The Science Behind Creating New Habits

Written By Carleigh Golightly
 

If you’re like most Americans, when January 1st rolled around, you had some grand plans for what you’re going to accomplish in the new year.

According to Statistica, the most common resolutions for 2023 were:

  • Exercise more (52%)

  • Eat healthier (50%)

  • Lose weight (40%)

  • Save money (39%)

  • Spend more time with family and friends (37%)

  • Spend less time on social media (20%)

  • Reduce job stress (19%)

  • Cut spending on living expenses (19%)

Whether your 2023 intentions fell on this list or not, chances are that your resolutions hinges on one thing: habits. Whether it’s breaking an old one or creating a new one, habits form the backbone of our daily lives.

 One motivational speaker put it this way:

“Your thoughts create your actions, which create your habits, which create your reality.” 

But only a small percentage of people who set a New Years resolution actually achieve it. Why? 

The answer lies in your brain.

What is a Habit?

Habits are behavioral routines that are repeated consistently, either consciously or subconsciously.  Approximately 43% of the habits we repeat on a daily basis go unnoticed because they are so deeply ingrained in our neural architecture. Why? 

Our brains are wired to “follow the path of least resistance”.  Every action we take requires the use of a different neural pathway. When something is repeated consistently, that neural pathway becomes “the path of least resistance” and our brains are most likely to utilize that pathway. When it comes to habits, this is known as the Habit Loop.

How the brain forms habits (the habit loop)

In the 2012 book The Power of Habit, researcher Charles Duhigg describes the brain’s tendency to act only these neural “paths of least resistance” as the Habit Loop.

Each habit is kicked off by some form of cue: weather, time of day, a stressful conversation, getting off work, boredom etc. 

What follows next is a desire. It could be to get attention, relieve anxiety, destress from the day, or any other number of things. It’s important to note that our brains are intrinsically wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain and conserve energy. Many of our desires stem from these archaic protective mechanisms. 

To satisfy this craving we take action. We eat the chocolate, have the beer, run away from confrontation or decide to sleep in and push the gym off for tomorrow. 

This leads to a sense of reward. Our brains receive a hit of dopamine which makes us feel a sense of pleasure. This is nice in the moment, but ulimately solidifies a habit. 

This sense of reward is what makes breaking an old habit and starting a new one so challenging.

Why it’s so hard to break old ones and create new ones

Habits are all about scratching your own itch. Remember, a habit is created to solve an internal problem. Over time, your brain sees this habit as an easy path to follow. Its like driving on a dirt road - there are ruts in the road where many tires have traveled, and its easiest to drive on those well-worn tracks. Navigating out of the tracks will initially be bumpy, but once you’re out of them there is a smooth road ahead.

Using the habit loop in your favor

Lets say that this year you decided you want to start eating healthier. You’d like to eliminate processed foods, cook more meals at home. Doing so will help you to lose a few pounds and save money for a much needed vacation. 

Lets look at how the habit loop might play out in two circumstances related to food. 

Example of bad habit

  • Cue: hunger 

  • Desire: to eat food 

  • Action: Stopping by your local Mexican food shop for a burrito on the way home 

  • Reward: hunger satisfied (bad habit is reinforced)

Exmaple of good habit 

  • Cue: hunger:

  • Desire: to eat food

  • Action: grab a healthy prepped meal from your lunch cooler

  • Reward: hunger satisfied (good habit reinforced)

Both of these actions will produce a reward response, but only once they become a habit. This is why breaking an old habit will feel like swimming upstream. Your brain is literally trying to rewire itself!

Simple ways to start a new habit

So if you’re serious about creating a new habit, you need to come seriously armed with a game plan. 

Why? 

Andrew Huberman, a research scientist and professor at Stanford School of Medicine refers to a term called “limbic friction”. At it’s core, “limbic friction” refers to the difficulty, or friction, that  the brain experiences in rewiring itself. 

Your brain and body work in phases. For the first 8 hours of our day  we tend to have higher levels of cortisol and adrenaline (epinephrine and norepinephrine). These 8 hours are the easiest time of day to overcome “limbic friction”.  These neurohormones make it easier for us to get motivated and focus. The second block of 8 hours is dominated by serotonin instead of adrenaline and favors more relaxation, creativity and play. The final 8 hour block is for resting and sleeping. 

So how can we leverage these things to create new habits? Try these simple suggestions  to use your own biochemistry  in your favor, reduce limbic friction, and improve your chances of getting that new habit to stick. 


1. Enroll others in your success 

Accountability is an age-old tool to use other people as a method of keeping you on plan. Speaking our intentions to others (and ourselves, for that matter) starts the process of making a new habit “real” in your brain.  


2. Walk through it in your mind 

Remember that creating a new habit requires rewiring your brain? Well the only way to do that is by actually completing the taks itself, but your brain has the ability to begin the process of forming new neural connections when you simply visualize yourself carrying it out. Do this in a much detail as possible! For example, when I was learning my first bodybuilding posing routine, I would close my eyes and take myself through every single step, turn, hair flip and arm motion. Visualizing helped me to reinforce my practice. 

3. Make the old habits hard 

Sometimes a good obstacle is all you need to make yourself think twice about re-engaging in an old habit. Trying to stop snacking? Put your snack food way in the back of your cabinets where you cant reach them. Or even better, don’t buy them at all! 


4. Failure to plan is planning to fail 

If you have a goal of eating healthier or getting fit, the most important thing you can do is develop a plan. Ask yourself HOW you are going to achieve these goals until the plan is so clear you could set your watch to it. 

For example: I want to eat healthier this year 

HOW?  I need to eat less junk food

HOW? I need to swap junk food for home cooked meals

HOW? I need to cook meals at home

HOW? I need to make a meal plan, grocery shop on the weekends, and set aside time for cooking during my week 

Get crystal clear about your plan, block off time in your calendar, and honor that time as you would an appointment with God. 

5. Reduce friction
Going back to the concept of limbic friction, recall that this process of building a new habit will be easiest when our biochemistry is naturally inclined towards focus and motivation. This happens in the first 8 hours after you wake up and is the optimal time for your to start making your goals into habits. 

6. Optimize sleep

None of this is possible if you’re not sleeping. Rewiring the brain doesn’t happen during the day. While the process may start during sunlight hours, our brains don’t consolidate this new information and make neural changes until the nighttime. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night is critical for new habit formation. Make sure to avoid lights, sleep in a cool room, and supplement if needed. 

Give Yourself Grace

Remember that building new habits is a process that takes time. Research shows it can take someone anywhere frm 7 to over 200 days to form a new habit. Its hard to say where each of us falls on that spectrum, so don’t lose hope if your first swing is a miss. Dust yourself off, get back on plan, and know that it’s only a matter of time. 

Recommended Reading

References 

Written by Dr. Carleigh Golightly

 
Carleigh Golightly
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