How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?

Habits are defined actions triggered automatically by a contextual cue that is linked to performance (1). To make sense of this, here is an example. We all have a habit of putting on our seatbelts (action) after we get into our car (contextual cue) (1). 

Having these established habits is great, but how did they become so routine? How do we get a new habit to become as routine as putting on our seatbelts? There is some research out there explaining it and I am hoping to help all the readers understand so we have a greater chance of our new habits becoming routine! 

Forming A Habit

As a chiropractor, focusing on health and fitness habits is something I am passionate about and something I enjoy helping my patients with! Starting a new healthy habit can be daunting. Do I have time to exercise? Where do I start? What if I get hurt? All of these thoughts can be holding you back. 

The simple answer is to just pick something and stick with it. But there is a bit more science behind it all. In a 12-week study, participants picked one new habit and recorded if they did it every day (2,3). On average, it took 66 days (over 2 months) to form a new habit, just over 9 weeks (2,3). The key takeaway from this is to not be afraid of missing a day, it was found that it did not affect the habit formation process (2). 

Pick a new health goal, and understand that it will be a journey, not an event (2). Enjoy your time getting to your goal, and don't overpressure yourself along the way. For things to become a habit, you will have to put in work (2)! If you are looking for more information, the book Atomic Habits has been a great resource for me and can be one for you as well if you are looking to start the new year. What is going to be your new healthy habit? 

1. Gardner, Benjamin, Phillippa Lally, and Jane Wardle. "Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice." British Journal of General Practice 62.605 (2012): 664-666.

2. Clear, James. "How long does it actually take to form a new habit? (Backed by science)." The Huffington Post 10 (2014).

3. Lally, Phillippa, et al. "How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world." European journal of social psychology 40.6 (2010): 998-1009.