How to Quit Unhealthy Habits

There are good habits (such as exercising daily, eating a well-balanced diet, and taking time to relax), and there are bad habits (such as smoking, excessive alcohol, and drugs). The good habits should be praised and you should continue them for as long as you can. The bad habits are much more difficult to deal with. These are the habits that can cause you physical or mental harm, and that will make your life much more challenging that it ever needs to be.

Unfortunately, these are the habits that are much easier to fall into – it’s far easier to order takeout than it is to cook a meal from scratch, and it’s easier to sit and watch TV than it is to go out and exercise. Yet if you can quit these unhealthy habits, you will find you feel better and can do more in your life. Plus your relationships will improve and you can be more successful at work. It’s hard, of course, as these habits are the hardest to quit, but it can be done, and here are some of the ways to do it.

Get Help

Although you might want to try to quit your bad habits, whatever they might be, by yourself, this isn’t always possible, especially if those habits are linked to highly addictive substances. This is why you need to be honest with yourself, and if you need help to quit, you must ask for it.

The help could come from friends and family who can check in on your progress and hold you accountable for what you are doing. This works well when it comes to exercising more or eating better. Other options include seeing a therapist to help control your addictive urges, or a doctor who will teach you how to deal with withdrawal. Whatever you need, there will be someone there who can help you, so asking for help is often the best first step.

Set Goals and Rewards

Just having the one goal of quitting whatever habit it is you want to remove from your life won’t help very much. It’s too vague and too overwhelming, and could be the reason why so many people start falling back into old, unhealthy habits even though they want to stop them.

It’s much better to set smaller goals that don’t feel so difficult to reach. That way, once you attain one goal, you can look to the next, reach that, and look to the next one after that. The road to quitting your bad habit won’t seem quite so difficult if you take it one step at a time.

To make this goal setting even more possible, why not reward yourself after each stage? You could treat yourself to something you’ve always wanted, like a visit to hshairclinic.co.uk, a trip somewhere, or something simple like a new book or music download. Having something to look forward to and to reward yourself with can help boost your willpower.

Understand the Addiction

If you want to quit unhealthy habits, you need to understand the reasons why this particular substance or activity has become an addiction. Look into the times when you crave the cigarette, drink, to bite your nails, or anything else, and you might realize there is a reason behind it all.

If you can work out what triggers your unhealthy behavior and try to tackle that (again, with help in many cases) you can quit your habit more easily.