Do you want to make a change in your life? Start making your bed every morning
A habit is a routine of behaviour which through regular repetition tends to happen subconsciously. Habit formation is the process through which a behaviour becomes automatic. Repeated behaviour patterns become imprinted in our neural pathways in the brain.That is why old habits are hard to break and new habits are not easily acquired.
Think about something it took a while for you to learn, liking riding a bicycle. At first you found it difficult to balance and kept falling off until one day, rather suddenly, you were able to do it, initially a bit wobbly perhaps but later without even thinking about it.
There are good habits and bad habits. Good habits are beneficial to our mental and physical health and examples include sensible dietary habits, punctuality at work, regular exercise and disciplined driving. Bad habits are the opposite and are detrimental to our wellbeing. Overspending, procrastination using addictive substances and overeating or eating unhealthy foods exemplify bad habits. We would all like to get rid of our bad habits and acquire good habits. But it is not easy as illustrated in the quote by Somerset Maugham.
How do we get rid of bad habits and establish good habits? Is there a scientific way to do it? Charles Duhigg, an investigative reporter for the New York Times in his book, “The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” attempts to answer these questions. The book though written for the layman is based on scientific papers and interviews with some of the scientists who wrote them.
If habits are both advantageous or destructive how do we form them in the first place? Understanding how they form is important to changing habits. To start a new behaviour pattern it needs conscious effort on the part of the brain. Constant demands on willpower stress the body and leadto fatigue. If a set of behaviours is established as a habit which happens subconsciously then the brain is not stressed and there is no fatigue. Therefore, to establish patterns of behaviour it is advantageous to establish them as habits rather than having to carry them out every time consciously. From an evolutionary point of view a more efficient brain requires less energy and size. An efficient brain frees us from having to think about basic behaviours and allows us to concentrate on more creative tasks such as new inventions, works of art or architecture, finding new medicines or designing airplanes.
At the heart of our brain is an area called the basal ganglia. It belongs to the more primitive part of our brain as compared to the newer cortex. The basal ganglia are crucial for forming and storing habits. The basal ganglia convert a sequence of actions into an automatic routine using a process called ‘chunking.’ This process of habit formation helps form simple routines such as dressing or brushing our teeth to complex ones like driving a motor vehicle.
Scientists have identified that there is a circular process called the habit loop. It has three components: the cue, the routine and the reward. The cue is the trigger that tells our brain to go into automatic mode. The routine is the physical, mental or emotional action you take to obtain the reward which is the satisfaction you seek by following the routine. Let me explain with an example. When a smoker feels stress (the cue) he or she will take a cigarette and light it (the routine). The act of smoking will relieve the feeling of stress (reward) even before the chemicals in the cigarette hit the brain.
“Old habits die hard. Hard enough to feel the pain,”wrote Mick Jagger in his award-winning song from the movie Alfie. Once a habit is established it is not easy to shed. Sometimes we hold on to habits such as smoking, drinking and speeding that cause us serious harm even death. How do we go about changing a bad old habit and establishing healthy behaviours? Let us see how we might change the habit of smoking to relieve stress. Rather than wholesale elimination of this harmful habit loop it is easier to tweak it. The principle here is to keep the cue and the reward but change the routine. For example, when a smoker feels stressed out and feels like lighting up he can go for a walk or have a cup of tea, both of which should lead to the same reward of feeling less stressed.
But getting rid of a habit that is created by an addictive substance like tobacco is not easy. Tobacco contains a highly addictive chemical called nicotine. Once the brain is exposed to nicotine over a period of time it can’t do without it. Addicted persons deprived of nicotine develop a powerful desire that yearns to be satisfied by smoking a cigarette. The craving is the background for a number of cues such as feeling hungry, seeing a pack of cigarettes, or even the time of the day which in turn sets off the habit loop. The substitute behaviours may not be as effective in reducing the craving or rewarding as the addictive substance. To change a bad habit especially one based on an addiction requires some willpower and motivation.
How do we set up a new habit that is beneficial for us? According to Charles Duhigg some habits are more important than others and changing them leads to a cascade of behaviour changes that can transform your life. These are called keystone habits. Regular exercise is a keystone habit. When people start exercising they eat better, have more patience, are less stressed and more productive at work. They also have better mood, more confidence and better sleep.
How would you go about setting up the exercise habit? First set up a plan. It is best that you write it down. The plan will set out the times and days on which you exercise. Often the excuse for not exercising is lack of time. The trick is to start small and build it up. B.J. Fogg, head of the Stanford University Persuasive Tech Lab, calls it “Minimum Viable Effort.” He says, “Make it tiny. To create a new habit, you must first simplify the behaviour. Make it tiny, even ridiculous. A good tiny behaviour is easy to do — and fast.” Make it five minutes three times a week I am sure you can manage that. The important thing is to make it regular. The time and day would be the cue, the activity the routine and the reward the feeling of satisfaction. Later once you establish the pattern and increase the time you will have all the other rewards of exercising regularly to keep you motivated. Initially of course you may need to booste your reward with predetermined treats you like very much such as a special food item. But once the habit is established you won’t need it and the habit will bring its own rewards.
Here are some keystone habits that will improve your life. Having family dinners, alas a practice that is fast disappearing, is one. Gathering your family around you every night may not seem that important but it can bring about significant change. Duhigg writes, “Families who habitually eat dinner together seem to raise children with better homework skills, higher grades, greater emotional control, and more confidence.”
Another keystone behaviour that might surprise you is making your bed every morning. Again, to quote Duhigg, “Bed makers are also more likely to like their jobs, own a home, exercise regularly, and feel well rested,”
Do you want to make a change in your life? Start making your bed every morning.