Nod your head if you have ever tried to fulfil a purpose such as getting regular exercise, eating healthier, starting to meditate, waking up earlier, or just quit biting your nails. If I name these in one go, then all these activities are called habits.
Without a doubt, we can all find ourselves in some of those purposes, but unfortunately, it is common that desire does not turn into action, and it seems as if we are tied to invisible ropes from which we cannot escape. Those strings we talk about are about unhealthy habits that overshadow our well-being.
Introduction
I
guess we all have heard this very famous story about an elephant in the circus,
it was written by Jorge Bucay. The story depicted a boy asking his father and
people that why this strong elephant is tied up by a fragile chain and besides
being so strong he is not letting himself free as he easily can?
The father told him that "the elephant has been educated all his life that way." But the boy, not too convinced by that answer, kept asking other people and found the correct answer,
And that was-The elephant does not escape
because it thinks it cannot because when he was little, he tried to escape but
his strength was not so strong to break the rope and he did not succeed."
If
he did not succeed once, he thinks he will never succeed and that is why he
never tries again. The point of narrating this story here is to highlight that
we are all a bit like the elephant in the circus. In some way, each of us is
tied to different strings that are disguised as unhealthy habits.
Maybe
sometimes we try to escape and if we do not succeed, we engrave in our
unconscious the message of I can not and I will never be able.
But
what if we are stronger than before? Why not try one more time?
What are Habits?
Before
defining what, a habit is, I have the perfect example that is brushing your
teeth. Most people in the world brush their teeth at least 1 or 2 times a day.
If
you already have the habit of brushing your teeth, don't you think, do I brush
my teeth or should I stay a little longer on the couch? Could it be that today
I do start brushing my teeth? You don't search in google either, how do you
start having the habit of brushing your teeth?
You
do not do any of the above simply because brushing your teeth is a habit in
your routine, it is not a decision to make, it is a natural part of your day,
it is an almost automatic action.
Therefore,
even when your routine changes like on vacation, you continue to be consistent
with your habit of brushing your teeth.
The
above reveals the 2 most important things around a habit: Repeats itself in
your routine and it's automatic.
As
per the definition, a habit is a routine or behaviour that is repeated
regularly and tends to occur unconsciously, it is a practice acquired by
constantly repeating an act. So, a repeated action results in the formation of
an automatic habit.
And
just like brushing your teeth, you are already doing many other habits in your
daily routine, these actions are performed automatically, and therefore do not
require much attention, effort or motivation on your part.
But
on the contrary, you do need much more effort to carry out those new activities
that you do not do automatically, that is, they are not yet habits.
In
order to understand this part and deepen the concept of habit, we will see what
a habit is in your brain.
What Are the Habits in Your Brain?
Suppose
you decide to go on a hike in the woods. When you get to the mountain you have
two options: follow the path laid out, which has already been covered by many
people before you, or create your own route through the bushes.
The
second option seems much riskier but above all inefficient, because it is
likely that you will get lost and that you will reach your destination twice
the time, it is a route that requires more attention and effort on your part.
Instead,
the route that is already laid out is fast, safe and reliable. You don't have
to think much to go down that road. The same goes for the habits in your brain.
An
action repeated several times creates a route between your neurons and, it
becomes much easier and more efficient for your brain to execute a repeated
action in the past than to start a new one (since the latter will require a new
connection, of a new path not traced)
In
your brain, a habit is a network of connections between your neurons, like a
path already drawn. The above is one of the reasons that explain why it is
difficult to adopt a new habit at first and also why it is easy to fall into
old habits, even though you have proposed to change them.
The advantage of a habit is that it is automated, in such a way that it is executed without thinking (without motivation and without willpower). Therefore, our goal is to incorporate new healthy habits into your daily routine and try to eliminate those habits that harm your health and well-being.
What Is the Difference between a Healthy Habit and an Unhealthy
Habit?
Healthy
habits:
They
are those activities that improve your physical, mental, emotional and social
health. Even those activities that are not directly related to health many
times but contribute to your general well-being.
As
an example, brushing teeth, regular exercise, sleeping 7-8 hours each day, and
many more can be counted under good habits.
Unhealthy
habits:
They
are those activities that harm your well-being, bring negative consequences to
your physical, mental, emotional and/or social health.
For
example, a habit of drink sugary drinks and alcohol, sleeping fewer hours than
necessary, spending too much time on mobile, smoking or any other vice, procrastinate
important tasks, etc.
Although
the difference between unhealthy habits and healthy habits is clear, it is true
that they have many similarities: both are formed by repetition, they are
automatic or unconscious and bring an immediate reward.
Here
is an important question: why do I have unhealthy habits even though they are
affecting my well-being? To find the answer, it is important to learn how these
unhealthy habits were formed in your life (without realizing it).
How Are Habits Formed?
Habit
formation is the process by which new activities or behaviours become
automatic. They are formed under the principle of constant repetition.
For
a habit to be constantly repeated it requires 2 helpers: the first is a
reminder and the second is a reward. In this way, they become a powerful team,
which motivates you to repeat a certain action, until it becomes a habit.
If
an action is persistent in your routine, it is very likely that it will end up
being recorded on the “hard drive” of your brain in the form of a habit, that
is, a new neural connection is formed. We form a habit without realizing what
we were doing sometimes and it becomes a habit.
This
is the psychological formation of habits; it is known as the rule of the 3 R's
and consists of the following:
Reminder:
Stimulus that initiates the behaviour
Routine:
The action performed
Reward:
The benefit you get after performing the action
Repetition
gradually makes the effort to perform that action decrease considerably, and
you can even execute it without thinking; after a while, a plateau is
generated, where there is no longer learning and an automatic habit is
established.
I
hope you got the basics behind the term ' habit' so live a good life full of
good habits.
Written
By - Sanskriti Dimri
0 Comments