Having trouble sticking to your diet or exercise routine…maybe
even struggling with studying? If so,
chances are that you have not yet made your new efforts a habit. Researchers have found that there is a
habit-creating process in the brain called the “three-step loop”. This loop is what takes a new skill and over
several weeks creates a habit so that your brain does not have to work as hard
to complete this task.
The steps include
1.) a cue that triggers the brain to go into automatic mode
2.) a routine or automatic reaction that follows in response
1.) a cue that triggers the brain to go into automatic mode
2.) a routine or automatic reaction that follows in response
3.) a reward
This means that if you consistently practice a healthy or helpful
behavior such as a new diet, starting an exercise program or even new study
methods, over a short period of repetition these new behaviors will begin to
become “second nature” and you will be more likely to continue these behaviors in the future as they are easier to choose and stick to because your brain has ‘classified’
these actions as habits and can conserve its efforts when doing so. Why not start today with creating some new
and healthy behaviors!?
The Sports, Wellness, and Cardiovascular Nutrition practice group
associated with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has published a guide on
10 Simple Steps to Make Good Habits More Delicious. This guide shares detailed tips on how to
incorporate the Dietary Guidelines into your diet to make healthy eating much
more fun and delicious! With great
pictures, easy to read tables and charts, and quick tips…this is a great manual
to print out and keep in your kitchen so you can start those healthy eating
practices and stick to them!
I recently read an article on breaking habits, and it had to do with this lady who couldn't walk by a bakery that she passed everyday without buying a baked good. In order to break the habit she had to find a different route home from work where she didn't pass the bakery. After weeks of walking home on her new route, she was able to walk home on her old route past the bakery without buying a baked good. This shows that once a trigger is identified and a solution is found to avoid the trigger it is possible to break bad habits and form them into good habits.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very helpful! I always have a hard time trying to start a new routine, such as going out for a daily jog. Usually, I do things spontaneously. Any exercise I do comes from random calls from friends asking me to go play soccer or go running with them, sometimes I'll wake up and say I'm in the mood for Zumba and I'll go to a class. I definitely need to follow the three steps you have outlined, in order to have a more organized schedule for myself, especially when it comes to daily physical activity.
ReplyDeleteThis article caught my eye because it makes it seem to so easy to accomplish. I think that it is very difficult to change the habits that you already have in your life. It was nice to see that if you put in the effort, you will be able to change the habits that you already have in place. I think that this article makes it seem very easy to put the changes into action. I think that I could use these steps to help me when it comes to my study as well as exercising habits.
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