How habits can make us all healthier
Habit. The word suggests repetition, pattern, routine, rule. It also suggests conventional, dull, stagnant, lifeless.
For many of us, especially those of us in the Baby Boom generation, the word habit often has more negative connotations than positive ones. We associate it with a blind loyalty to the way it is, to adherence to the status quo no matter how stale or unproductive it may have become.
Some habits, we have become convinced, are even destructive to ourselves and to the world around us.
It's time, however, we gave habits their proper due. Granted that habitual behavior can be boring, mindless, and even dangerous, it can also be an important part of a healthy approach to living.
At their best, habits are simply a regular repetition of those patterns of behavior that have proved beneficial to us in the past. When a behavior is habitual we seldom think about what we're doing, and often aren't even aware of it.
And thank goodness for that. Imagine what life would be like if we had to think through everything we did, each time we did it. We'd all die of mental exhaustion!
Habits not only free our minds to deal with more important tasks, however. They also can promote our health in other ways.
If we choose, we can develop and practice patterns of behavior that are beneficial to our physical, mental, emotional, relational, and even spiritual well-being, and continue in these patterns habitually.
Every once in a while it's a good time to look at what health-promoting habits we might add to our lives. Let me suggest, then, some habits we might want to develop to help us enhance our whole person health.
Physical habits: There are a number of positive behavioral patterns we can develop to enhance our physical health. We can sleep habitually - a regular (and sufficient) number of hours, going to bed and getting up at consistent times. We can eat well-balanced and moderate-sized meals at about the same time each day. Exercise done as a habit is likewise important. Finally, recreation also can be integrated into our daily routine as a positive habit.
Mental habits: We can exercise our minds as well as our bodies. We might make a habit of reading about a new thought or idea, of writing in a diary or journal, or of attending a class as a way of enhancing our mental health.
Emotional habits: Tuning into our own feelings on a regular basis is important in keeping us emotionally healthy. Pleasant or unpleasant, we need to accept these emotions as a basic part of who we are.
Journaling can be a habit that helps us identify and understand our emotions. And sharing these feelings with close friends is also a positive a habit to develop.
Relational habits: When we make a point of consistently spending time with friends and family, these relationships benefit as well. A regular breakfast with a friend, a nightly quiet time with our spouse, an after supper play time with our children all are ways to habitually be closer.
Spiritual habits: Depending on our faith orientation, such practices as meditation, prayer, confession, worship, retreat, etc. can all be integrated into our lives as regular ways of finding and renewing meaning, fulfillment and peace.
In addition to the undeniably positive effects of such habits, behavioral psychologists also point out another important benefit.
Research suggests the best way to be rid of a bad habit is to substitute a good one in its place. For example, exercise actually helps reduce the hunger that can be a part of compulsive overeating. It can be done during times we might otherwise snack and can provide a metabolic boost that burns off calories more quickly.
Though life can certainly be too staid or too patterned, it also seems a good dose of regularity in our lives can be quite healthy. Habits are something we should get in the habit of having.
• Dr. Ken Potts is on the staff of Samaritan Counseling Center in Naperville and Downers Grove. He is the author of "Mix Don't Blend, A Guide to Dating, Engagement and Remarriage With Children."