The Best Way to Break a Bad Habit!
Hey Team! It is the start of the New Year, and I know people are ready to start their resolutions. The gyms will become full again, and people will be ready to advance in an exercise program or start a new nutrition plan. Overall, people are looking for change… change from the current habit they have created and develop a plan they deem beneficial and healthy. This dovetails into a recent article I was reading regarding Free Will. It was an exciting topic regarding whether we as humans genuinely have Free Will or Not? My initial thought is, why don't we have free will? We are independent creatures conscious of making our own decisions, and based on our choices… this is how we live our lives. It seems pretty straightforward to me but let's dig deeper.
FREE WILL OR NO FREE WILL?
Why wouldn't a person have free will? In this article, the authors debate whether we truly have free will or simply reacting to a stimulus. For example, take our brain. Our brain sits in a dark box and only receives external input from many sensory organs. The brain takes in the information from the body's organs (eyes, touch, hearing, taste, or other). Our brain never gets to experience what is happening truly but can only take in all the information and produce a reaction. For example, we hear a large bang behind us and are immediately startled. Why are we scared? Our brain is extremely good at finding correlations and connections from a past experience to a new experience. Was the loud bang thunder, a gunshot, or a crash behind you? The brain will use the past experience and trigger an immediate response to give you an quicker chance to run to safety. How does it do this? Chemical mediators, hormones, neurotransmitters are all sent to your body to require you to act. Some are voluntary, but most are involuntary. In all… our brain usually initiates our actions before we're aware of them. In the end… the brain doesn't honestly know…it has to guess!
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Our brain guessing is more efficient than reacting from scratch. Your body tries to make you efficient to protect yourself during your day. This predictive process is now seen as a significant driver in how you make decisions that lead to actions. For example: have you ever been craving a pickle, potato chips, or cereal? Why? Where did this craving come from? From this perspective, your brain decides to eat one of these before you are even aware of the plan. This plan was built on the predictions of what your brain felt you needed based on past experiences and your current surroundings. These predictions leading to your actions make Free Will seem not so free???
HOW TO TAKE CHARGE
Based on the research of neuroscientists studying the Free Will debate, it appears the majority of our decisions are built by our past experiences. Most of these past experiences are then made by the habits we have created. Do you tend to crave cereal at night… do you like a sweet after dinner? Are you craving coffee in the morning? Why? Most of these brain predictions leading to actions result from prior experience related to your environment. So, what can you do about it, and how does this relate to wellness? Create New Habits! Every new article you read, every new food you eat, every new person you encounter will create a unique experience. Over time, adding these new experiences into your environment will make a new predictive process for your brain to relate to this current situation.
HOW TO BREAK A BAD HABIT
Now is the time to use neuroscience studies to our advantage! Every New Year, people look to improve their fitness, nutrition, or health. What is the best way to be successful? The habits we create in our daily lives drive the brain's response to "predictively" decide what to prepare you for. The patterns we make affect our emotional, psychological, or physical well-being. When we start a new fitness or nutrition program… it is never about Willpower… as Willpower essentially does not exist. The only defining factor we can measure that does determine your success with a new life change is your daily habits. What is the best way to break a bad habit… replace it with a new one! You want to cut down on coffee in the morning... switch to tea. You want to improve your nutrition… replace junk food in the house with healthy food, you want consistency in a workout plan… replace your TV time with exercise time. The more consistently you replace these items…, the more cemented this behavior becomes to the brain… and eventually, the lack of "Free Will" of the brain's predictive process will stimulate you to be active in your benefit! This is powerful!!!
Overall Team, we sometimes feel we do not have choices when looking to make a lifestyle change. We can feel our physiology pulling against us with a craving or unhealthy behavior. But we can make a change, and it starts with using the neuroscience we currently understand for a positive life change. Replacing a bad habit with a new one is the best way to make a sustainable change in your life. Anyway, I sure hope this opened your mind to think about your actions in a different light. Free Will or No Free Will…either way, you can still be in control. Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out to me by email or phone to have your questions answered or learn more about how to create a new daily habit. Keep Moving!
