Behavioral Health: How Habits Can Affect Your Mental And Physical Health
The link between your overall well-being and the behaviors you display in your everyday life can be a strong one. How you act—or behave—often works in conjunction with your mental and physical health. Taking some time to assess your behavior may help you recognize whether you’re acting in beneficial or detrimental ways. Oftentimes, this can start with being attentive to the way habits form, what type of habits you’re engaging in, and the ways old habits are affecting you physically and mentally.
What is behavioral health?
How your physical habits can affect you
In many cases, our physical habits shape the way we feel, how we present ourselves, and the way we react to environmental cues in the world around us. Bad habits like not sleeping enough at night, not eating healthy foods, and using substances like alcohol in excess can create harmful physical effects. If a bad habit is left unaddressed, it can have detrimental effects later on.
Unhealthy physical habits can also negatively affect your brain. One example would be a lack of sleep, which research shows can affect how a person copes with stress and may impact their performance at work and school. In some cases, the effects of unhealthy habits stick with you during various daily activities like driving or operating machinery, presenting a higher risk of accident or injury.
Poor nutritional habits can similarly affect you in everyday life. While a healthy habit like regular consumption of veggies can benefit your physical health, a lack of nutritional foods can affect your ability to concentrate. Different foods can also lead to low energy levels, which may cause tiredness and a lack of desire to engage in physical activity. This, in turn, can lead to weight gain and several other negative effects on the body.
How your mental health habits can affect you
The state of a person’s physical health may be more apparent than the state of their mental health at first, but mental health habits can affect a person just as much, if not more, than their physical habits can.
Some examples of habits that can have a positive effect on your mental health include journaling, meditating, reading, spending time with family or friends, or participating in any old or new behavior that quiets and relaxes your mind.
On the other hand, poor mental health choices or behaviors could involve using alcohol or other substances in excess, compulsively using social media, catastrophizing, or engaging in negative self-talk. The American Psychological Association defines negative self-talk as “an internal dialogue in which an individual utters phrases or sentences to himself or herself. Negative self-talk often confirms and reinforces negative beliefs and attitudes, such as fears and false aspirations, which has a correspondingly negative effect on the individual’s feelings (e.g., a sense of worthlessness) and reactions (e.g., demotivation).”
If you are engaging in a mental health habit that doesn’t serve you, you may already recognize it. You might feel a vague sense of guilt or shame, but you may also feel unable to stop the behavior. Poor mental health habits can sometimes take the form of compulsion, which can be challenging or take more energy to overcome. However, unhelpful habits can be changed, and you don’t have to try to change them on your own. There are licensed mental health professionals with experience helping people change their habits, and you can talk to such a professional either in person or online.
What you can do to change your physical and mental health choices
Your behavioral health is something that you can take steps to manage and keep at a healthy level. While you might be experiencing various mental, physical, or overall health conditions, you can also seek support to overcome them. Building healthy habits can take time, but it may help to stay patient with yourself as you make adjustments. Speaking with a mental health professional, like a therapist, may help you stay motivated and make these changes with more ease and clarity.
In many ways, your life may be a sum of the habits that constitute your daily routine. One of the first steps to making lifestyle adjustments can be recognizing that there’s a problem with one or several of these daily habits. You might consider assessing your routines and contemplating whether they are adding to or taking away from your health and well-being. From there, you can decide what you need to focus on to combat negative habits; from there, you can establish a new routine that positively affects you and those around you.
Practicing healthy habits for mental health can help you embark on the journey toward better overall well-being.
Online therapy for cultivating habits that serve you
If you feel like your habits are a source of difficulty and you want to change your habits, speaking to a mental health professional may be helpful. If you feel nervous about discussing your habits in a new environment like a therapist’s office, you might consider trying online therapy, which allows you to participate in sessions from home or anywhere with an internet connection. With BetterHelp, you can connect with a licensed therapist via audio or video chat. You can also contact them in between sessions via in-app messaging, and they’ll get back to you as soon as they can. This may be especially helpful if you are experiencing challenges relating to alcohol or substance use. You can write to your therapist at any time if you are experiencing triggering thoughts or if you simply have questions or concerns about the benefits of a new habit.
The effectiveness of online therapy
Online therapy can be a valuable resource for those wanting to overcome habits, addictions, and mental health concerns. Research shows that online therapy can often be just as effective as traditional in-office therapy for a variety of mental health challenges. One study found that an internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention was “superior to no treatment and wait list in reducing alcohol consumption or cannabis use.”
Takeaway
How do habits influence our lives?
Habits significantly shape our lives and influence our thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and relationships. Here are some examples of how habits can influence our lives, both in the short and long term:
- Habits can provide structure and routine to our daily lives, helping create a sense of predictability and stability
- Habits can create a framework for daily activities that improve or diminish our well-being
- Habits can influence whether we’re more productive or less productive at work
- Habits can shape attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that influence our personal growth and development
- Habits can impact our interpersonal relationships and social interactions
- Habits can positively or negatively influence our overall mental and physical health
How do habits affect our personality?
Research reveals insight into the bi-directional relationship between our habits and personalities. For example, one 2021 study showed that individuals with conscientious personalities tended to practice more self-control and formed healthier habits, while people with traits of neuroticism tended to form unhealthier habits.
However, regardless of personality, we can establish habits that shape our personalities deliberately. For example, conscientious individuals might habitually withdraw from others after a stressful day at work, leading to personality changes associated with social isolation. On the other hand, people with neurotic tendencies may establish the habit of jogging after a stressful day at work, leading to confidence and sociability.
