An astounding 45% of our behaviours are habits. We couldn’t get through life with routine behaviours we don’t have to think about, like how we load the dishwasher, or the route we take to mum and dad’s for dinner. Mind you that probably triggers another habit which is having an argument about which way is faster. The point is that we think habits are bad, when they’re actually part of our makeup.
Habits are deeply ingrained and imprinted on parts of our brains which are involved in things like memory, decision making and even addiction. You’ve got to work hard to create a habit. It needs to be an action you do repeatedly, in a certain context – like an inability to walk past the fridge without opening it – and where there’s a reward, like tucking into yesterday’s leftovers. So given the work that goes into creating a habit (like getting the kids to clean their teeth before bed), it shouldn’t be a surprise that bad habits are equally imprinted in our brains.
What that means is that it’s wrong to think about ‘breaking’ bad habits. It doesn’t generally work.
It’s about new habits
What you need to do is replace that habit with another healthier or more productive one. Sadly – that means work.
Brain plasticity – rewiring
You’ve first got to understand the context for your habit and what triggers it. Then you need to decide what the new habit is going to be. And finally, you need to work out what the reward will be to reinforce the new habit. So, it needs quite a bit of thought that’s more than making a New Year’s resolution after a few wines before the fireworks.
Then you need to do the new behaviour again and again associated with the reward you’ve decided for yourself.
Be patient, because you cannot rewire your brain overnight. For damaging habits though, this is work that’s worth doing.
References
Koob GF, Volkow ND. Neurobiology of addiction: a neurocircuitry analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016 Aug;3(8):760-773. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(16)00104-8. PMID: 27475769; PMCID: PMC6135092.
Amaya KA, Teboul E, Weiss GL, Antonoudiou P, Maguire JL. Basolateral amygdala parvalbumin interneurons coordinate oscillations to drive reward behaviors. Curr Biol. 2024 Apr 8;34(7):1561-1568.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.041. Epub 2024 Mar 12. PMID: 38479389; PMCID: PMC11003843.
Cepni AB, Shehata N, Ullah F, Johnston CA. Habit Formation in Older Adults. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2024 Nov 18:15598276241301743. doi: 10.1177/15598276241301743. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39568797; PMCID: PMC11574773.
