We are creatures of habits, both good and bad. What separates the good from the bad are the negative consequences that result from the bad ones. Negative consequences range from mildly embarrassing from, say, nail-biting when nervous to problematic, like scrolling social media sites into the wee hours. This can lead to loss of sleep and exhaustion, to potentially life-altering consequences of problematic substance use, risk-taking behaviors, and other habits that can leave us that leave us stuck, sick, struggling, and alone.
In her 2019 article, Creatures of Habit: The Neuroscience of Habit and Purposeful Behavior, author neuropsychiatrist Alana Mendelsohn, M.D., Ph.D., explains that our habits “serve a critical purpose in making our behavior more efficient, reducing the decision burden we face each day and freeing up mental energy for more demanding tasks.”
Habits are, by definition, automatic behaviors. What makes our habits so hard to break is that we engage in our habits, for the most part, with little or no thought. Rarely do we stop to examine, challenge, or reflect on how our problematic habits may be impacting our lives.
In his 2016 New........© Psychology Today