How to start exercising? Building an addiction lasts longer than 21 days

Start exercising, use dental thread every evening or start eating healthier. If you have ever tried to introduce a new habit into your life, you apparently watched it is really difficult.

One popular myth says that the new habit is said to be 21 days. However, the reality is different and regular exercise, cleaning of interdental spaces or healthy eating will only be a routine after a long time.

The habits can be formed for two to five months, shows an analysis of several research research published in Healthcare magazine.

Three weeks are not enough

Creating habits is a complex process. Of course, it cannot be said that it will take a certain number of days and you will no longer have to overcome and convince that some activity makes sense and you should do it.

The doctor, to which the myth of 21 days is not tried, was not tried.

In fact, Maxwell Maltz did not even try to comment on habits. In the 1960s, however, he told patients that it would take about three weeks to get used to physical changes after surgery.

This idea was later caught by various authors of motivational books and twisted it on any habit or habit.

However, it is clear from scientific research that three weeks are not enough on average. And this myth can also discourage some people from continuing.

For example, regular drinking of water after breakfast or daily eating pieces of fruit has become an automatic activity in people after about 66 days. Someone was shorter, for another longer, but the average was about two months, showed research from 2010.

And some habits may be formed up to five months.

Therefore, if you want to create a new habit, you cannot rely on some miraculous when it becomes automatic. However, you can expect that if you are consistent, after a few months, you will get to this condition.

Fortunately, you can also help.

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How do you create a habit

Whether a new habit is stuck on you depends on its complexity. For example, drinking a glass of water after waking it is easier to keep to the gym or training for a marathon.

The authors of the new research Ben Singh and Ashleigh Smith also created advice, How do you help to help.

1. Give yourself the time. Try to do a selected activity regularly for at least 60 days – whether it is an exercise or the use of dental thread. If you miss one day, your timer will not return to zero.
2. Start with something small. If you want to start moving, do not get regular gym workouts right away, for example, you can include walking within your days. The point is to make your daily goal realistic for you.
3. Connect your new habit with an existing routine. For example, always use dental floss before or after brushing your teeth that you already have automated.
4. Follow your progress. Mark your calendar or application every day that you have managed to follow the habit.
5. Take a reward. For example, after training, buy some special coffee, see part of your favorite series for a week of regular cleaning of the interdental space. Do not wait until the habit is automated, reward yourself for small successes.
6. Morning habits are easier to keep.
7. Choose the activity yourself to increase success. Do not follow trends, but what you really need or want.
8. Repetition is the basis. Try to do the activity regularly at the same time, which can increase the chance that it will automate.

DOI: 10.3390/Healthcare12232488
DOI: 10.1002/EJSP.674