We all have habits, some good and some not-so-good. While good habits contribute to our success and well-being, bad habits can hold us back and hinder our progress. Whether it's mindless snacking, excessive screen time, procrastination, or smoking, these habits can have a significant impact on our health, relationships, and overall quality of life. Breaking up with bad habits is not easy, but it's essential for personal growth and self-improvement. In this blog, we'll explore a step-by-step guide to help you break up with your bad habits and pave the way for positive change in your life.

How are habits formed?

Habits often form through repetition and are a natural aspect of human behaviour, serving as both a convenience and a challenge in daily life. From the mundane tasks of morning routines like showering and brushing teeth to the seemingly effortless navigation of familiar routes while driving, habits streamline our actions by relegating them to automaticity, allowing our brains to conserve cognitive resources for more pressing matters. This unconscious efficiency is a testament to the brain's remarkable ability to encode repetitive actions into neural pathways, enabling us to execute tasks with minimal conscious effort. However, while habits typically serve us well, they can also lead to detrimental patterns when linked with pleasurable stimuli that activate the brain's reward centers.

The development of habits, whether beneficial or harmful, relies on similar neural mechanisms within the brain. Whether it's the routine of overeating or the mindless commute to work, both types of habits are underpinned by the brain's capacity to reinforce behaviors through repeated activation of specific neural circuits. This process, known as neuroplasticity, involves the strengthening of synaptic connections in response to repetitive stimuli, effectively hardwiring behaviours into our subconscious. Consequently, behaviours associated with rewarding experiences, such as overeating, substance abuse, gambling, or excessive use of technology, can become deeply ingrained habits, driven by the brain's craving for the pleasurable sensations associated with these activities.

Why is it difficult to break from habits?

The underlying mechanisms behind the formation of habits, whether they involve overeating or effortlessly navigating daily routines, are rooted in similar brain processes. Both types of habits rely on the brain's ability to encode repetitive behaviours into neural pathways, creating automatic responses that require minimal conscious effort. However, a crucial distinction arises when it comes to habits driven by pleasure. These behaviors have a unique challenge due to the involvement of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward and reinforcement.

Enjoyable behaviours trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, strengthening the habit loop with each repetition. This neurochemical response creates a powerful craving for the behaviour, even when it's not being engaged in, perpetuating the cycle of habit formation. This phenomenon sheds light on why individuals may continue to crave drugs or other pleasurable activities, despite experiencing diminishing returns in terms of pleasure.

Breaking up with bad habits can be challenging, but with determination and the right strategies, it's achievable. Here are some tips to help you break free from your bad habits:

1. Identify Your Triggers: Pay attention to the situations, emotions, or thoughts that trigger your bad habit. Understanding your triggers can help you anticipate cravings and develop strategies to overcome them.

2. Set Clear Goals: Define why you want to break the habit and set specific, achievable goals for yourself. Having a clear purpose and vision will keep you motivated and focused on your journey to change.

3. Replace with Positive Habits: Instead of just trying to stop the bad habit, replace it with a positive one. For example, if you're trying to quit smoking, you could start exercising or practising mindfulness or deep breathing techniques whenever you feel the urge to smoke.

4. Start Small: Break down your goal into smaller, manageable steps. Trying to change too much at once can be overwhelming and set you up for failure. Focus on making steady and gradual progress and appreciating small achievements along the way.

5. Stay Accountable: Share your goals with friends, family, or a support group and ask for their encouragement and accountability. Being held accountable by someone may keep you inspired and dedicated to your objectives.

6. Practice Self-Compassion: Breaking a habit takes time and effort, and setbacks are a natural part of the process. Be kind to yourself and don't get discouraged if you slip up. Instead of beating yourself up, use setbacks as learning opportunities and recommit to your goals.

7. Seek Professional Help if Needed: If you're struggling to break a particularly stubborn habit or if it's having a significant negative impact on your life, don't hesitate to seek professional help. An online therapist or counsellor can provide guidance, support, and personalized strategies to help you overcome your habit.

8. Stay Persistent: Breaking up with a bad habit won't happen overnight, and it may take several attempts before you succeed. Even when things are difficult, stay persistent and keep moving forward. Remember that every small step you take brings you closer to your goal of a healthier, happier life.

Conclusion:

Everybody has habits—some healthy, some unhealthy. Bad habits can impede our growth and hold us back, whilst positive habits enhance our success and well-being. Idle eating, excessive screen time, smoking, procrastination, and other behaviors may have a big influence on our relationships, health, and general quality of life. Although quitting undesirable habits is difficult, it's necessary for personal development and betterment. Repetition creates habits, which are a normal part of human behavior that provide challenges as well as convenience in day-to-day living. Neural circuits make them automatic, which promotes efficiency but can also result in negative patterns when combined with rewarding inputs that fire the brain's reward centers. Whether a habit is good or bad, it forms because of comparable brain neuronal mechanisms that are fueled by neuroplasticity. Dopamine is released during pleasurable activities, which reinforces the habit loop and intensifies desires. Because our brain's reward regions feed cravings, this neurochemical reaction explains why it can be difficult to change behaviours that are motivated by pleasure. A few techniques for breaking poor habits are recognizing your triggers, making specific objectives, substituting negative behaviours with positive ones, beginning small, maintaining accountability, engaging in self-compassion exercises, seeking online therapy or counselling when necessary, and persevering. The best places to get expert assistance are TalktoAngel, a reputable online counselling platform that connects users with top psychologists and mental health specialists worldwide, and Psychowellness Center, a renowned mental health service provider in India. Breaking away from unhealthy behaviors may be accomplished with the correct techniques and perseverance, resulting in a better and healthier life.

Contributed by: Dr (Prof) R K Suri, Clinical Psychologist & Life Coach &  Ms. Samta Pareek, Counselling Psychologist

References:

1. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2012/01/breaking-bad-habits
2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-break-a-bad-habit-202205022736