Break the Bad Habit Loop: You Can Do It!
By Lauren Young, ND and Ashley Burkman, ND
’m sure you have heard people say, “I am on autopilot,” or “I could do it in my sleep.” Quite literally, once something becomes a habit we are automatically doing things without thought behind them. The thought was there once, but may no longer be there when we do something habitually. From smoking to eating and beyond, habits can be broken but this is much easier said than done.
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Learning to walk is a dangerous escapade, one in which parents have to painfully watch while their little one falls over and over until their nervous system learns how to react. Once those neurologi- cal connections are made it becomes habit. I bet you didn’t think twice about how you walked to your car today! So, what if for instance, you pick up cigarette smoking as a habit. At first, you’re choking on smoke and trying hard to look like you know what you are doing. After a while it becomes less awkward to hold the cigarette and it becomes easier to manipulate up to your mouth. Soon, you are smoking before and after meals, when you wake and before sleep, in the car and when stressed.
Charles Duhigg, the author of “The
Power of Habit,” states that routines are made up of a “habit loop” comprised of a cue, behavior and a reward. A trigger initi- ates the brain to go into autopilot mode,
then routine develops, then a reward will tell the brain to remember this “habit loop.” The area of the brain utilized in habit form- ing is also in control of making memories, remembering patterns and for emotional response. Once a habit is in place, the brain is able to literally go into sleep mode, which saves energy for other important tasks.
When on vacation, this is when a habitual behavior can change, a break from routine breaks habits or starts to bring awareness to your habitual behavior.
Have you ever sat down after din-
ner to watch some television with a bag of popcorn and before you know it you’ve devoured the entire bag? This is habit at its finest, automatically multi-tasking eating while zoning out mentally. Research has shown that when in the same environment, we are able to repeat a behavior in the same manner. When on vacation, this is when a habitual behavior can change, a break from routine breaks habits or starts to bring awareness to your habitual behavior. So how do we use this to our advantage when wanting to discontinue a bad habit?
First, bring awareness to the habit.
Write down what you eat for an entire day, count how many cigarettes you smoke in a day, keep track of how many steps you take or how many hours you sit in the day. Bring- ing awareness to your behaviors is the basis for starting the changing process. Next, find a less caustic but similar replacement for your habit. Instead of picking your cuticles or biting your nails, wear a fun “fiddle ring” to play with instead of your fingernails. Chewing gum, breathing techniques and meditation practices are all great ways to redirect and distract yourself from unpleas- ant habits.
In Naturopathic Medicine, there are 5 determinants of health that we focus on with every patient. There are a lot of poor habits that lead us to ignore or develop imbal- ance in one of these determinants of health, leading to dis-ease in the body. Let’s address these determinants and ways to implement health habits to keep proper balance.
1. Lack of Sleep
There are many reasons for not getting enough sleep, many of them are simply bad habits or poor planning. As mentioned be- fore, first priority is to bring an awareness to the habits that are keeping you up at night. Are you up late watching television? Are you playing on your phone instead of winding down? Often, evening hours before bed are
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