Break Unhealthy Habits To Be Healthy

Healthy habits and unhealthy habits

Healthy habits will make you feel better, look better, and be more productive. Any habits that can improve your experience of life are considered healthy. 

Any habits that damage your health are considered unhealthy. Most people know what unhealthy habits are. Besides smoking, drinking and overeating, other unhealthy habits include staying up late, eating snacks in between meals or before sleep, spending long hours gaming or watching TV, not going outside or exercising, and so on.

The advantages of breaking bad habits are obvious: increased productivity and improved health, relationships, and self-esteem. Breaking bad habits can be difficult, but the rewards are worth it! You might know your unhealthy habits, yet it seems difficult to break the old bad habits. 

Why breaking unhealthy habits is difficult

Habits are the behavior patterns that your body and mind form. Your environment, including your family, school, and the society you live in, largely influences your behavior. You hadn’t yet developed enough awareness to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy behaviors when you were young.

However, because of your proximity to the people who raised you, their behavior patterns could have a strong influence on yours and could easily become your habits.

Similarly, you might easily follow what most people in your school and society do and form the same behavior patterns, especially from people you admire.  Without enough awareness, you simply can’t change your old unhealthy habits.

The sooner you break your unhealthy habits, the better because the longer you wait, the harder it will be to eliminate those bad habits. When we do something repeatedly, our brains create a neural pathway that makes it easier to do it again, essentially making it hardwired into us.

This is why it’s so easy to fall into a routine and why it’s so difficult to break it; the more we do something, the stronger the neural pathway becomes.

Let’s face it: developing healthy habits is tedious. It is easy to do the same things that you’ve always been doing, and you might not be aware of how long it took for you to form these habits in the first place. It will take double the time to break old bad habits and develop new healthy habits, so it requires a lot of patience.  

How to break your old unhealthy habits

Here are some tips to help you get started:

1. Start small. Don’t try to make too many changes at once, or you will feel overwhelmed. Pick one or two habits that you want to focus on at a time and start incorporating them into your life.

2. Make it a priority. Schedule time for your new habit and make it a priority. This will help you stay on track and make it easier to stick with it.

3. Track your progress. Keeping track of your progress can help you stay motivated and on track.

4. Get support. Having a friend or family member who is also trying to develop healthy habits can help you stay motivated and accountable.

5. Reward yourself. Celebrate your successes and reward yourself for sticking with your new habits.

6. Be consistent. Our environment also plays a role in creating habitual behavior. If we’re constantly surrounded by cues that remind us to do something, it becomes easier to do it without thinking. 

For example, if you want to form the habit of practicing Qigong every day, you can start by practicing Qigong right after waking up. This way, your brain will associate Qigong practice with waking up, and you will eventually begin to practice Qigong automatically after waking up without even thinking. The more consistently you practice during the same time or after a certain action, the more natural it will become.  

The Qigong Way

You may find it difficult to move away from your old habits because your mind will be reluctant to change; the old neural pathways feel more natural.

You will see some changes when you follow the steps above, but gradually you will find it less effective. This is because you rely on your willpower to resist old habits while forming new ones. But how long can your mind resist itself? That’s why people easily return to their old habits in just a few weeks or months.  

Qigong’s approach is different. The way qigong breaks unhealthy habits is to involve your awareness and consciousness. It deals with health issues from the root cause, qi. Qi is the energy source for your body, mind, and deep awareness and consciousness. When you have abundant qi, you can easily drop those unhealthy habits.

We built the Onenergy Qigong App to help you build healthy habits. Most importantly, enhance your consciousness and awareness through daily qigong practice. Start with 10 minutes daily, and you shall see a big difference in your health and life sooner than you think.

Developing healthy habits can be challenging initially, but it’s worth it. With a little effort and dedication, you can create a healthier and happier life for yourself.