How do habits influence behavior?
Researchers have developed several theories on the relationship between habits and behavior that reveal insights into how the two influence each other to shape our actions, decisions, and responses in various situations. Some ways in which habits influence behavior include:
- Automaticity: Habits can be automatic, ingrained patterns of behavior that we perform with minimal conscious thought or effort. Automaticity can make habits powerful influencers of behavior when they are effortless and come naturally.
- Consistency: Habits create consistency in our behavior by providing a predictable, familiar way of responding to specific “triggers.”
- Cue-response association: Habits are often initiated by specific cues or environmental stimuli that prompt us to engage in a particular behavior. This type of behavioral response is frequently observed in individuals with substance use disorders.
- Reinforcement: New habits are reinforced through repetition and reward. When we engage in a positive behavior followed by a positive outcome or reward like satisfaction or pleasure, we are more likely to repeat it in the future.
- Habit loops: Habits often follow a loop of cues, routine, and reward. The cue initiates the behavior, the routine is the behavior itself, and the reward influences the behavior. This cycle can form a deeply ingrained behavior that is difficult to break.
Why do habits matter?
Habits play a critical role in our daily lives. They impact our behavior, well-being, and overall success. They can reshape our priorities, preferences, and responses to the choices we make in various areas of life, such as health, relationships, work, and personal development. Here are a few fundamental ways in which habits matter:
Efficiency and productivity
Habits help us streamline our daily routines and tasks by creating automatic, efficient ways of doing things. By establishing positive habits, like effective time management, organization, and focus, we can increase our productivity and achieve our goals more effectively.
Consistency and reliability
Habits provide a sense of reliability and consistency in our behavior, making it easier to maintain routines and meet commitments. By developing positive habits, we can create a stable, predictable environment in our daily lives that might improve our reliability and dependability.
Health and well-being
Habits play a significant role in shaping our health and well-being. Positive habits such as regular exercise, nutritious eating, adequate sleep, and stress management can promote physical and mental health. By maintaining healthy habits, we can reduce the risk of chronic diseases, increase our energy and longevity, and cultivate better emotional resilience.
Personal growth and development
Habits drive our personal growth and development. By establishing positive habits that support our goals, values, and aspirations, we can cultivate skills and behaviors that contribute to individual success. Positive habits can also help us build resilience, enhance self-discipline, and achieve our full potential.
Interpersonal relationships
Habits influence our relationships and social interactions. Positive habits like active listening and effective communication can foster trust and cultivate meaningful connections with other people.
How do habits affect the brain?
Research shows that habits influence brain structure, function, and neural pathways in various ways. For example, habits create neural pathways in the brain that strengthen with repetition, making the behavior more automatic and requiring less conscious effort to perform.
Habits can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. When we engage in a rewarding or satisfying behavior, dopamine is released and reinforces the habit—making us more likely to repeat the behavior in the future. Additionally, habits can influence the brain’s neuroplasticity, or its ability to change and adapt in response to experiences novel experiences. By engaging in new positive behaviors, we can boost the brain’s neuroplasticity and form healthy habits.
What is the golden rule of habit change?
The golden rule of habit change refers to the idea that habit loops of cue, routine, and reward play an integral role in forming, changing, and breaking habits. According to the golden rule of habit change, one must:
- Identify the cue that initiates the habit. For example, it can be a particular location, emotional state, or time of day.
- Keep the reward (or a similar one) that motivates us to engage in the behaviors associated with the habit.
- Change the routine that follows the cue and leads to the reward. In other words, replace the existing routine with a new behavior that serves the same purpose or satisfies the same craving.
What are the worst habits for the brain?
There are several habits that experts cite as being particularly bad for brain health. Some of them include:
- Physical inactivity: A lack of physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle can adversely affect brain health, as exercise is essential for maintaining cognitive functioning, memory, and mental well-being.
- Social inactivity: Science shows that social inactivity can alter brain functioning, and loneliness has been linked to depression, Alzheimer’s, and cognitive decline.
- Lack of sleep: Inadequate or disrupted sleep can impair cognitive function, memory, concentration, and mood.
- Neglecting your stress levels: Chronic stress can affect cognitive functioning, focus, memory, problem-solving, and judgment. It can also lead to more severe mental health problems when left unaddressed.
- Poor eating habits: Studies indicate that healthy eating and a balanced diet contribute to better mental health, cognitive functioning, and higher amounts of grey matter in the brain linked to intelligence.
How do you break a bad habit?
Successfully breaking bad habits may require different strategies for different people, but there are some general consistencies that seem to work for many. For instance, the golden rule of habit change is a commonly used strategy for helping individuals break bad habits. This involves identifying the cue that activates the habit, recognizing the reward you seek by engaging in the habit and disrupting or replacing the routine that connects the cue with the reward.
Why is it hard to change unhealthy habits?
Changing unhealthy habits can be challenging because, in many cases, the behavior has become automatic, easy, and even comfortable. The cue, routine, and reward can become so integral to how we function that we might not even realize we have a bad habit until its consequences emerge.
How long does it take to break a bad habit?
How long it takes to break a bad habit depends largely on the individual, the habit they’re trying to break, and the surrounding environmental factors. It’s also usually a gradual process requiring awareness, persistence, and effort. Additionally, breaking a bad habit might involve setbacks and challenges along the way that can delay progress. While there is no fixed timeline, some more current research suggests that our habits may take an average of 66 days to change, or, depending on the variables, it could take anywhere between 18 and 254 days.
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