Running for health and fitness

How To Form (And Keep!) Healthy Habits

Lets face it, we’re all creatures of habit. We tend to wake up at the same time each day, brush our teeth, have a coffee and then off to work we go, following the same patterns every day.
So why is it that when we try and establish a new healthy habit into our lives, it seems so hard!?

Studies on habit formation suggest many of us try to create healthy habits by making bold resolutions to start exercising or lose weight, for example, without properly setting ourselves up for the success we crave. 

Ultimately, this is what causes us to fail before we've even really started.

Tips on forming new healthy habits.

Look for patterns in your day and think about how you can use existing habits to create new, positive ones.
Our morning routine is generally our strongest and can therefore be a good place to introduce a new habit. A morning cup of coffee can create an opportunity to start a mindfulness/mediation minute or two.  This can help prepare yourself for the rest of the day by giving your mind a sense of calm.
Avoid looking at your phone when going through your morning routine, try and be as present as you can be.

Many of us slip into evening patterns as well. Do you tend to flop on the couch after work and turn on the TV? Taking the TV show even just for one hour and replacing it with some light exercise or positive reading can do wonders for your mental wellbeing in the long run.

 

 

Start small to go big

Big behaviour changes require a high level of motivation that most people can’t sustain which then leads them back into their old un-healthy habits. Starting with tiny habits to make the new habit as easy as possible in the beginning can make all the difference.
Taking a daily short walk could be the beginning of an exercise habit that eventually gives you a whole new lease of life!

Make it a daily. 

Habits take a long time to create, but they form faster when we do them more often, so start with something reasonable that is really easy to do. You are more likely to stick with an exercise habit if you do some small exercise — press-ups, a yoga pose, a brisk walk — every day, rather than trying to get to the gym three or four days a week. Once the daily exercise becomes a habit, you can explore new, more intense forms of exercise.
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