By Brian Morris, MD
Most of us have made New Year’s Resolutions to eat healthier and to exercise regularly. Despite the best of intentions—and sometimes the purchase of a costly gym membership—the majority of people are back to their old, unhealthy habits before March rolls around. Why is it so difficult to change habits?
The reality is that the adult brain is not designed to make drastic changes. While children are able to learn new skills almost effortlessly, adults are hard-wired to implement all the information and skills learned in childhood. Think about how easily children learn a new language or instrument. Human brains are like sponges during childhood, but brain connections become cemented and more fixed into place as you get older and it becomes more difficult to learn complicated new systems.
The adult mind is wired to maintain the connections that formed earlier in life rather than to create complex new connections. This is one of the reasons why it’s difficult to adopt a new diet or a new exercise program as an adult.
Children are generally better at implementing wholesale, massive changes while adults are generally better at implementing small changes.
Now that you’ve heard the bad news, let me tell you the good news. The adult brain is able to make small adjustments quite easily. In fact, your mind craves small changes. That’s why you love the latest smartphone, that new song, that compelling new TV show, or that new pair of shoes. A mature mind resists adopting new systems but welcomes small, manageable changes. Unfortunately, diets and most healthy living programs tend to ignore this simple truth.
Think of the wiring behind your TV or stereo system. It’s simple to reconnect one or two wires. However, rewiring an entire sound system is much more complicated and difficult. Similarly, adults are usually successful at making one or two small changes at a time instead of trying to unplug their entire way of life and rewire their entire lifestyle in one fell swoop.
Allergy doctors take advantage of this concept when administering allergy shots. Let’s say someone has an allergic reaction to cats but still wants to keep their beloved pet. Their allergist may choose to prescribe immunotherapy, also known as allergy shots. The way this works is that a tiny speck of cat dander is injected into the skin of the patient. It’s such a small amount that the person is unlikely to react to it. Each time the patient returns, a slightly higher dose is injected. Assuming that the patient doesn’t have a reaction, the patient receives slightly higher doses of cat dander over time and this incremental process goes on for months or sometimes longer. The doses are increased so slowly that the body eventually comes to accept the cat dander as a welcome part of life and no longer reacts to it. The result is that the person can now be around cats without having an allergic reaction.
That’s how lifestyle change works. We accept small changes without much difficulty but reject more substantial changes. When small changes are made, the mind and the body accepts and welcomes the changes as a member of the “family,” and life moves forward embracing the new reality.
Stop looking for a completely new framework for life. Instead, keep your current framework while gradually changing your lifestyle over time. You will still strive to improve your lifestyle but will do so in small steps that are easy to implement and maintain over time.