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Short note on breaking bad habits
Essay "Breaking A Bad Habit
Essay "Breaking A Bad Habit
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Changing a bad habit can be done from constant practice of trying to avoid the behavior for some people, however it becomes problematic when we are influence by society, sounds, smells or friends doing the habit. I attempted to give up two bad habits. I wanted to stop using indecent languages, and stop eating red meat. My first attempt to stop using indecent language failed. I associate this habit with being around my closest friends, coworkers and family members. The more I think about changing the habit the more I find myself wanting to curse for the simplest reasons. I found my triggers from a specific co-worker. She uses indecent language as a part of her normal conversation. It helped me to avoid cursing when she was not in the office. …show more content…
I did not eat red meat for two weeks. Craving red meat allowed me to rationalize why I like it. In my home my family do not eat red meat, and it has given me an opportunity to abstain from eating it. I had to physically and mentally prepare to stop eating red meat. It was tempting when my co-workers wanted to order a burger or steak. I remember vegetables I enjoyed with red meat. The craving was less effective when I think about it. I felt that the best way to change a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit. I started drinking more water; I recorded my progress and saw changes. I was using the bathroom more frequently, my skin was clearing up and I was less hungry. I felt that replacing red meat, with drinking more water, has made positive changes for me. Working towards changing a bad habit, one should have will power. I felt that I my will power was tested when I think about red meat. One day I passed by my favorite burger place and the smell of the burger made me salivated, I wanted to go inside. I thought about it. I was thinking, If I have some of the fries, maybe that could satisfy my craving for the burger. On the other hand, I felt that I will not be strong enough to go into the burger place and not buy a burger. I thought about my choices. I can buy a chicken burger and pretend it was a beef burger. I fought off the feelings and walked away. I compare my urge to using drugs. I thought about it, if you are around people who are using it, can create triggers of waiting to use. It is easy for us to judge an addict. We can say all sorts of things such as, they can stop if they want to, or they are not strong enough. If we think about all the physical and emotional hurdles they have to go through it is very difficult for them. Some people are not strong enough to overcome a drug habit. Drugs contain chemical that can alter our system and disrupt the brains chemical messengers. Some
In the essay “Her Chee-to Heart”, by Jill McCorkle, she discusses about the various difficulties she has encountered of being a junk-food junkie and the struggles of overcoming the guilty pleasures of junk food. Firstly, one of the many difficulties she encounters are her feelings, which ultimately overwhelm her into continuing to eat various types of junk foods. Her feelings of nostalgic memories when consuming such goods as a child, the enjoyment and the savory tastes it grants her, are constantly mentioned throughout the essay, directly contributing a major factor into her desires of junk food. Furthermore, while she is quite aware of the consequences regarding the health side effects of consuming such foods and what the food is ultimately
How do we know when or how to change ourselves as people? Sometimes, we all need a shove from something or someone to help us better ourselves. The most dominant factors are kindness, fear, and regret. These three things can make us willing to go through the hassle and hard work of breaking out of a habit, whether it be putting your feet on the couch, or your attitude.
According to Leshner, drug addiction is a chronic brain disease that is expressed in the form of compulsive behaviors (Leshner, 2001). He believes that drug addiction is influence by both biological, and behavioral factors, and to solve this addiction problem we need to focus on these same factors. On the other hand, Neil Levy argues that addiction is not a brain disease rather it is a behavioral disorder embedded in social context (Levy, 2013). I believe, drug addiction is a recurring brain disease that can be healed when we alter and eliminate all the factors that are reinforcing drug addiction.
Habits are choices that one continues to do repeatedly without actually thinking about them. Habits start with a decision, but they eventually become automatic. One can probably think about things we do every day that we wish we did less of, perhaps like binging Netflix, constantly checking social media, or snacking when not being hungry. If one can understand how habits are triggered, one can learn how to overcome them. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and “Rat Park” by Lauren Slater will reveal the main strategies to recognize and overcome habits. Angie Bachman, a women who developed a gambling habit due was well aware of her habits, but she continued to drag herself into debt, resulting in losing all that she owned and getting sued by
When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, “you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it” (63). Duhigg suggests that in order to change ones bad habit the “Golden Rule” must be implied. The Golden Rule is a theory of shifting a habit by retaining the old cue and reward, and tries to change only the routine. Duhigg’s answer to the question in the chapter title, “Are we responsible for our habits?” is simply “Yes.” If we have an awareness of our habits, then we are responsible for their consequences. In the case of Angie Bachmann, she should be held accountable for her gambling debts because she was well aware of her own bad habit and did not try to seek for help.
“Men are dogs.” “Don’t be a chicken.” “She is sneaky like a snake.” These are common idioms that are spoken today among our society, but one question is comes to mind. Are humans and animals more similar than we think? Some would declare the only difference between human and animals is that animals lack verbal communication. According to Jill McCorkle’s book, Creatures of Habit, she explains the variations of similar characteristics between both, humans and animals. McCorkle uses sociobiology to develop her story titles in connection with the animal counterparts. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, “sociobiology” is defined as “the study of the evolution of social behavior in all organisms, including human beings.” By using sociobiology, this gives the reader a better insight on the connection between humans and animals. Throughout my essay, I will select several short stories and illustrate the similar characteristic between humans and animals.
