Research on how long to change a habit

Mari · 11-04-2012, 12:52 AM

Hi,

According to a recent article it takes 66 days to change a habit -- depending on how hard the habit.

Quote:

Clearly it's going to depend on the type of habit you're trying to form and how single-minded you are in pursuing your goal. But are there any general guidelines for how long it takes before behaviours become automatic?

Ask Google and you'll get a figure of somewhere between 21 and 28 days. In fact there's no solid evidence for this number at all.

Quote:

When the researchers examined the different habits, many of the participants showed a curved relationship between practice and automaticity of the form depicted below (solid line). On average a plateau in automaticity was reached after 66 days. In other words it had become as much of a habit as it was ever going to become.

http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how...rm-a-habit.php

Quote:

What this study reveals is that when we want to develop a relatively simple habit like eating a piece of fruit each day or taking a 10 minute walk, it could take us over two months of daily repetitions before the behaviour becomes a habit. And, while this research suggests that skipping single days isn't detrimental in the long-term, it's those early repetitions that give us the greatest boost in automaticity.

Unfortunately it seems there's no such thing as small change: the much-repeated 21 days to form a habit is a considerable underestimation unless your only goal in life is drinking glasses of water.

My take on this is that it takes two month to change an easy habit. The first few days are the most important.

M

Brokenfriend · 11-04-2012, 01:02 AM

Hi Mari I thought that it was three weeks,but 66 days sounds more like it. I knew that three weeks wouldn't make a dent in some habits,like addictions.

Thank you for the post. I've turned all of my clocks back one hour also. BF

Mari · 11-04-2012, 01:13 AM

Hi, Friend,

I have heard the three weeks many times before too. That's why I looked it up.

I have a few more things to change ---watch, the back up alarm for work, and clock in the car.

M

bizi · 11-04-2012, 01:22 AM

I have always heard that it takes 3 weeks to make or break a habit. I think the article is right about 66 days.
bizi

Dmom3005 · 11-04-2012, 09:50 AM

Well you know 3 weeks would be 21 days so that would be almost 1/3 of
the 66 days. So it would be 1/3 of the way to the good way to making
or breaking a habit. So maybe that is a different way to think of it.

Donna

Ms manic · 11-04-2012, 11:20 AM

I'm guessing that it would depend on the habit. Addiction being one of the worst.

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