January 2018 Issue
6 Notoriously Bad Habits And How To Break Them (For Good)
Science reveals how to overcome six common compulsive behaviors. Hint: It's not about willpower.
By Evelyn Spence December 15, 2017
Claudia Pearson
"I've done it since I was a kid." "I guess I'm just not going to change." If there's one thing we know about habits—our routine patterns of behavior—it's that they're tough to break. That's because whether they're helpful (brushing our teeth every night before bed) or potentially harmful (biting our nails), they become hardwired into our brains. "Something acts as a trigger, you react with a certain behavior, you get a reward, and you repeat it," says Judson Brewer, a neuroscientist at the University of Massachusetts. All habits, good or bad, follow this loop. And the stronger the loop is, the harder it is to break.
https://www.prevention.com/health/break-your-bad-habits
