How to create healthy habits

Let's start by looking at what a habit actually is. They are routines or behaviours that we carry out regularly.

A habit is often something you do automatically without really having to think about it, which can make them hard to change. They’re often categorised as being either a ‘good’ habit or a ‘bad’ one, but I would argue that there is also a grey area in the middle where personal preference and lifestyle is a factor (for example someone who chooses a vegan lifestyle will see eating animal products as a bad habit, but someone who eats meat may not share this view).

Ultimately a good habit is one that you want to repeat and one that has a positive impact on your life. A bad habit does not benefit you or bring you joy; it may give you a short-term high but often causes destruction or lead to other bad habits.  

Habits are created and stored in our subconscious mind. This is the area of our mind that is in charge of doing things automatically; we don’t have to think about these actions or behaviours, our subconscious just does them for us. For example, the subconscious is in control of blinking, breathing, putting our hands out if we fall and so on. Every habit we have will have a trigger, something that lets our subconscious know that it’s time to start carrying out that habit. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good habit, a bad one or in the grey area-there will be a trigger for it.

If you want to create a new habit, your subconscious will need a trigger so it knows when this new habit is needed. Hypnotherapy can be a really effective tool to help you build these new habits and the required triggers because it works directly with your subconscious. Your hypnotherapist will work with your subconscious mind by giving it positive suggestions about your new habit and teaching it to recognise the trigger so it knows when to utilise the new habit.

For hypnotherapy to be as effective as possible it should be used to replace a bad or unwanted habit with a new one. For example, if you wanted to stop smoking but start exercising, or stop nail biting but start drawing instead or perhaps cut down on scrolling on your phone and read a book instead.

Your hypnotherapist will use specific techniques to help you calm your conscious thoughts and mind, allowing access to your subconscious mind. They will then talk to your subconscious about the trigger for your unwanted habit, and then use positive suggestions to change what habit that trigger generates. Using one of the examples from earlier, you may start scrolling on your phone when you feel alone, so your hypnotherapist will teach your subconscious that when you feel lonely you should reach for a book and enjoy the story instead.

Treatment plans for unwanted habits will vary and should be bespoke to you; therefore the number of sessions you need should be discussed with your hypnotherapist, but you could see results in just a few weeks.