 50 percent of those failures occurring by the close of January. New Year’s Eve has always been a time to reflect on the changes we want, or need, to make, and to resolve to follow through on those changes; but for most of us, sticking to our goals for positive change is difficult.  Every year clients of mine tell me their lofty plans for New …

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Twelve Steps for Going Green in 2012

Worldwatch Institute offers tips for reducing your impact on the environment.

  While many people will make an array of resolutions for the New Year – lose weight, eat better, work harder, etc. – the Washington, DC-based environmental research organization Worldwatch Institute urges people to go green. "The global community, and particularly people living in industrialized societies, have put unsustainable demands on our planet's limited resources," stated Robert Engelman, president of Worldwatch, in a press release. "If we expect to be able to feed, shelter, and provide even basic living conditions to our growing population in years to come, we must act now to change." The United Nations has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, and broadening access to sustainable energy has been…

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