Think New Year gym goers are dropouts? Smoking quitters are twice as bad

Did you know that half of people who make a resolution to quit smoking in 2019 will have broken their promise by February.

This is according to a survey conducted among 2,002 UK adults who made New Year’s resolutions in January 2018. 

The study showed that, despite the reputation of January gym goers being the biggest quitters, it was smokers who needed the most help to achieve their goals. Almost half (48.4 per cent) of people who made the resolution to give up had broken it by the first week of February.

In contrast, just over one in five new gym goers (22.7 per cent) admitted to no longer bothering by the same time. In fact, it takes until the middle of September for half to throw in their workout towels.

People wanting to cut down on alcohol face the second biggest challenge. Despite the well meaning intentions of many to have a dry January, 37.6 per cent picked up the bottle again after a month last year. Almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) didn’t even make it two weeks.

Righteousness is no guarantee of perseverance either. Those who promised to donate more to charity over the year have the third highest quitting rate by February. Exactly one in three who said they would donate more to charity had either given up on the thought or cancelled their payments after a month.

In fact, the first two weeks of January see one in ten people give up on their New Year’s resolutions on average, despite the intention being to pursue them over the whole year.

The New Year’s resolutions with the fastest quitting rates by February are:

1. Quit smoking – 48.4 per cent
2. Drink less or give up alcohol – 37.6 per cent
3. Donate to charity – 33.3 per cent
4. Eat more healthily – 30.0 per cent
5. Improve sleep pattern – 26.5 per cent

To find out when people are most likely to ditch their New Year’s resolutions, visit New Year, Same You?