Reconditioning - Creating New Habit: Breaking old habits is a vital part of re-learning how to live a healthier lifestyle. Addiction alters the brain, so staying clean is not an easy task. Luckily, there are ways to re-condition your mind to make it more favorable to new behaviors. Here are some examples of re-conditioning techniques. The first method involves identifying triggers and changing your behavior to avoid them.
First, you must identify the cue or trigger that starts your habit. Remember that habits can only form if they're easy to do. By making bad habits more difficult to carry out, you can change them. If you wake up late at night, you'll think twice about it. This is the most important method to successfully recondition your habits. By identifying the triggers and removing them, you'll be on your way to creating a habit that will last.
A habit is a repetitive action that involves a combination of a cue, reward, and action. The first step is to associate the cue with a positive emotion. During this stage, the reward satisfies the craving and becomes associated with the cue. Repeat this cycle until the desired behavior is automatic. After several times of forming the same habit, the reward will become increasingly important for the person performing it.
Research from the University College London suggests that it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit. But even though habit formation takes time, it can be accelerated if you understand "the why" of the habit. Knowing "the why" will keep you motivated to stick to the habit. If you've been unable to form a habit, consider why and think about your past obstacles.
Classical conditioning is the process of learning a new behavior from a conditioned stimulus or natural reflex. For example, if you eat a shrimp sandwich and you get food poison, you might associate the shrimp with food poisoning, and therefore feel sick every time you see it. If you have a bad memory, you might start to associate a shrimp with food poisoning, and this behavior will become a habit.