Here is a scenario I see all the time as a personal trainer: you set a goal for yourself, and you know exactly what bad habit you need to cut out to get there… but then you do it anyways. This occurrence goes far beyond the clients we work with at Sandbox; many researchers blame poor lifestyle habits for much of the current chronic disease epidemic.
Research reveals that many people recognize their bad habits as being harmful to their health, but they continue to participate in them anyways. The more and more I’ve seen and heard of this happening, the more I’ve come to understand that changing habits is much more complex than it may seem.
Research shows that forty percent of the things you do each day are not a result of a conscious decision; instead they are habits and routines that are pre-processed in your brain. A HABIT is a behaviour that happens almost unconsciously; performing a habit requires less neurological activity and can be performed almost automatically. This can be very good or very bad depending on the habit. An early morning gym visit can become routine; it can become something you do automatically without much thought. But the same sort of mindset can develop for late night chip eating, smoking, drinking, or Netflix binge-watching.
Habits can work in your favour if your routine consists of the Healthy kind. This would mean that forty percent of your life is a healthy routine that happens automatically without draining your willpower or taking much thought at all.
The key to understanding HOW to successfully change a habit is to fully understand WHY the habit occurs and to create an adequate PLAN of Attack. Understanding the complexity of a habit can give some explanation as to why people frequently have trouble when trying to change everyday lifestyle behaviours (like diet and exercise). Failure to change doesn’t necessarily mean insufficient understanding of health information. As I mentioned earlier, many of us know exactly what it is we should or shouldn’t be doing for our health. In many cases, breaking a habit is difficult because we don’t understand the habit itself and we haven’t created sufficient strategy to change something that is already pre-programmed in our mind.
Usually, the change to a routine is the hardest part, not sticking to the Healthier Routine itself. So don’t give up now, it will only get easier from here!
Ready to Give up your bad habits for good? Read Breaking the Habit: Part TWO to learn HOW to create an adequate plan.
References:
Neal D T, Wood W, Quinn J M. Habits – A Repeat Performance. Association for Psychological Science. Duke University. Volume 15. Issue 4. 2006.
Duhigg Charles. The Power of a Habit. 2012. Double day Canada.
Marteau T, Hollands G, Fletcher P. Changing Human Behavior to Prevent Disease: The Importance of Targeting Automatic Processes. Science 21 Sep 2012: Vol. 337, Issue 6101, pp. 1492-149.