Research shows it takes 66 days to form a habit and, once it’s set, it can prove very difficult to break.
Whether it’s smoking, vaping, caffeine, alcohol, or late-night snacking, it can be very hard to kick an unhealthy habit. Just ask Adele. The singer previously gave up her 25-a-day cigarette habit, but she just can’t seem to quit caffeine, and has been left with withdrawal symptoms including migraines and “the shakes”.
“I decided this week to stop drinking coffee,” she told her audience in Las Vegas. “It was harder than giving up cigarettes, harder than when you want to stop drinking… I had a splitting headache for two days because I cut it out. My head was pounding. It was like there was a drill inside my head. It was a lot.”
Research shows it takes 66 days to form a habit and, once it’s set, it can prove very difficult to break. Your vice of choice – whether it’s a flat white, a cigarette or a packet of biscuits – prompts the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of pleasure and reward, and it can seem impossible to cut it out.
“The only way I can cut down on something is to impose an arbitrary rule on myself,” says one colleague of mine, who has valiantly cut out 4pm biscuits and other sweet treats in the office. “I invented a rule that I wouldn’t have sugary snacks from Monday to Friday. And going cold turkey during the week actually means I crave sugar less when Saturday comes, as I’ve broken the addictive cycle.”
More than just dogged determination, there are certain tips and tricks that can help you boot a bad habit once and for all. Here’s how.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with a morning coffee, and multiple studies have indicated that moderate caffeine consumption can have health benefits. But while you might not think of it as a drug, caffeine can cause dependency like any other addictive substance – as Adele knows all too well.
“Caffeine addiction is a subtle combination of physical and psychological addiction,” says John Dicey, co-author of the Allen Carr books on how to quit smoking. Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors (which promote sleep), which increases the production of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that play a role in cognitive function, such as noradrenaline and glutamate.
However, you end up needing more to chase down that energy boost. “Stimulants tend to become less effective the more you use them. If you have a coffee every time you’re tired, it eventually stops working… [you’re] becoming even more exhausted, and seemingly even more in need of another fix. Your mind associates taking the drug with feeling better than you did the moment before.”
So how can you cut down?
There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that switching to decaffeinated coffee can help, and this is a tactic Adele has employed. “I did have about 25 decaf coffees yesterday, trying to trick my brain into thinking I was drinking coffee,” she said.
As with any bad habit, it is more helpful to replace it with a healthier one, rather than focus on cutting it out. With coffee, this could be decaf, but it could also be a herbal tea.
You may experience the predictable withdrawal symptoms: headaches, fatigue and irritability, to name a few. But persevere. More important than weathering the physical symptoms is changing your mindset around caffeine withdrawal.
“Whether it’s a drug or a habit that you want to rid yourself of – don’t worry about withdrawal. Those feelings are mostly caused by a sense that you’ve sacrificed something, or given up something precious,” says Dicey. “If you think in terms of having ‘got rid of’ a habit or drug, rather than having ‘given it up’, it makes a huge psychological difference.”
Remember, too, he advises, that most of the energy you glean from caffeine is an “illusionary boost… If you really are tired, then your body is asking for sleep and rest, not caffeine.”
It is notoriously hard to give up cigarettes – in one study, which followed 630 smokers who tried to quit, only 22 per cent managed to keep their resolve after two weeks, and just 8 per cent at six months. But as a former 80-a-day smoker, Dicey can advise.
There are different schools of thought, but he argues it is better to go cold turkey than to cut down. “Most people who taper down find it harder to quit… and often end up smoking more. By controlling it, it makes cigarettes seem even more precious,” he says.
One study published in Psychological Science found that smokers who tried to control their thoughts about smoking found they thought about it more.
Here’s how you should go about it. With smoking, as with any habit you want to break, “set a date and stick to it”, Dicey says. “Think of the date you plan to change as a big day, something to look forward to rather than dread. You’re planning to make a really positive change that will make you happier, healthier and more in control of your life – it’s something to anticipate with relish rather than fear.”
The second tip is to avoid trying to quit through willpower alone. Research shows that nicotine-replacement therapies, such as skin patches, chewing gum and nasal sprays, can be effective, especially when combined with support from a stop-smoking service.
“Most people go about quitting the wrong way… willpower [alone] doesn’t really work,” says Dicey. “Rather than focusing on the downsides – smokers know all the bad stuff and it doesn’t prevent them smoking – the best way to look at it is what are the arguments for smoking? For instance, ‘It makes me feel less stressed.’ Once they’ve understood why they do it, they can begin to understand why smoking doesn’t actually help with those things.” Research shows that the stress and anxiety levels of smokers are actually higher than non-smokers.
A sugary snack habit can be among the most difficult to quit, as sugar itself is pretty hard to avoid. “We’re faced with high-sugar foods everywhere we go and every supermarket is laden with sugary options,” says nutritionist Jenna Hope. As with smoking, simply relying on willpower to break a bad sugar habit is unlikely to work.
One 2008 study published in the journal Appetite found that those who suppressed their thoughts about eating chocolate experienced a behavioural rebound effect and ended up eating significantly more chocolate than those who didn’t.
Sugar isn’t an addictive substance, but it can stimulate the brain’s “reward centre” in a similar way to caffeine and other dependencies, says Hope. It can also contribute to a “blood-sugar rollercoaster”.
Instead of going cold turkey (which, in the case of sugar, is nigh on impossible), she suggests gradually decreasing your overall intake. If you have sugar in tea or coffee, for example, try “halving the amount you’re adding to tea and coffee, and then slowly halve it again and again, until you no longer need sugar in your hot drinks”.
She also recommends “starting the day with a savoury breakfast, such as peanut butter on rye toast, eggs or cottage cheese on crackers with vegetables, as this can help to stabilise your blood-sugar levels”, and swapping one sugary snack per day for a savoury option.
Plenty of us are aware that we could do with cutting down on how much we drink – although if your drinking has become a problem and tipped into alcohol addiction, the advice is to speak to a health professional.
But if you are primarily a social drinker wanting to break the habit of always saying yes to that second glass of wine on a weeknight, the same bad habit-breaking principles apply.
Replacing an unhealthy habit with a healthier one is key. Follow specific strategies, rather than relying on willpower alone: for example, try implementing a rule of two dry days per week; alternating one alcoholic beverage with a non-alcoholic one at the pub; and taking a 20-minute break between drinks.
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