Do you know anyone who doesn’t have a single habit that they wouldn’t want to change? Probably not – most people say they want to exercise more, eat healthier, try meditating, read more and doom scroll less, cut down on vaping or drinking, you get the point. Changing habits is a tricky thing hence why New Years resolutions usually fade out by April and millions of American suffer from chronic health conditions that are influenced by lifestyle behaviors and habits. This blog post is designed to educate people on the habit change process and promote personal reflection. In an upcoming blog post, strategies that increase habit change success will be discussed.
Point #1: Habits are automatic behaviors that promote well-being. This may be surprising because it seems like many habits can sabotage health. But here’s an essential point — the brain was built to favor solutions that are adaptive in the short-term. This adaption comes from our subconscious/reflexive brain. Habits that serve us in the long-term have to be nurtured from our prefrontal cortex and override that feature. This is called “top down control” also known as “self-regulation”, “self-control”, “willpower”, and the “mental muscle”.
Point #2: Habits are not pleasure-driven; they are reward-driven. Rewards can mean lots of things – to some, rewards are treats like getting or spending money, eating or drinking delicious things. Rewards can also come in the form of personal accomplishment or living in a way that’s aligned with a value system. These two forms of rewards are clearly in different categories and, in fact, they correspond to different brain processes. Both sets of rewards operate on dopaminergic activity in the brain but have divergent paths. Short-term rewards have a peak-and-valley effect – dopamine spikes high and then drops hard while long-term rewards have a slow, uphill grind effect – dopamine rises more slowly but consistently over time.
Point #3: Self-regulation, or top-down control, has a lot of enemies. Stress, fear, and anxiety all diminish our capacity for healthy habit change because these emotions wake up the subconscious parts of the brain that want quick, easy solutions that get rid of negative emotion and restore baseline levels of happiness. This brain cares about the now, not the later problems down the road. Diabetes, cancer, dementia are all “later” problems when the brain is stressed or living in fight or flight mode. Another threat to self-regulation? Trying to change to many things at once. The prefrontal cortex does not have an unlimited supply of change capacity – like an army fighting battles on too many fronts, it can be worn down by trying to be disciplined on too many fronts.
Point #4: Habits are hinged to a “readiness to change” process that actually unfolds in a series of stages. To keep it brief, here they are: Stage 1 – Precontemplation = “All good here, no need to change”. Stage 2 – Contemplation = “Maybe this habit isn’t healthy, but I’m not sure I want to change it”. Stage 3 – Preparation = “Change is the right thing to do, let me get myself ready to do this”. Stage 4 – Action = “It’s go time, I’m doing this”. Stage 5 – Relapse & Maintenance – “I slipped up, how do I get back on the horse?” Habit change is much more difficult when people haven’t resolved these stages completely. Simply put, many people aren’t as mentally ready to change as they think they are.
Counseling is a forum that addresses all these above mentioned snags to behavior change. If you or someone you know is interested in improving health habits and wants to have a consultation with a health psychologist, call Dr. Lauren Gashlin at 732-988-3441 to set up an appointment.