New Year, New You!

Rochdale Borough Council is encouraging residents to make 2014 the year more to stub out the cigarettes, stay off the booze, cut out the calories or sign up for a health trainer!

Wendy Meston, Director of Public Health at Rochdale Borough Council, said if you’re ready to start the year as you mean to go on, they are here to help.

“The New Year is a great time to think about being healthy for 2014, so if you want to cut down on drinking, lose weight or quit smoking, get in touch. There’s loads of useful information on www.rochdale.gov.uk/livewell or you can contact our local services who will be happy to provide personalised support and advice to you and your family. Sticking to your healthier resolutions will be easier with our help,” said Wendy.

To help get started, they are offering the following advice as part of their New Year New You guide:

• Feel good

Rochdale Borough Council and NHS partners have launched an interactive website inviting residents to track their mental and emotional well-being though a short questionnaire. The new programme, called Five Ways to Wellbeing, aims to unlock the secret to long-term health and happiness because ‘feeling good is healthy’. In fact it can add years onto your life. Measure your wellbeing at www.rochdale.gov.uk/livewell

• Stop smoking

Every time you smoke a cigarette, blood that’s thick and dirty with toxins circulates through your body in seconds, damaging your heart, lungs and brain. If that thought has put you off for life, get face-to-face support from trained expert advisors from TASK, your local stop smoking service. Call 0161 655 1581. Lots of self-help is available including a quit it app, an online kit and daily text messaging support. Visit www.nhs.co.uk/smokefree to register.

• Dry out

This is a national campaign challenging people to ban the booze throughout January. Health professionals are promising that challengers will lose a few pounds while saving a few quid. And, with no hangovers, challengers should find they have more time and energy to do things they’ve never tried before to improve their health and wellbeing.

To sign up for the challenge, visit www.dryjanuary.org.uk.

• Eat well

If people keep their weight within a healthy range, they'll not only feel better but also lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.

The Healthy Weight Team can offer personalised advice and support in weight management to both adults and children. Call the team on 01706 901763.

• Get active

If you need a little motivational boost to get fit, get yourself a Health Trainer, who are specially trained to give you good information and advice on ways to become more active, get exercising, lose weight and eat healthier, stop smoking and much more. Call the team on 0161 655 1581.