Often times, we try to break bad habits only to find ourselves falling back to them again.
We make bold statements that today will be the day that we’re finally quitting smoking, or that we’re finally going to eat less. What ends up happening is that we slowly fall back into our old habits as the need to satisfy our cravings get the better of us.
Instead of making these arbitrary promises to yourself, try this trick: eat a piece of chocolate whenever you get the cravings again.
I know that sounds counterintuitive, especially if your goal is to eat less sweets. Studies have shown however that eating a piece of chocolate makes it much easier to break your bad habits.
Read on to find out why a piece of chocolate can be a likely companion in your fight to break your bad habits.
Why it’s so hard to break bad habits
Essentially, all habits are composed of four stages that circle around in a loop: a cue, routine, reward, and cravings. Together, these four stages are called the habit loop.
The habit loop — cue, routine, reward, and cravings
All habits start with the cue, which is something that automatically triggers you to do an action.
A cue can be different for everyone depending on the person: it can be a place, a person, or even feelings like boredom and sadness.
The cue then leads you to perform the routine which is the action itself.
Once the routine is over, you reap the rewards which helps your brain remember that pattern for the future.
Finally, we develop a crave for the reward which makes us repeat the habit again.
When we brush our teeth for instance, our cue might be that we just woke up in the morning.
This might lead us to the routine of brushing our teeth, with the reward being a fresh and clean mouth.
We do this habit over and over again because we might crave the need for a fresh and clean mouth in the morning.
Bad habits
Bad habits work in the same vein as well.
For example, after you eat lunch (cue), you might suddenly want to smoke a cigarette (routine).
Once you get a puff, your brain releases a flood of dopamine that makes you feel good (reward).
Later, you might crave the good feeling that cigarettes brings.
When you declare that you won’t smoke cigarettes again, your brain goes into panic mode.
It can’t possibly imagine living in a world where it will no longer get that same feeling of euphoria ever again.
This makes your brain crave cigarettes even more and sends you back to your bad habits again.
Instead of the cold turkey approach, eating a piece of chocolate can be more effective in helping you quit your bad habits.
How to break bad habits with chocolate
Our habit loops trap us into repeating our bad habits simply because the reward is so great. Thankfully, we can trick our brain by eating a piece of chocolate.
Whenever you feel the urge to repeat your bad habit, resist the urge for at least two minutes.
After the time is up, immediately reward yourself with a small piece of chocolate. When you do this, you avoid your bad habits by giving yourself a reward that you genuinely enjoy, like a piece of chocolate.
Research has shown that your brain thinks that you actually like your bad habit, even if you want to quit. That’s why it’s so easy to fall back to them again. When you eat a piece of chocolate, you force your brain to look forward to something that you actually like.
This method means that you are essentially expanding the time between the cue and executing the routine. For example, every time you get the cue to smoke, you can delay that gratification by reminding yourself of the delicious piece of chocolate that you’ll have after.
Once the time is up, you initiate the routine by eating the piece of chocolate, which your brain translates to as a reward. The more you practice this habit, the more your brain will crave the chocolate more than your bad habit.
Replace bad habits with good ones
You can also use this technique to replace bad habits with good ones.
For example, if you want to stay healthier, you can pick up a habit of running.
Most people don’t enjoy such a demanding exercise, especially those who are running for the first time. But instead of forcing yourself to like running, you can promise to reward yourself with a piece of chocolate after your exercise. When you do this, your brain will look forward to eating a delicious piece of chocolate after every run.
Later, your brain will naturally crave the endorphin rush that comes from running. Once you reach this point, you will run simply because you crave that feeling.
For an alternative to physical exercises, you can also try to meditate or start a gratitude journal.
The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg at TEDxTeachersCollege
If you want to learn more about how you can change your habits, then I highly recommend this TED video called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Here, Duhigg goes into detail about how we can all develop powerful habits that can alter our lives. He even talks about how chocolate has the power to change our habits.
Originally published at http://peekingbuddha.com on October 1, 2020.
