How To Create Good Habits (and End Bad Ones)? 6 Tips To Achieve It
How to have healthier habits? What can we do to leave negative habits behind and build other benefits for our mental and physical health? Find out.
Habits play a crucial role in health, mental and physical well-being. In fact, creating new habits and replacing negative ones will not only help you improve your health, but will also allow you to achieve all your goals. Still, develop good habits It requires effort, time and above all a lot of will and discipline. So how long does it take to form a habit and how can you do it?
The habits They can be defined as those actions that are automatically triggered by associated contextual cues. For example, when you get in the car you are used to fastening your seat belt, which implies that it is a habit. That is, these are actions that are done regularly, without thinking and without making much effort. In many cases these automatic behaviors are learned over time through repetition and practice.
In fact, many daily activities are made up of habits. From brushing our teeth to reading at night. While some habits are useful and can improve our lives, others can be very harmful and cause problems. Habits can cause either well-being or discomfort on a daily basis, but they usually require time to build or stop.
How long does it take to form a habit?
According to research, a habit was usually formed within three months. Even so, there are individual differences that can help us explain why some people form habits faster than others:
Personality: Personality is essential to create new habits more quickly or more slowly. That is, if you are organized or have more intrinsic motivation, you are more likely to develop new habits faster. On the contrary, a more pessimistic attitude can make it more difficult.
Effort required: Not all habits are equally committed. For example, if you want to have a healthier lifestyle, doing physical exercise every day will not be the same as drinking more water.
Lifestyle and circumstances: The way you live your life will also have an impact on your habits. That is, if you have little free time, it will be more difficult for you to create habits and establish them in your life.
Although they require time and effort, there are many benefits of getting new healthy habits Some of the advantages that it can bring to a person’s life are the following:
Reduces mental effort: When a behavior becomes automatic, our brain can focus on other things. That is, instead of making a lot of mental effort, habits make this happen almost automatically.
Helps improve health and well-being: Developing good habits improves the quality of life. For example, habits such as exercising regularly, having a nutritious diet or establishing behaviors to better manage stress will improve the person’s well-being and life. Additionally, building these habits will also allow you to have greater resilience in the face of life’s challenges.
Helps achieve goals: Healthy habits can also help us achieve our goals. That is, getting into the habit of exercising regularly can motivate you to work on other goals you have in mind.
What good habits will help you improve your life?
Establishing certain habits will help you not only improve your mental and physical health, but also have more motivation to achieve your goals. Some good habits The following should be taken into account to achieve more willpower and improve your life:
Have a balanced diet: A healthy diet is vital for good physical and mental health. This involves eating fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins in a balanced way.
Exercise regularly: Exercise is vital to achieve good mental health. In addition, making it a habit will allow you to improve your physical health and promote less stress.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness is a meditation technique that involves focusing on the present moment and letting go of thoughts and worries about the past or future. Research suggests it can help reduce stress, improve memory, and even strengthen relationships with others.
Practice gratitude: Gratitude involves trying to be grateful and appreciate the good things that life entails. Studies suggest that taking into account the positive things in our lives can have many health benefits. In fact, getting into the habit of writing down the good things that happened during the day will help you motivate yourself and have more willpower.
Reflect on the day: Another healthy habit that you can incorporate into your life is to think about what you have done in your day and what you can do to improve it the next.
If you want to incorporate new habits in your life Some recommendations to keep in mind are the following:
Set specific and realistic goals: Don’t try to change from one day to the next. Instead, try to focus on taking small steps that are more realistic. For example, instead of doing an hour of physical exercise daily, start by resolving to do the sport you like for at least thirty minutes twice a week.
Stay focused on a single habit: If you try to focus on more than one habit at a time, it will be harder to stay motivated. Instead, try to focus on just one and not start another until you get the first one.
Seek support: It will always be easier for you to build a habit with another person. In fact, research shows that social support has a very positive impact on all health-related behaviors.
How to change bad habits?
One of the most difficult things you can face is trying to break bad habits To do this, it is important that you take the following into account:
Set your intentions: Try to be very specific with your goal. Instead of thinking about how you want to quit a bad habit, try to identify exactly what you want to change. In addition, it will help you to have specific goals on a daily basis.
Try to create positive habits: Another way to end a bad habit is precisely to replace it with a positive one. For example, if you want to quit smoking, try to change the times you dedicated to eating fruit or drinking an infusion.
Give yourself time: It is important to remind yourself that changing habits will not happen overnight. In fact, breaking a bad habit will take time. Given this, try to be persistent and not let yourself be defeated by difficulties or setbacks.
Sometimes bad habits can be a sign that there is a mental health problem that needs to be addressed. For this reason, if you feel that you are not capable of create healthy habits, it is advisable to go to a professional psychologist. With time and effort, you will be rewarded by acquiring healthy habits.
