This article is the first in a series which will be devoted to the Habit for Habit (H4H) strategy for change which we have referred to in other posts.
For those of you who are interested in learning a new skill and/or unlearning a bad habit and replacing it with a new and more useful behaviour, (hence H4H) this series could potentially be of immense benefit.
Habits or learnt routines are a really useful way of operating effectively each day. On the other hand problems can arise when our brains get stuck with some routines which not only lead to negative consequences but also seem to run outside of our conscious control. Despite our best efforts these ‘rogue’ habits can be difficult to stop or change.
Over the coming weeks we will looking at what the latest research has shown lies behind habit learning. The aim is to provide you with a strategy to learn new skills and how to change even the most recalcitrant negative behaviours.
We will look at how the brain builds and eventually codes or ‘imprints’ a new habit and makes the habit a more automatic reactive response to a given cue or trigger. We will highlight the importance of reinforcement and reward and how the neurochemical Dopamine is involved in this learning process. We will look at how the process can sometimes lead to a ‘Lock in’ as exemplified by OCD and addictive behaviours including unhealthy drinking and eating.
We can help you shift from unconscious habitual routines to deliberate purposeful, more useful behaviour(s) by re-energizing parts of your brain responsible for learning the new routines, reinforcing them and making them habitual.
We will show you how to use this knowledge and understanding to break the chains of sometimes destructive or addictive patterns of behaviour. We also describe more specific strategies for establishing habits for healthy drinking, eating and exercise.
Although initially we will focus on creating new or changing old habits, the same learning process can be applied to any psychomotor skill, for example those associated with sports such as golf or tennis. Learning to get rid of a hook or slice shot at golf, or increasing the percentage of successful first serves at tennis also require learnt routines.
A positive outcome is not only a new and more useful behaviour or routine, but also one which will stand up under pressure to reduce the risk of reverting back to ‘default’ unhealthy patterns.
Moving forward with what we learn from this research we have designed the H4H Process for change and modified it specifically for healthier approaches to eating, drinking and physical activity. We hope you will enjoy this series which will eventually build up to form the basis of an eBook with the same title.
Next H4H: What makes a habit? An overview.
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