September reset: Why now is the time to start a new routine and how to stick to it

For Cami, a content creator and podcast host from Northampton, September spells the end of summer spontaneity and a time to restore order.

“If you’ve been away for the summer you’ve probably not had a massive routine,” she says. “And if you’re a parent, then you’ve got kids at home and it’s just a bit more chaotic,” she says.

September feels like “back to school…getting back into your own rhythm”, she adds.

It is the perfect time to “get everything sorted”, she says “So when you get to January you’re not trying to do everything at once.

For Bas Verplanken, professor emeritus of social psychology at the University of Bath, September is a chance to “reorient yourself”.

He says his research suggests people who experienced a big change such as moving house “were more responsive to an intervention aimed at promoting sustainable behaviours” than comparable people who had not moved house.

“It’s really an exciting way of looking at disruption,” he told Chris and Xand van Tulleken on their What’s Up Docs? podcast.

If your daily commute or school run works for you then relax back into them.

“But if there are alternative ways of doing things, explore it, this is the time to do it, and to make those changes,” says Verplanken.