We’ve all got habits – good ones, bad ones, and every mediocre one in between. We are on our phones too much, love our sugary dessert after dinner, need that coffee before starting the day, or any other thing you do consistently – these are our habits.
Many people are under the incorrect impression that it takes 21 days to form a habit. This is probably the most popular number thrown around when someone is trying to start something new, like exercising or getting up early. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but the truth is that that number is fairly wrong.
The 21-day saying comes from a study by Dr. Maxwell Maltz back in the 1960s. He was observing patients and how they adjusted to changes in their appearance after surgery. He noted that the average patient took 21 days to become accustomed to their new look, and this information was published in his book Psycho-Cybernetics back in the day. Even though he was studying psychological adjustments, this wasn’t specific to forming habits, but audiences took it wrong and went with it, leading to the 21-day habit-forming myth.
Now that we’ve debunked the 21 days, how can we know how long it takes to form a new habit – and break bad ones? Well, it depends on the habit you’re forming or breaking. Smaller habits tend to take around two to three weeks while larger ones will take you around 66 days. Let’s break it down into six of the most common habits and the time it takes for them to take root or be broken altogether.
1. Exercising regularly.
If you’ve ever started working out, you may have found that it was all too easy to stop, but not as easy to start. It’s funny how that happens, right? Sigh.
Luckily, it doesn’t usually take months to get into the groove of exercising. Initially, the first one to three weeks will be an alarm phase, which is when your body goes, “What the heck are you doing here?” and you’re probably sore and not sure what you’re doing. Then, around the three-to-four-week mark, you start to adapt and muscles begin to tone. This doesn’t mean you’ll see instant results, but in the following weeks. it will get a bit easier. It will take roughly two months for most people to adapt to regular exercise as a habit that doesn’t make them cringe.
Check out: How to achieve goals
2. Healthy eating.
Perhaps the least favorite habit to pick up is healthy eating, especially if you don’t yet know the delicious healthy recipes that exist outside of a bland salad. Alongside exercising regularly, it will also take about two months or 66+ days to adapt to healthier eating routines. If you’re going the extreme route and cutting out something like sugar or caffeine, you’ll likely have to suffer through a few days or even one to two weeks of withdrawal symptoms – yes, withdrawal! Since the average American consumes between 22 and 30 teaspoons of sugar a day, we are at four times higher than what is recommended by medical professionals, so withdrawals could include a depressed mood, intense cravings, and even changes in sleep patterns. Remember that these are temporary, but they are why healthy eating routines take longer to form than simpler daily changes, like waking up early.
3. Reducing your screen time.
Guess what the average screen time is in the U.S. I was thinking around four or five hours. But are you ready for the answer? It’s a whopping seven hours and four minutes per day. Seven hours! Since humans are only awake for an average of 16 hours per day, that means we spend 43% of our day staring at some sort of screen. Man, that was sure a shocker for me to hear, how about you?
It’s no wonder some of us have become conscious of the fact that we need to spend less time on a screen and more time in the real world around us. If you’re looking to break this negative habit, especially if it’s the screen time before bed, you’re likely looking at a couple of months to get it down. Screen time tends to give us quick dopamine hits in our brains, so cutting it out is tough, even when we replace it with something healthy like our next point.
4. Journaling, gratitude practice, or reading before bed.
The benefits of journaling and gratitude practice reduce stress, boost creativity, and promote achieving your goals. Pair that with some reading before bed and you could set yourself up for growth and a successful slumber to replace that screen time. Luckily, these goals seem more achievable and can become habits in just three to four weeks.
5. Drinking more water.
If your pee is any darker than a very light yellow – think the color of straw – then you’re probably dehydrated. The recommendation is to drink around 3 liters of water a day, which equals 12 cups. That’s a lot of water compared to what I average, and I’m sure I’m not alone, right?
If you want to drink more water to regulate your body, lubricate your joints, and cleanse your body, you can start with a fresh glass every morning to make it routine within just three weeks or so.
6. Getting on a new schedule.
Many habits revolve around schedule changes. If you want to exercise, you’ll need to carve out time for it. If you want to be healthier, meal prep might need to sneak into your evenings, or you’ll need to set the alarm up for twenty minutes earlier than you’re used to. New schedules are a new habit in themselves, especially when it comes to sleep. Most people can adjust to a new sleep schedule in about a week or less, but for dramatic changes shifting more than two hours, plan to gradually adjust your schedule in 15–30-minute increments until you reach your new schedule goal.
Check out: How to set life goals
Conclusion:
Creating and breaking habits takes time, and there is no one-size-fits-all formula. For smaller changes, like incorporating more water into your diet or reading before bed, three weeks may be enough to make it stick. For larger changes, like breaking a sugary diet or starting to exercise, the 66-day mark is the new norm. Remember that the type of change you do will determine how long it will take to feel “normal” and that patience is key. You got this! As always, thanks for watching.