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Creating healthy habits

This year, focus on small, positive behaviours you can sustain

by KRISTI YORK

Every morning, Cris Spitzig and her husband, Doug, go for a one-hour walk. It’s a tradition that started many years ago when they got their first dog, Copper.

“It keeps us healthy, and we enjoy it,” explains Spitzig, a Costco member from Waterloo, Ontario. “It feels good to get some fresh air and take a mental break from everything.” Even though they’re now retired and no longer own a dog, they have continued the daily walks. “It has become a built-in part of our day,” Spitzig says. “It’s a habit.”

Understanding habits—and the psychology behind them—could help explain why so many New Year’s resolutions quickly fade away. Every year, people set health-related goals but have difficulty making them a reality. Since it is estimated that about half of our daily actions come from habit, it’s worth examining our personal patterns.

How habits are born

“Habits are formed when our behaviour is influenced by a well-learned cue-behaviour association,” says Ryan Rhodes, a professor of health and exercise psychology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. “This means the behaviour is consistently performed with the same pre-behaviour cue, such as waking up in the morning and making coffee. With repetition, the two actions become linked.”

According to Rhodes, the ability to successfully establish a new habit is influenced by the complexity of the behaviour, the surrounding environment and the level of motivation. “Simple behaviours, like turning off a light switch, are faster to habituate than complex, multi-step behaviours,” he explains. Knowing this, it is wise to begin with a small habit that is easy to do. For example, to cut down on long periods of sitting, set an intermittent alarm on your computer to signal you to stand up and stretch for one minute.

Also, look for ways to take control of your environment. If you are trying to break the habit of repeatedly checking your phone during other tasks, set it to silent mode and place it in another room. By doing this, you are structuring the situation to exclude your phone.

For a motivation boost, recruit a friend. If you’re trying to dine out less, pack a lunch and plan to eat with a co-worker. If you have a rarely used gym membership, make arrangements to meet up with a friend for a specific class. You will be more likely to follow through because you don’t want to disappoint the other person. As you repeat the behaviour, the action becomes more instinctive and forms a habit.

Tips for success

When choosing a new habit to pursue, Rhodes recommends something that can be enjoyable. “Be creative to make the experience as pleasant as possible, so you don’t have to muster considerable motivation every time,” he says. For example, if you’re not keen on vegetables, search for new recipes.

Ideally, Rhodes says, the behaviour should always be performed within the same context. “Time is often an excellent cue, so try the behaviour at the same time each day,” he advises.

Another strategy is to attach the new behaviour to an existing habit, to create what Rhodes calls “a habit sequence.” For example, if your goal is to drink more water, choose an action that you reliably perform each day, such as brushing your teeth. Right after you finish, have a large drink of water. The established habit (brushing teeth) helps ensure you will perform the new habit (drinking water).

Staying with a new habit will be an ongoing challenge, but with time, the behaviour will become ingrained, like the Spitzigs’ walks. “We’re at the point now where we don’t even think about it anymore,” Spitzig says. “We just go.”

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