The Science Behind Changing Your Habits
We all have habits we wish were different — nail biting, phone checking, snacking when bored. Though these behaviors feel uncontrollable, recent science reveals intriguing ways our habits take root and how they can be reshaped. Understanding this empowers us to drive change.
The Habit Loop
Per scientific studies, nearly 50% of our waking actions are routine habitual behaviors rather than conscious choices. How do all these patterns take hold without our direction though? The how comes down to what’s called the “habit loop”.
As we repeat an action that provides some reward frequently enough, a mental association forms between whatever “cue” precedes said action and expecting the upcoming “reward”. Over time, this cue-routine-reward loop becomes the default response path wired subconsciously for when that cue appears.
For example, we might frequently feel tired mid-afternoon and grab a sugary snack for an energy lift. After a while, fatigue becomes the cue triggering cravings for candy without needing any deliberation. Even subtle environmental triggers like locations, preceding tasks or times of day can spark habitual actions through this encoded loop where the “routine” plays out automatically.
Understanding this cycle helps explain why we often engage detrimental habits even when consciously trying not to. The overridden pathway triggers too quickly. But it also shows how shifting parts of that cycle — cues, routines or rewards — will reshape the habit. Where there is awareness, there is choice.
Why Habits Feel Ingrained
What makes habits so stubbornly tough to override comes down to how our brains learn and navigate life efficiently. Gray matter concentrates most in areas tied to bodily processes, movement sequencing and sensory intake. Comparatively little rests in the prefrontal cortex handling conscious deliberation and future planning.
As creatures ultimately seeking to conserve energy, we evolved to encode frequent behaviors into handy subroutines automatically initiated by relevant stimuli. This allowed us to free up bandwidth for voluntary actions tied to more immediate priorities. In other words, our brains reroute repeated tasks away from energy-intensive conscious processing into reactionary inputs and outputs.
The basal ganglia becomes the hub storing these automated scripts we experience as habits. Related brain regions depicting emotional drives, pattern recognition, sequence memory and motor skills connect into efficient loop circuits. Supporting this “auto-pilot” functionality required hardwiring it into our neural architecture pretty deeply!
Hijacking Natural Habit Power
Understandably the firm grip of habitual behaviors can feel frustrating as we try improving our lifestyles. But these neurology insights also uncover exciting opportunities. If we leverage the same systems cementing old patterns, replacing detrimental habits with positive ones becomes very achievable.
The inherent reward model shaping much of our habitual actions offers a hack. As behavioral scientist BJ Fogg discovered, we can piggyback fresh habits onto existing ones by strategically tying a novel “routine” to an established cue-reward cycle.
For instance, if getting your morning coffee is a deeply ingrained routine (the cue being waking up tired), adding reading two pages or doing 10 pushups before brewing trains those behaviors into the script. The existing craving for caffeine gets it done without requiring new motivation. Gradually the Physical actions embed via association. Our laziness works for us!
This “habit stacking” approach shortcuts the repetition required to encode new routines. Rather than rebuilding cue-reward links from scratch, we insert ideas into preset grooves letting nature handle the rest. Compounding this strategy with accountability tools and environmental tweaks enables major lifestyle shifts without the normal effort.
Retraining Your Brain
As mentioned earlier though, the automaticity making habits sticky has roots in actual structural changes to our brains. Nerve cell connections and pathway traffic confirming certain behaviors literally shape our neural architecture over time. Through a process known as neuroplasticity, the adage “neurons that fire together wire together” plays out based on repetitive actions.
But the great news is neuroplasticity is a two way street! Just as circuits cementing habits were gradually etched into our brains, so too can new wiring overwrite those over-trodden tracks. The same neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin reinforcing patterned actions can drive “unlearning” old behaviors and relearning preferred ones through repetition.
Retracing steps alters memory and response cue associations. Bit by bit, ignoring old habit triggers while consistently acting out new responses remaps signaling pathways. volumes gradually decrease in once frequently activated regions while quiet zones ramp up. Though rarely quick and easy, retraining our brains absolutely proves possible.
Leveraging Memory Flexibility
An intriguing shortcut for remodeling habit circuits faster exists through manipulating memory, our mental storage bins. The brain dynamically updates recalled events whenever they get pulled into working memory. This impacts associated emotional filters and cues linking related experiences.
During recollection, memory gets temporarily destabilized and mutable through chemical changes before settling back into storage. By cue flooding alternative actions during this phase, connections overriding rigid habits can establish rapidly.
For example, frequently visualizing yourself easily refusing drinks when tempted shortly after turning them down replaces old pleasure-driven acceptance patterns. Neural associations update rapidly to match the dominant memories held in focus. Actively dwelling on realities we wish to manifest trains our automated systems until they make it so.
Over To You
In the end, the adage rings true — neurons wire together if they fire together. Understanding the science of how habitual behaviors get encoded, retrieving those memories for editing and consciously linking new routines to existing drivers unlocks incredible power for transformation.
Through awareness and application, undesirable habits stand no chance against such intentional re-sculpting capacity. We needn’t remain helpless against whatever initial cycles got etched into the operating system our brains represent. The code can be continually rewritten as often as we desire.
The key is recognizing just how malleable both our neuro-networks and our memories happen to be. While early conditioning provides default settings, our hardware perpetually learns and evolves. By targeting this innate adaptability intentionally, new habits can propagate exponentially. Before you know it, your new improved “operating software” will be running smoothly all on its own!
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Bryant D Nielson is the author of the book:
Lengthen Your Stride: The Power of 1% Improvements to Transform Your Life, Relationships, Career, Business, and the World
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