It can be difficult to follow through with doing the activities we know would be good for us. To sustain a healthy habit, make it as easy to fall in to as possible.
Create habits you don’t think about
It’s important to have your routine structured in a way that you don’t have to think too much about doing the things that are healthy for you.
This could be going on a morning walk. If each morning, you have to find the clothes you’re going to wear, and find where you put your shoes, and find the leash for your dog, and figure out where you’re going to go on your walk, and what time you’re going to go, and whether or not you have enough time to go walking before work — it might just never happen.
But if you set everything up for yourself the night before when you have much greater aspirations of who you’ll be the next day and what you want for yourself, it makes it possible to fall into that healthy habit without needing to think about it.
Research has backed this strategy up. In studies on dieters, they’ve found that if a person sets up and organizes their meals the night before when they’re well-fed and comfortable, they make much better choices for themselves. If you leave someone to get hungry, frazzled, and time-constrained, they’re going to make a worse choice for their physical health — whether it’s diet or exercise.
Removing and creating barriers
With building healthy habits, we encourage you to consciously think about the ways that you can make them into an unconscious routine. Remove the barriers between yourself and that healthy habit so that when it comes time to do it, there’s no opportunity to think and consider whether or not you want to.
Many of our unhealthy habits are set up this way. We might have a routine where after dinner, we go to the couch to watch TV — without even thinking about it.
When it comes to breaking unhealthy habits, it’s important to develop ways to break up that routine so it’s less obvious, and less of something that we just fall into. This could look like changing the screen time permissions or notification settings on your phone so you don’t mindlessly move from checking an email to scrolling through social media, for example.
It takes effort
It’s important to not fall into the idea that healthy people are somehow able to develop these habits thoughtlessly and naturally. Other people do healthy activities not because they’re made differently or have a ‘better brain’, but because they’ve consciously set up those habits.
It takes conscious effort to figure out what habits we want to add, what barriers already exist, what habits we want to remove, and what barriers we need to build. Although it takes work to figure out how to develop these unconscious routines, it is well worth the effort.
About Us
Wells Medicine is a Houston-based practice designed to provide meaningful care for mental health. Providing targeted interventional treatments for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD and other conditions, with Ketamine Treatments, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, TMS, and Nitrous-Oxide Treatments. Focused on comprehensive care and integration with Psychiatry, Psychology, and Support Services. We are evidence-based, patient-focused and mission-driven.
The content here is for informational purposes and should not be relied upon for medical decisions. For the details of your specific medical conditions and treatments consult your doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals.
