*This episode is supported by Blue Apron.*
We all have habits we'd like to break,
whether it's biting your fingernails,
smoking, or eating late at night.
But why are these habits so hard to break?
Perhaps you think your day is made up of
deliberate, conscious decisions, but
in reality, a University of Duke study found that 45% of your
everyday behaviors are actions that you repeat every day
and tend to do in the same location.
These are your habits.
Habits are attributed to one of the most primitive structures in your brain, the Basal Ganglia, the same
region that helps control processes such as breathing and swallowing.
In an MIT expiriment, a mouse sits behind a gate
of a T shaped maze where to the left is a piece of chocolate.
When the door clicks the mouse explores the maze, sniffing
and scratching at the walls. First it explores to the right
and then to the left, eventually finding the chocolate.
A scan of their basal ganglia shows it's working furiously
throughout the whole processes. However after a week of training,
the mouse runs immediately towards the chocolate once the gate clicks.
At this point, there's
very little brain activity once the gate clicks, and the brain doesn't fire
back up again until it reaches the chocolate.
Our brain seems to minimize effort and space, and this
kind of automatic brain behavior is referred to as
"chunking." Chunking aids in creating a new habit
pattern in cells of the brain. It's like a task you do
everyday that you no longer have to really think about, brushing
your teeth or backing out of your driveway, skills
that were once difficult to master, but now become automatic.
This process is a three step loop. Step 1 is the cue
which for the mouse is the click of the gate;
Step 2 is routine, run through the maze,
and Step 3 is the reward, in this case, chocolate.
Cue and reward eventually intertwine, creating anticipation and cravings,
another essential part of habits.
Because we go into automatic mode during routines,
our brains stop fully participating in decision making.
Our habits will automatically unfold every time there is a cue.
these habits can be so entrenched that the reward doesn't
even have to be good. A study of habitual popcorn eaters
at the movies found that they were minimally impacted by
hunger or how much they like the food, and they ate
the cinema popcorn regardless of
whether it was stale or fresh. Our habits often
overrule what we know is good for us
for example,
a study of America, "Take 5" campaign encouraging citizens to take