With spring right around the corner, many people are thinking about improving their health and getting more active. For most people, it can be tough to start. It feels daunting. It feels hard. We have our ways of doing things— our habits. Some habits are good and others not-so-much.
Whether the habits we have help or harm us, they all start in the same place: A place in your brain called the basal ganglia. Habits are created through an amazing process in this part of your brain that involves neurotransmitters. These transmitters rely on pleasure and reward, and a whole network of activity, eventually building a matrix of neurons that solidify the repetitive behavior or action.
When you enjoy the task or activity, you activate your pleasure center in your brain called the nucleus accumbens. This is found in the nasal ganglia. When this is activated, dopamine is released, signaling that the experience is positive and should be repeated again. Simply put, actions repeated overtime will become habitual, whether they are positive or negative in action. If pleasure is involved, the habit will build even quicker.
Breaking a habit is one thing, but creating a new habit is another. Here are three steps to build new healthy habits.
1. Set a visual reminder
Let’s say you want to go running, but you currently dislike running. If you want running to become a habit, you need to set a routine reminder. One way to do this is to put your running shoes next to your bed before you go to sleep. When you wake up and see the shoes, it reminds you to go running. This sets the habit in motion and creates the routine concept. Even if you don’t end up running the first day, continuing to set your shoes out will be a visual reminder of your goal, and could be the key to rewiring those neurotransmitters to start a new habit.
2. Make a commitment and actually take action
Yes, you eventually have to do the hard thing you don’t want to do. This activates the anterior midcingulate cortex. This is the place where motivation, willpower are said to be found. It’s your discipline muscle. As such, just like muscles, it can grow and become stronger through increased effort, or it can shrink with apathy.
If you commit to go running — even if it’s only a jog around the block the first several times — through the power of step three, you’ll find yourself enjoying the run in no time.
3. Give yourself a reward for the effort
Say you go for a jog for the first time and you don’t like it. Your feet hurt and you’re winded. You may feel a little dizzy at the end. This can be quite discouraging for most. You may think to yourself, “I don’t want to do that again.” “I knew I wasn’t a runner.”
What do you do about these negative thoughts?
This is a critical step, and solidifies the habitual process with those amazing neurotransmitters we have.
Answer: You give yourself a reward right after the run.
That’s right. Give yourself your favorite treat. It could even be something that you deem as unhealthy, like your favorite chocolate bar. Eat the chocolate with pleasure right after your run, and this is where it gets good.
Dopamine releases and you feel amazing! It comforts you because you eat it with no guilt, only pleasure. This information is received by your brain as a positive thing to do again. This should be repeated over and over. The next time you run, it’s going to be just as hard the first time but eventually it will get easier as your body adapts. Eventually you won’t even need the chocolate to reward yourself.
This three-step process can be done with any healthy activity that you’d like to pursue. When you decide you want to get healthier and become more active, use these three steps and find yourself creating more healthy habits, better lifestyle, and reap the rewards of a longer, happier life.
Coach Jon Chase
Health, Fitness, and Mindset expert for 20 years.
