The three leading causes of death in the United States are preventable, the result of self-damaging behaviors and bad habits. A study of year 2000 deaths determined that nearly one million people — 35% of those dying — died from tobacco use, poor diet and associated physical inactivity, and alcohol use. All of these causes of death involve very preventable bad habits.
It's possible that many of those succumbing to self-damaging habits had made one or more attempts to change behaviors. Most behavior changes include initial failures. Even ultimately successful lifestyle changes often must overcome early setbacks, according to psychologist James Prochaska (Changing for Good, Quill Publications, 2002).
The self-damaging behaviors of smoking, over-eating, physical inactivity, alcohol and drug abuse, overspending, and accumulating heavy credit card debt are very difficult to change. The American Heart Association website (March 1, 2010) indicates that even with good smoking cessation programs, only twenty to forty percent of participants are able to quit smoking and stay off cigarettes for at least one year.
Prochaska describes the need to traverse six definite cycles in order to make a successful lifestyle change, indicating that the high failure rate for those attempting behavioral changes is due to skipping one or more of these cycles. The cycles of change Prochaska defines are:
- Precontemplation: Failure to identify a personal habit as a problem.
- Contemplation: Receptive to evaluating the impact of a behavior.
- Preparation: Having decided to change behaviors, making plans to take action.
- Action: Commitment to action plans for changing behavior.
- Maintenance: Maintaining the hard-won gains.
- Termination: New behaviors are habitual and consistent.
Preparation for Successful Behavior Change
Prior to taking action to reduce credit card debt, stopping smoking, or beginning an exercise program, Prochaska notes the importance of proper planning in the preparation stage. In this stage the dieter will plan for the specific steps she'll take in the Action phase to achieve her goals and solve obstacles. Some important factors to consider in the preparation stage follow:
- Identify emotions the habit addresses and choose a replacement behavior.
- Determine which environments trigger the habit and plan to avoid them.
- Create a sustaining vision.
- Determine how to deal with setbacks.
- Develop a support network.
- Disrupt subconscious habitual responses.
Emotional Benefits of Bad Habits
Despite knowing that smoking is bad for her health, a smoker will continue to smoke, as will the obese person continue to over-eat, because doing so fulfills a need and provides a benefit in response to some emotional stress.
Bad habits such as overspending and habitual shopping resulting in heavy credit card debt are entered into in response to an emotion that the habitual shopper is attempting to relieve. Stress, anxiety, loneliness, or depression can cue the smoker to pull out a cigarette and the shopper to pull out her credit cards, both attempting to relieve the troublesome emotion. Developing an alternative behavior that can serve to provide similar relief is important for successful lifestyle change.
The Environment and Successful Behavior Change
Many times, a certain place or situation subconsciously triggers a bad habit. Writing online at Psychology Today, Shirah Vollmer, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, ("Breaking Habits: How do we get people to stop hurting themselves?," January 9, 2010) notes that environment is an additional and important factor in continuing bad habits.
For example, despite the intent to eat healthy, an overweight person will purchase a tub of buttered popcorn at the movie theater, because most people identify popcorn and movie theaters. A smoker will automatically light-up after a good dinner. Christmas triggers shopping and spending, regardless of one's heavy credit card debt.
Art Markman, a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas says, "to be successful at behavior change you must first think carefully about the aspects of the environment that are causing your current behavior and also the elements of the environment that must be changed to promote the new behavior."
Create a Vision and Plan for Setbacks
The preparation stage is a good place to create a vision of the new person resulting from abandoned bad habits. A vision which vividly captures the former smoker now refraining in situations in which he would normally light-up will help to sustain the smoker's abstinence during stressful times.
Most successful lifestyle behavior changes suffer some temporary setbacks. During the preparation stage the successful dieter will acknowledge the likelihood of a setback or two and have a plan for dealing with the setback.
Develop a Support Network
Having a network of people who are supportive, encouraging, understanding, and positive will help a person succeed at breaking a bad habit. During this cycle, one should identify and enlist an effective network for support.
The Automatic Response of Bad Habits
Self-damaging behaviors often reside as habits in the subconscious. The strong desire to light-up at certain times of the day or in certain situations is one example. Snacking while watching a movie or sporting event on TV is another. A successful plan will include means for disrupting subconscious responses, bringing the decision to smoke or snack to the conscious level where it can be more effectively blunted.
Preparation Helps to Break Bad Habits
Successfully breaking bad habits is not easy, but behavior changes are more likely to succeed when one has properly planned and prepared for the difficulties of change.
Jerry Lopper - IPPA member, business and engineering degrees. Jerry's passion for personal development shows in 5 books, hundreds of articles & ...
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