How to create healthy habits

Nadia Ahmed shares her tips for building positive habits into your daily routine as a dental professional.

Habits, whether they be good or bad, are a part of our lives.

They are defined as: ‘A regular, often unconscious behaviour or practice that is acquired and repeated.’

Habits can be negative and difficult to break, perhaps requiring professional support or medical intervention, or can be positive and contribute to a better quality of life.

This article will focus on how to build positive habits.

There are so many habits that we develop throughout our lives. Childhood habits that stay with us until we are old and grey may include something as simple as eating preferences or dislikes (I have to have mayonnaise on any kind of salad and can’t eat chips without ketchup!).

I believe the habit of keeping things tidy and lining my toys up in straight lines as a young child is surely linked to my chosen career choice and passion for straightening teeth and perfecting my patients’ orthodontic treatment.

In one of my previous articles, ‘Adapting to the season of change’, I first introduced the concept of creating daily routine and healthy habits.

How to set new, healthy habits

Identify one habit you would like to add to your routine.

When trying to introduce a new healthy habit, ask yourself why you want to introduce this into your daily routine.

How will it make you feel if this becomes a habit? What benefits will the habit have for you? How will you behave differently when you change this habit?

When we give ourselves a purpose for the habit and really understand in our subconscious mind why this will benefit us, then there will be a greater intention and motivation towards sticking to the habit.

Stacking and using an anchor

My regular readers will be aware that I have previously mentioned my daily habit of walking. I try to do this through all seasons, even if it is not fair weather!

Creating this habit in a busy work day can be a challenge, but this is where the concept of ‘habit stacking’ can help. This is the process of identifying a current habit you already do each day and then stacking your new habit onto this, as described in Atomic habits by James Clear.

As soon as I have finished my morning clinic and tied up my patient admin, I go out for a walk and eat lunch en route. As I have ‘stacked’ the habit of a walk with my lunchtime, it makes it more difficult to break the routine (even if it is raining!).

The concept of an ‘anchor moment’ is something that can also be helpful when trying to create a new habit, as described in Tiny Habits by B J Fogg. This is an existing routine that is an anchor to remind you to do the tiny new behaviour.

For example, brushing your teeth could be a reminder to do your daily morning yoga practice meditation. There could be a number of things you could add onto brushing your teeth or before you sleep at night.

Habit tracker and accountability

Setting a new habit involves small steps and consistency. Making a 1% shift every day is progress. It takes time to make a change to your routine.

A habit tracker is a great tool that you can use to keep a record of your progress and to keep yourself accountable. This could be in the form of a simple chart stuck on the fridge door or by using a phone app. It can also help you to identify any barriers that might be hindering your progress.

After keeping a track of the new habit for a few weeks, it may become apparent after reflecting on your progress that there are certain days of the week that are more difficult.

What changes could be made to overcome barriers on those days? If I am not managing a daily walk at lunchtime on one particular day of the week, this could be overcome by changing the work schedule on that day to do admin tasks before my clinic and ‘protect’ part of my lunchtime for a short walk.

I have had a recent goal of improving my weekly meal prep and exercise schedule and have joined a group of like-minded individuals, led by one of our orthodontic therapists who is also a health and fitness coach. This has been a fantastic way to hold one another accountable by sharing our meal prep and fitness schedule every Sunday to help us focus on creating healthy habits.

It helps to have an accountability partner or group when trying to set a new habit.

To conclude, ask yourself…

What habit do I need to put into place to reach a higher version of myself?

As James Clear describes in Atomic Habits: ‘Habits are a double-edged sword. Bad habits can cut you down just as easily as good habits can build you up.’

Focus on the positive habits you want to achieve and the bad habits you want to quit before the end of the year, and use the last few weeks of summer to help kickstart this!

Connect with Nadia on Instagram: @Nadia_orthodontist

Catch up with Nadia’s previous column:

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