How to build and change your habits this year

A new year often starts with plans to do things differently. But, once daily routines take over, many people find that changing habits is harder than they expected.

To explore why this happens and how people can better maintain and meet their New Year’s goals, we spoke with Dr. Stephanie Borgland, PhD, a professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Molecular Physiology of Addiction at the Cumming School of Medicine.

How do habits actually form in the first place?

Habits form through a three-stage process involving a stimulus, an action and an outcome. A stimulus is a cue in the environment that predicts something we desire and triggers an action. That action leads to an outcome, which reinforces both the cue and the behaviour.

A familiar example is the red packaging on a KitKat bar. The packaging signals value, even before tasting it. Seeing the cue drives the action of opening the package and consuming it, and the outcome, the taste and reinforcing properties of the calories, strengthens the cycle so the behaviour is more likely to be repeated.

What is happening in the brain when a habit forms or becomes automatic?

One of the main neurotransmitters involved in habit formation is dopamine. It acts in the basal ganglia, a group of brain structures that help control movement, learning and automate repetitive behaviour. Dopamine signals when a cue predicts something rewarding, attaches importance to that cue and increases the likelihood that the action will be repeated. In the KitKat example, dopamine helps you learn that the packaging is meaningful, without even tasting it.

Why are habits so hard to change once they are established?

Habits are learned behaviours with strong and well-established wiring in the brain. Changing a habit does not mean forgetting the old one. It means creating new learning and strengthening different neural connections through repetition.

What should people keep in mind when trying to change addictive habits?

The same stimulus, action and outcome process can be used to change habits. One strategy is reducing the value of the cue. Keeping junk food out of sight or placing a phone somewhere it is not constantly visible can reduce the likelihood of acting on the habit.

When removing the cue is not possible, changing the action becomes important. Habits form more easily when actions are easy to perform. Making the action more difficult or replacing it with a different one can interrupt the cycle. Choosing a healthier snack instead of a chocolate bar, or calling a friend instead of scrolling on a phone, can still provide an outcome that your brain recognizes as worth repeating. 

In addiction recovery, similar strategies are used by replacing substance use with another action that leads to social reinforcement. The goal is new learning that changes the action while keeping a reinforcing outcome.

Is it best to go cold turkey when trying to break a bad habit?

Using willpower alone is not an effective strategy. Habit change requires new learning, and willpower can weaken with stress, poor sleep or emotional strain.

Awareness of the cue is the first step. Once the trigger is recognized, a different action can be chosen that still provides reinforcement. Like learning to play guitar, changing a habit feels awkward at first and requires effort. With repetition, the new behaviour becomes easier and more automatic.