Habits have a very important role in daily life. In fact, as indicated in the book ‘Emotional Intelligence: Good habits‘ Harvard Business Review, approximately half of our daily actions are based on habits that we repeat without just realizing.
However, the same mechanism that anchors good habits, also explains why changing a bad habit may seem like a task almost impossible. It is not only willpower, but to understand how our brain works and how habits are anchored in it.
Why do we adopt bad habits?
We know that leading a sedentary life is not healthy, that navigating Tiktok video video until many in the morning Take takes the next day and that smoking seriously harms our health. However, such and As explained to Harvard Business Review Judson Brewer, neuroscientist and author of the book ‘Undo the anxiety‘, we cannot avoid falling into any of these negative habits, and eliminating them is very uphill.
According to Brewer, the environment in which we live is designed to bombard us with stimuli that reinforce those habits, especially negatives. The rewards that our brain receives when performing certain behaviors alter our Reward -based learning systemso a pattern difficult to break is created. “Every time we try to disconnect from an exhausting task (with social networks), we reinforce the reward, to the point that harmful distractions can become habits.”
However, although it is not a simple process, research carried out by Brewer demonstrate that it is possible to change the bad habits definitively. Understanding the response mechanism that articulates them gives us the tools to achieve it.
Bad habits have their origin in the way our brain learns through an immediate rewards system (yes, as in Animal training). These behavioral patterns arise because they reinforce the feeling of pleasure or relief quickly. This rewards system implies a trigger (hunger sensation), followed by behavior (eating) and a reward (feel satiated). “These three components (trigger, behavior and reward) appear every time we smoke a cigarette or eat a cake,” says the neuroscientist.
Detect the origin of bad habit
Bad habits are not eliminated, they are only replaced by good habits. Therefore, one of the important steps of the process to get rid of them is to find the trigger that generates the action to seek the reward.
“Once you know your triggers, try to identify the behaviors you make when these bad habits occur. Do you look at social networks instead of working? Do you eat sweets during difficult tasks? You should be able to identify the actions to which you resort to feel comfortable or quiet before you can evaluate your reward value.”
For this reason, the neuroscientist ensures that knowing the scenario in which activation occurs and what action is carried out to obtain the reward is one of the key points so that it is easier to eliminate bad habits. For example, eating sweets would be the search for reward that is activated by a situation of stress or anxiety, and sugar rush reward. Avoid or learn to manage the stress situation It is the first step to subtract weight from sugar reward.
The key: break the reward chain
According to studies of the University of Utrecht (Netherlands), self -control alone is not enough to eliminate a habit, since the brain associates that behavior with a reward that temporarily cancels rational thinking. No smoker will tell you that tobacco It is beneficial for healthbut even so smokes.
A fundamental step to break with a bad habit is to reduce or eliminate the reward that the brain receives. That implies not only changing the behavior itself, but also the context that activates it and the associated sensations. Modifying those three elements: detonating, behavior and reward, it is basic for the brain to stop finding satisfaction in that behavior and abandons the need to carry it out.
Brewer’s investigations have revealed that an effective way to face bad habits is to replace them with behaviors that offer similar, but positive health or well -being rewards.
One of the techniques that Brewer has used with his patients full care training to teach the brain that this behavior is not only benefits, but also represents something unpleasant or even harmfulcausing him to hate him and not look for him anymore.
The neuroscientist said that, when someone joined his program to quit smoking, the first thing he asked is to pay attention while smokeing: to the smell, the environment, to the sensation when smoking, etc. The objective of this exercise is that patients become aware of the “value of the reward” and if this value, which probably had positive connotations (social acceptance, etc.), still remains.
Studies From the University of Bethesda they have shown that if that reward is no longer appreciated as it used to be, it is less likely that the brain will claim it and, with it, it will be easier to get rid of that bad habit. This can be applied to any other habit that the past may have a positive connotation, but has already been diluted.
According to Brewer, an important factor is in question what gives you that bad habit before consuming it and analyzing how you feel before, during and after the process from a critical point of view, instead of simply having a reactive behavior of repentance after having obtained the reward.
“Your behaviors may not change immediately, but persevere. If you manage to control your mind with our methods, over time you can free yourself from unwanted habits and see how your cravings disappear with peace of mind,” said the neuroscientist.
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