The new year is always a good time to start new and health habits. Here are 10 healthy habits that are good for anyone of any age. 

1. Make weekly exercise dates. You can easily talk yourself out of a workout, but it’s more difficult to do when you have a standing commitment to work out with a friend. Overall, aim for 150-plus minutes of weekly moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Exercisers are 45 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation reports.

2. Eat a daily salad. Just one serving of leafy greens a day was associated with slower cognitive decline, a 2017 study by Rush University Medical Center showed.

3. Drink your fiber. Throw some fruit into the blender right before it goes bad. Try blending a banana, an orange and spinach; throw in some walnuts for even more fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.

4.  Make short, regular check-ins to loved ones. A study showed that even a few 10-minute phone calls each week can reduce loneliness by 20 percent.

5. Have a go-to ritual that you look forward to when the anxiety is too much. Do something simple like calling a friend, having a cup of tea, playing a song on the piano or sneaking away to read a few pages of a novel.

6. Try doing 10 minutes of resistance training every morning. That adds up to a truly healthy week of muscle strengthening. In research published in 2017 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, women (average age 62) who did just 20 to 59 minutes of muscle-strengthening exercises each week were 29 percent less likely to die during the 12-year study than those who did none. Low muscle strength is associated with an elevated risk of death in people 50 and older, regardless of general health levels. Even cardio exercise doesn’t appear to protect you if you allow your strength levels to deteriorate.

7. Brush and floss regularly. Swollen or bleeding gums caused by bad oral health may lead to microorganisms traveling into the bloodstream, which could cause inflammation and heart damage. Older adults who skimped on oral hygiene were 20 to 35 percent more likely to die during a 17-year study done by University of Southern California researchers.

8. Once a week, try something new. Listen to new music, learn some words in another language or sign up for a lecture. Lifelong learning is associated with improved brain health and staying mentally active is linked to delayed onset of cognitive decline.

9. Set a “stretch timer.” Use the timer to prompt you to stand up and get your blood flowing and muscles moving once every hour. Your brain needs oxygen to be productive — so if that’s how you can persuade yourself to get up and move, then do so!

10. Put your TV in a time-out. Be mindful of exactly what content you consume -— and choose a specific show or film to watch. When it’s over, turn the TV off and go for a walk or take a bath to give your mind a break. With the end of the pandemic should come the end of long TV binges.