Introduction to Healthy Habits

We live in a world were more and more people are becoming conscious of the way they live. This could mean altering your eating, drinking, and sleeping habits, as well as your workout routine. This appears different for different people based on priorities, but one word we can use to describe what is happening is a “change of habits”.

According to the Oxford Learner Dictionary, a habit can be defined as; a thing that you do often and almost without thinking, especially something that is hard to stop doing¹.

As stated by the WHO (World Health Organization); a healthy lifestyle is a way of living that lowers the risk of being seriously ill or dying early. Not all diseases are preventable, but a large proportion of deaths, particularly those from coronary heart disease and lung cancer, can be avoided.  Health is not only just about avoiding disease. It is also about physical, mental and social wellbeing².

Within psychology, habits are defined as acts that are automatically triggered in response to contextual cues related with their performance. For example, immediately washing hands (activity) after using the restroom (contextual cue) or fastening a seatbelt (action) after entering the car (contextual cue)³.

This sentence is significant and should prompt one to consider what they do on a regular basis without thinking. This could include sleeping, smoking, and drinking. The actual question is; how excellent are the behaviors you subconsciously practice throughout each day of your life? Are they healthy?

What are the Healthy Habits?

Numerous studies have classified these habits as follows:

1. Healthy physical activity
2. Healthy diet
3. Healthy body weight
4. Moderate intake of alcohol
5. No smoking

These habits, in no particular order, are recommended for lifelong health. This implies that doing them may help you live longer³.

Healthy Habits Illustration

Habit Formation

In line with physchology; habit formation is the process by which habits become automatic. Habits might arise unintentionally, but they can also be consciously cultivated—or eliminated—to better suit one’s own goals⁴.

How long does habit formation take?

According to a study done at the University College of London called Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice³, suggests to expect habit formation (based on daily repetition) to take approximately 10 weeks.

Having unrealistic expectations about the duration of the habit formation process may cause you to quit up during the learning phase. More relevant studies discovered that automaticity stopped on average about 66 days following the first daily performance, with significant variance among persons and activities. In our experience, people are encouraged to hear that doing the behaviour becomes easier with time, so they simply need to maintain their drive until the habit solidifies. Working hard on a new behaviour for 2-3 months may be an appealing proposition if it has the potential to become’second nature’⁵.

Tips on how to form new Healthy Habits

1. Decide on a health-related goal.
2. Choose a basic action that will lead you to your objective that you can repeat on a regular basis.
3. Plan when and where you will do your chosen activity. Be consistent: select a time and location that you will encounter every day of the week.
4. Take action whenever you come across that moment and place.
5. It will become easier with time, and by ten weeks you should be doing it instinctively without even thinking about it.
6. Congratulations, you have established a healthy habit!

My goal (e.g. ‘to eat more fruit and vegetables’) _________________________________________________

My plan (e.g. ‘after I have lunch at home I will have a piece of fruit’)

(When and where) ___________________________ I will ___________________________

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References

1. Habit Noun – Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com. www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/habit.
2. Copenhagen : WHO Regional Office for Europe. Healthy Living : What Is a Healthy Lifestyle? 1999, iris.who.int/handle/10665/108180.
3. Mph, Monique Tello Md. “Healthy Lifestyle: 5 Keys to a Longer Life.” Harvard Health, 25 Mar. 2020, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/healthy-lifestyle-5-keys-to-a-longer-life-2018070514186.
4. “Habit Formation.” Psychology Today, 11 July 2024, www.psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/habit-formation.
5. Gardner B, Lally P, Wardle J. Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 2012 Dec;62(605):664-6. doi: 10.3399/bjgp12X659466. PMID: 23211256; PMCID: PMC3505409.