Compulsive behaviors are often thought to involve free will. It also is contrasted to be the same as compelled behavior, where the person is under the influence that they are behaving some way under their own accord. If someone resists an impulse it become increasingly difficult to be successful over time. By resisting these impulses, they experience excruciating levels of psychological pain; making it feel literally impossible to resist urges. Compulsive people have not lost the amount of self-control they have, rather that they are over whelmed by the psychological influence of the addictive behavior. These behaviors are not necessarily caused by the irresistible desires, rather habitual repetitive patterns (Henden, Melberg, & Rogeberg, 2013).
All throughout my life I have never had to watch my weight or worry about my eating habits. I have always been able to eat all kinds of different foods unhealthy or healthy it never mattered because of my high metabolism. I never stopped to think of the effects or the problems I could obtain over time if I kept eating the same way. However, after being deeply affected by this semester by my own food journal, The Food Inc. movie, and The Eater Reader I now have a better sense of wisdom and better understanding of the types of foods I was putting into my body, and have stopped drinking carbonation but with the lack of time I will not be able to give up my eating habits up.
So, it is clear that addiction is all around us and can attack anyone of us at any given time. Even studies conducted show that people neglect to speak around their dependency for two primary reasons. Foremost, because people do not comprehend, or they bear a total misconception to their addiction, that they do not realize that addictions can be critical to their overall wellness. Moreover, second, many people believe being an addict will never happen to them, but, in reality, most addictions start off as simple little habits. Such as starting with one drink after dinner and before you know it you are drinking several drinks a day. However, one does not opt to be addicted to a substance, because addictions are physical defects in the brain, a disease, and not one’s choice.
Addictive drugs like nicotine and cocaine and heroin, all can rewire the brain to crave the satisfaction that these agents produce. The desire becomes so strong that it starts to take over the body and it no longer becomes for pleasure and it becomes a need for your body. Now likewise, some people argue that some foods have the same power and effects on people that drugs do, where some of these foods can alter the brain in a way that is resets the appetite and satisfaction threshold in a way that it’s out of reach, meaning a person can never have enough. The obesity levels these days semi-dangerous, so some doctors have conducted an experiment that tested the effects of some foods on the brain, where they took 12 obese men after they consumed two milkshakes, whit the same amount of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates, and they were equally sweet. (Sifferlin 2013) On the other hand one milkshake had much higher glycemic index from the carbohydrates. After the a few hours the blood sugar levels went down leaving the men hungry again. But after they ate the region of the brain that is related to addictive drugs and behaviors was triggered. In this paper food addiction is discussed and shown that it is a real problem that further critical analysis and experiments should be conducted on such issue.
We all have some bad habits that we find difficult to break. These problems eventually have a major impact on our lives and health. Bad habits are unwanted behaviour, which take time to break or change depending on the severity of the obsession. Common examples include: overeating, smoking, and a lazy life style.
Through various observations and assumptions, there have been conversations on whether or not overconsumption of food is an addiction. However, many have come to the conclusion that food is an addiction if it is overconsume excessively than it is necessary for an individual’s diet. Nevertheless, food addiction can create health issues that can affect an individual’s body. Even though, many individual may have such knowledge of overconsumption of food; however, many may choose to ignore the consequences that comes with food addiction. Becoming a food addict is harmful and dangerous to an individual’s health.
The first bad habit we will talk about is drinking. Drinking is not a bad habit when done responsibly. Anyone should be able to consume alcohol when they want, as long as they have a sane mental state and recollection of what they are doing. Drinking becomes a problem when people consume too much alcohol and they cannot make good, rational decisions. When this happens the alcohol content in your blood flow to your brain and affects your decision-making and reaction time. This makes perfectly normal human beings think that they can do superhuman things. Most people end up injur...
My parents know that soda makes my stomach much bigger and they motivated me to change this habit. I used to drink a lot soda with chips, french fries, chicken and pizza. Something important that made me find out is, when we people like something, then, continuously start eating the same food for a very long time until we start disliking them. Since, I have drank soda for a long time, now I feel the same taste and the taste became old to me. My parents motivation and own realization made me accomplishing this habit. I believe, Human are creatures of habit. Overtime, We buy the same foods from the same grocery store, prepare the same recipes over and over. But, if we are serious about eating healthier and losing weight, then, it is possible to change those bad eating habits until it is too late. In order to maintain a healthy behavior, first one should start to prepare for it. However, in order to achieve these goals of health and fitness is really about involving in healthy behaviors on a daily routine basis. It does not matter how small the habit is, over time they can have a huge effect on an individual’s health. Therefore, we have to be serious about changing our lifestyle in order to achieve the goal.
A habit can be many things, some good, some not so good. Everyone has habits that they would like to change and maybe improve upon. I believe the majority of habits I have are good ones but some are not. These bad habits are the ones I will talk about.