Do you think you already know all the bad habits you do?

“Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.”

Unfortunately, this is totally true. If bad habits were easy to quit, there wouldn’t be a struggle, but they are not.

However, it is still not impossible to quit the bad habits you do, but, firstly, you should notice the bad habits you are doing, then, secondly, admit that you’re really doing them.

How are bad habits adopted?

As a matter of fact, bad habits or habits in general are not something we are born with, it is actually something we acquire through our lives.

The possibility of acquiring bad habits depends on each person’s personality, surrounding and background.

There are some reasons that can led a person to adopt bad habits:

1. Curiosity

Curiosity can be a very positive attitude indeed, it can get you to discover new people, information or places that are really good for you and for building your personality.

However, your curiosity might not be too good for you in some cases.

Thus, You can feel curious to try new things that can harm you, affect your health, and gradually adopt them as bad habits.

Accordingly, we can consider curiosity a double-edged weapon, depending on what you are curious about.

2. Home

Home is actually where a child acquires almost all his behaviors, either they are good or bad.

A child takes his father and mother as role models and he copies every action they do.

So, if the parents are already doing certain bad habits, even if they are small, no doubt that their child will adopt it too.

Then, he’ll repeatedly do them as he grows up until they become serious bad habits.

Not only for copying actions. But also, researches found that: you can inherit genes that makes you more likely to adopt the same habits and behaviors of your parents.

3. Stress

When people are stressed, they are more exposed to adopting bad habits.

Since a stressed person is always searching for something that might let him get over his stress.

Therefore, he always searches for new things to try, he can adopt any type of bad habits that satisfy him and allow him to escape his stress.

4. Boredom

Boredom is one of the most negative feelings a human being can feel.

A person who has a boring life is always searching for anything that can fill his time.

Even if this thing can probably be harmful, but his boredom will force him to not stop it.

As long as he is suffering from boredom, it will be harder for him to stop, so it will turn into a bad habit.

That’s exactly why you should fill your time with activities and don’t give a chance to boredom.

5. Having no future goals

In most cases, a person with no goals for his future life is always disappointed.

Why would someone who doesn’t know why is he living care about his life?

That’s why a person who is not planning his future can easily get affected by bad habits.

How long does it take a bad habit to be adopted?

There is common myth that is spreading across people that says “It takes you 21 days to adopt a new habit.”

Actually, this is not true. Time required to adopt a new habit varies from a person to another, depending on factors like:

• Behavior.
• Personality.
• Circumstances.

However, the average time needed to adopt a habit is more than two months, and sixty-six days to be exact.

Bad health habits

When it comes to health, there are uncountable habits that we do everyday without recognizing their consequences and without even recognizing that they are habits.

1. Smoking

As bad habits are mentioned, smoking pops immediately to our minds, it is one of the most famous and hard to quit habits ever.

Unlike most of the other habits, smoking doesn’t only harm the smoker, it is unfortunately also harmful to the people around him.

If you are a smoker, you are at higher risk to a lot of diseases, such as:

• Heart diseases.
• Lung cancer.
• Diabetes.
• Weak teeth and skin.

Quitting smoking isn’t easy, but it is still possible, challenge yourself and start working on it.

Surround your self with people who will encourage you, fill your time with positive activities and be patient.

2. Not drinking enough water

Our daily responsibilities and being busy throughout the day make us forget drinking enough water, especially in winter.

A human body needs at least eight glasses of water per day.

Although drinking water is a very simple act, however, decreasing the required portion of it can result in a lot of side effects on the long run.

Put a jug of water in front of you all the time to remember drinking, also, there are a lot of mobile applications that can count the cups you drink per day.

3. Not practicing sports

Sports and exercises aren’t just a way to weight loss, they are also a way to having a healthy and a strong body.

Sports protect your body from a lot of diseases and reduce stress.

If you are not able to exercise or join a gym, you can depend on walking thirty minutes a day or workout at home.

4. Not brushing your teeth

Since we were children, we’ve been always getting advice about the importance of brushing our teeth.

A lot of people ignore the side effects of not brushing their teeth just because they are too lazy to do it.

But, if they knew how can it help and protect their teeth, they wouldn’t skip it anymore.

Brushing your teeth protects you from bacteria, strengthens and whitens your teeth, it also cleans your mouth and grant you a fresh breath.

You should brush your teeth twice a day, once right after you wake up and once before bed.

Bad eating habits

Food is the main source that gives you energy and keeps you going.

In order to get the complete benefit of it, you should consume it in a right way and avoid the most common eating mistakes.

1. Eating before sleeping

Eating before going to bed is one of the reasons that cause weight gain.

That doesn’t mean that you must skip dinner, but you should avoid snacks that come after dinner and before sleeping.

Have your dinner two or three hours before you go to sleep.

2. Mainly depending on junk food

We all love junk food and we crave it from time to time, however, it is not considered healthy food.

Your main source of eating must be homemade food that contains all requirements for a good health.

Try to learn new recipes through television or internet and you’ll find a variety of healthy and easy ones.

If you love junk food, eat it every once in a while, but don’t mainly depend on it.

3. Eating in front of television

Eating while watching television is one of the most common bad habits, some people can’t even eat until television is turned on.

Eating in front of television distracts you, increases the amount of food you consume and stops you from appreciating what you are eating.

It will be boring to turn off your television while eating in the beginning, but then, you’ll get used to it.

Bad sleeping habits

Well sleeping is needed to help you be active and productive through your day.

It also has an impact on having a healthy body and reducing diseases.

So, you should know factors that affect having a good sleep and avoid them.

1. Holding your mobile before sleeping

Since social media became a main part of our lives, we all got used to holding our mobiles before bed.

When you keep staring at your mobile screen for a long time before sleeping, it has a negative effect on your sleeping time, it affects your eyes, brain and your deep sleep.

Try to put your mobile in a far place when you go to sleep and replace it with a book instead.

2. Sleeping with makeup on

This is one of the most dangerous habits that girls do.

When you come back home tired, you feel to lazy to remove your makeup, but, sleeping with you makeup on affects your skin, eyes and eyelashes on the long run.

Add makeup remover and some cotton pads in a closed jar to make it easier and faster to clean your makeup.

3. Drinking caffeine before sleeping

Caffeine like coffee and tea are drinks that help you stay awake, so, when you drink caffeine before sleeping, it makes it harder for you to fall asleep.

Also, it reduces your sleeping hours and then you wake up feeling lazy.

Try to not drink any type of caffeine during the five hours before bed.

Bad habits vs Addiction

In order to work on fixing your bad habits, you should make sure that you are not addicted to them.

This is because dealing with addiction differs from dealing with bad habits.

Actually, you can get addicted to anything in the world, addiction isn’t only limited to drugs.

Unfortunately, side effects of addiction are harder to control and more dangerous than bad habits.

There are some symptoms that can tell if you are addicted to something:

• Starting to ignore its side effects even though you notice them.
• Taking risks for it.
• Finding yourself afraid to admit it to people.

How to treat bad habits?

Each bad habit has a way in dealing with it, they are not all the same.

However, generally, fixing all bad habits needs you to be patient, understanding and not hard on yourself.

Punishing yourself or people you love to correct bad habits isn’t healthy.

Nevertheless, person with bad habits needs reward and support to stop.

Conclusion

We are all exposed to having bad habits, and like everything in the world, correcting a bad habit takes time.

Even if it seemed hard or unstoppable, don’t give up and keep trying, living a good life is worth the effort.

Challenge yourself to break your bad habits and replace them with good ones, then, with effort and determination, you’ll win the challenge.