Can You Quit Your Bad Habits

WE ALL HAVE SOME BAD HABITS
We all have some habits which we would want to change, We presume if you are reading this post, you already know you have some if not one bad habit, which you may want to change.

Most of the smokers if not all, would agree that they would want to quit smoking
Alcohol abusers feel that they have tortured their bodies enough and now they would want to quit.
And most of the overweight if not obese folks would want to quit junk food and would want to make healthy dietary changes.
CAN YOU QUIT BAD HABITS
But is it possible for you to quit the bad habits. The answer is yes, you can make those changes. Habits are nothing but a repeat behaviour. Think of your daily routine.

You waking up in the morning at a certain time, is a habit. You taking a shower, going to work, all this is a repeat behaviour, which you have practiced over the years, and now is an integral part of our lives. We have conditioned ourselves to perform such activities.

WE ARE VICTIMS OF PLEASURE
Brain is a tricky little thing. It adopts the pleasure based activities without much conditioning which in a long run are much harder to break or get rid of. And the answer lies in dopamine. To perform any activity, our body’s neurotransmitters, sends signals from the brain to different parts of our body. The most prominent of these neurotransmitters is DOPAMINE.

The dopamine gets released in the body when we do something pleasurable in nature, which includes sex, work out or any physical activity. Dopamine strengthens this pleasurable feel which makes us want to do it over and over again. And when we are not doing it, dopamine creates the craving to do it again. This phenomenon holds true for drug abuse, excessive tobacco usage and why they are so hard to let go.

So does that mean we are victims of our pleasures, which we all are. Can we do anything to resist these pleasures. Yes, we can

PREPARE YOURSELF MENTALLY
We have to be mentally strong, to be able to resist temptation. Think about the gains you would make by not doing it.

REWARD
For achieving small milestones, reward yourself. It could b as simple as, not smoking today calls for a shopping treat, go buy yourself a t shirt or anything you like.

ASK FOR SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE WHO CARES FOR YOU
People are always there to help you, don’t be hesitant to ask for support.