HABIT?

Het guys i hope you all are doing well and I apologize for my bad english as it is not my first language




As I am struggling from PMO since 2016 ending I have been on and off lately on PMO and I read many books as it helped me alot things spirtually and In my day to day life this one book I came across The Power Of Habit and here I am to share what I benefited from the book which may help you people understand more how habits work and also give a little bit of more understanding how our brain makes habit and how to get rid of it


1.This is how new habits are created : by putting together a cue,a routine,and a reward, the cultivating a craving the drives the loop,for instance smoking.When a smoker sees a cue lets say a pack of marlboros her brain start anticipating a hit of nicotine just the sight cigarettes is enough for the brain to crave a nicotine rush.If it doesnt arrive,the craving grows until the smoker reaches,unthinkingly for a marlboro

2.Scientists have studied the brains of alcoholics, smokers, and over eaters and measured how their neuorology the structures of their brains and the flow of neurochemicals inside their skulls changes as their cravings became ingrained.Particularly strong habits, wrote two researchers at the university of michigan, produce addiction like reactions so that "wanting evolves into obsessive cravings" that can force our brains into autopilot."even in the face of strong disincentives, including loss of reputation,job,home and family."However the cravings do not have authority over us.There are mechanisms that can help us ignore the temptations.but to overpower the habit, we must recognize which craving is driving the behaviour.If we're not conscious of the anticipation, then we're like shoppers who wander.


3.To understand the power of cravings in creating habits, consider how exercise habits emerge.In 2002 researchers at New Mexico state university wanted to understand why people habitually exercise.They studied 266 individuals, most of whom worked out atleast three times .What they found out was that many of them had started running or lifting weights on a whim, or because they suddenly had free time or wanted to deal with unexpected stress in their lives.However, the reason they continued why it became a habit was because of a specific reward they started to crave.
In one group,92 percent of people said they habitually exercised because it made them "feel good" they grew to expect and crave the endorphins and other neaurochemicals a workout provided.
In another group, 67 percent of people said that working out gave them a sense of “accomplishment”—they
had come to crave a regular sense of triumph from tracking their performances, and that self-reward was enough to make the physical activity into a habit.

If you want to start running each morning, it’s essential that you choose a simple cue (like always lacing up your sneakers before breakfast or leaving your
running clothes next to your bed) and a clear reward (such as a midday treat, a sense of accomplishment from recording your miles, or the endorphin rush
you get from a jog). But countless studies have shown that a cue and a reward, on their own, aren’t enough for a new habit to last. Only when your brain
starts expecting the reward—craving the endorphins or sense of accomplishment—will it become automatic to lace up your jogging shoes each morning.
The cue, in addition to triggering a routine, must also trigger a craving for the reward to come.



The truth is, the brain can be
reprogrammed. You just have to be deliberate about it.
smoking, gambling problems, anxiety, bedwetting, procrastination,
obsessive-compulsive disorders, and other behavioral problems. And its techniques lay bare one of the fundamental principles of habits: Often,
we don’t really understand the cravings driving our behaviors until we look for them.




If you identify the cues and rewards, you can change the routine.

At least, most of the time. For some habits, however, there’s one other ingredient that’s necessary: belief.






How do habits change?

There is, unfortunately, no specific set of steps guaranteed to work for every person. We know that a habit cannot be eradicated—it must, instead, be
replaced. And we know that habits are most malleable when the Golden Rule of habit change is applied: If we keep the same cue and the same reward, a
new routine can be inserted.

But that’s not enough. For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible. And most often, that belief only emerges with the help of a
group.

If you want to quit smoking, figure out a different routine that will satisfy the cravings filled by cigarettes. Then, find a support group, a collection of other
former smokers, or a community that will help you believe you can stay away from nicotine, and use that group when you feel you might stumble.

if you want to lose weight, study your habits to determine why you really leave your desk for a snack each day, and then find someone else to take a walk
with you, to gossip with at their desk rather than in the cafeteria, a group that tracks weight-loss goals together, or someone who also wants to keep a
stock of apples, rather than chips, nearby.


The evidence is clear: If you want to change a habit, you must find an alternative routine, and your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to
changing as part of a group. Belief is essential, and it grows out of a communal experience, even if that community is only as large as two people.

We know that change can happen. Alcoholics can stop drinking. Smokers can quit puffing. Perennial losers can become champions. You can stop biting
your nails or snacking at work, yelling at your kids, staying up all night, or worrying over small concerns. And as scientists have discovered, it’s not just
individual lives that can shift when habits are tended to. It’s also companies, organizations, and communities.

-The line separating habits and addictions is often difficult to measure. For instance, the American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as “a
primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.... Addiction is characterized by impairment in behavioral control,
craving, inability to consistently abstain, and diminished relationships.”

By that definition, some researchers note, it is difficult to determine why spending fifty dollars a week on cocaine is bad, but fifty dollars a week on coffee
is okay. Someone who craves a latte every afternoon may seem clinically addicted to an observer who thinks five dollars for coffee demonstrates an
“impairment in behavioral control.” Is someone who would prefer running to having breakfast with his kids addicted to exercise?

In general, say many researchers, while addiction is complicated and still poorly understood, many of the behaviors that we associate with it are often
driven by habit. Some substances, such as drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol, can create physical dependencies. But these physical cravings often fade
quickly after use is discontinued. A physical addiction to nicotine, for instance, lasts only as long as the chemical is in a smoker’s bloodstream—about
one hundred hours after the last cigarette. Many of the lingering urges that we think of as nicotine’s addictive twinges are really behavioral habits
asserting themselves—we crave a cigarette at breakfast a month later not because we physically need it, but because we remember so fondly the rush it
once provided each morning. Attacking the behaviors we think of as addictions by modifying the habits surrounding them has been shown, in clinical
studies, to be one of the most effective modes of treatment. (Though it is worth noting that some chemicals, such as opiates, can cause prolonged
physical addictions, and some studies indicate that a small group of people seem predisposed to seek out addictive chemicals, regardless of behavioral
interventions. The number of chemicals that cause long-term physical addictions, however, is relatively small, and the number of predisposed addicts is
estimated to be much less than the number of alcoholics and addicts seeking help.)

- It is important to note that though the process of habit change is easily described, it does not necessarily follow that it is easily accomplished. It is facile
to imply that smoking, alcoholism, overeating, or other ingrained patterns can be upended without real effort. Genuine change requires work and self¬
understanding of the cravings driving behaviors. Changing any habit requires determination. No one will quit smoking cigarettes simply because they
sketch a habit loop.

However, by understanding habits’ mechanisms, we gain insights that make new behaviors easier to grasp. Anyone struggling with addiction or
destructive behaviors can benefit from help from many quarters, including trained therapists, physicians, social workers, and clergy. Even professionals in
those fields, though, agree that most alcoholics, smokers, and other people struggling with problematic behaviors quit on their own, away from formal
treatment settings. Much of the time, those changes are accomplished because people examine the cues, cravings, and rewards that drive their
behaviors and then find ways to replace their self-destructive routines with healthier alternatives, even if they aren’t fully aware of what they are doing at the
time. Understanding the cues and cravings driving your habits won’t make them suddenly disappear—but it will give you a way to plan howto change the
pattern.





All these examples are given from the book The power of habit to make you guys understand is it a habit and how to realize and and how to change our routine which is gonna lead us the same reward but through different habit you guys find your own cue routine reward habit what you people need to change I hoped this thread gave you guys an prespective how our habits forms and works. You cannot extinguish a bad habit.You can only change it