I just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Brain Trust
Book Club (BTBC), which has brought together myself and some of my oldest
friends! BTBC was founded at the wedding of our dear friend to bring old
friends back together in the name of good books. We have had many iterations of
the BTBC – phone chats, FaceTime, and destinations (like my wedding in
Curacao!). We’ve enjoyed a sliding scale of participants who read the books to
varying degrees (shout out to Joey TLDR) – and one constant is that we inevitably
pick some not-so-great books.
After reviewing the list of a decade of BTBC busts, I was
delighted to come across a book that has surreptitiously shaped every facet of
my life: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.
In The Power of Habit, Duhigg speaks on how
subconscious routines shape our individual, organizational, and societal lives.
As the text develops, Duhigg highlights the ever-present role of habits in our
daily lives, referencing that roughly 40% of our daily actions are habits
[1].
Reflecting on my list pulled an insight into stark focus: I
am trying to help you create movement as a habit.
Because movement is a habit. Every day I engage in
discussions about:
- How to
use movement for pain relief (with my patients)
- How to
use movement to increase activity levels for weight loss or muscle gain
(with my health coaching clients)
- How to
use movement to release pent up energy (with my children)
I personally rely on movement in the following ways:
- Bookend
the day – walk my daughter to school, walk to pick up the kids from
daycare/after school
- Fidget
– time between patients provides an opportunity to walk around the block
- Exercise
preparation – 5-10 minutes before workout to practice the positions of
interest in the day’s workout
- Exercise
– my lifeblood!
- Monkey
see, Monkey do – playtime with my children trying to emulate their myriad
movement outlets
- Get
the digestive juices flowing – family walks after dinner
Movement is versatile, and with the right intentionality, we
can even use movement to replace bad habits, like obsessive phone checking (one
of my compulsions).
So who is this post for? While many people can benefit from
more intentional habits, in this post I’ll focus on examples of:
- People
who have pain/want to reduce pain
- People
looking to improve overall health
- People
who want to improve their movement performance
- People
looking to improve their learning potential
First, though, let’s look at what habits are.
What Are Habits?
At a basic level, habits are the choices that each of us
deliberately make at some point and then stop thinking but continue doing
(often daily) [2]. We form habits so our brains can go on autopilot and
conserve energy. The brain has a lot to do each day, what with controlling
every process involved with our moment-by-moment survival, that it does not
have time to perseverate on the act of brushing teeth, putting on underwear,
and making kids lunch – and that only takes us to 7 am.
The brain looks for specific cues to trigger the autopilot mode and commences the habit feedback loop:
A cue is a trigger and it can be anything – visual, person, location, or emotional trigger (among many others) – and the first step to rewriting your habit loop is to identify your specific cues. For example, boredom is my cue to pick up my phone.
A routine is the reflexive
response to the cue, and it can also be anything – my pitch is to make movement
the keystone routine/habit. More on keystone habits below.
A reward reinforces the efficiency of the entire loop
– my phone checking reward is the anticipatory excitement that something
amazing will pop up in my inbox to distract me from the task at hand!
A key point to remember: Don’t try to eliminate old habits –
instead, work to replace them.
Armed with knowledge of how this feedback loop works, we can
start inquiring as to how our habits impact our lives, and make changes to them
with awareness.
Unlocking Movement Through Keystone Habits
Another concept Duhigg discusses is the importance of
keystone habits:
Small changes or habits that people introduce into their
routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives.
Duhigg also references exercise as an effective keystone
habit - Preach!
My call to action is that we can all make frequent, brief,
purposeful movement the keystone habit to unlock the mother of all
keystone habits, exercise!
A Habit to Reduce Pain
Irritated tissues respond well to frequent and gentle
motion, and this can often be a valuable tool to alleviate pain. If you are in
pain, try the 20/20 rule – every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break to get up
and move. Pick a movement that targets the irritated tissues in your body and
move gently for 20 seconds, focusing on a relaxed breathing pattern throughout
the movement. By focusing on your breathing, you override the tendency to tense
up/hold your breath when you are in pain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUlMJ0T2DDo&list=PLtbxeURCQnLIQLrjXI8cW7SVsgJPYuWWb&index=3
A Habit to Improve Overall Health
In his book Exercised:
Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding, Daniel
Lieberman discusses the impact of physical activity on health and wellness,
including the fact that a reduction in physical activity is an independent risk
factor for morbidity and compression of health span5. Lieberman
highlights the fact that Americans spend less than 1 minute daily engaging in
vigorous activity, while modern day hunter gatherer tribes spend 20 minutes
daily, by comparison (vigorous activity defined as 70-85% maximal heart rate)
5. Why not use my boredom cue to trigger 30-40 seconds of mountain
climbers in the name of health?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYEcueW-XY&list=PLtbxeURCQnLIQLrjXI8cW7SVsgJPYuWWb&index=3
If the mountain climber is a bridge too far at this stage in
your movement journey, can we compromise with some seated heel raises?
According to an experimental physiological study6, engaging in a
fidget routine of seated heel raises throughout the day can lead to an
improvement in several biomarkers, including markers of metabolic health such
as post prandial (meal) glucose tolerance and insulin secretion. In layman’s
terms, average sedentary individuals (without any training required) were able
to complete 270 minutes of heel raises during an otherwise sedentary day and
created noticeable changes in biomarkers compared to themselves on a day in
which they completed no seated heel raises. Why not use sitting as a cue to
trigger a heel raise movement habit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBibSg9Wh7I&list=PLtbxeURCQnLIQLrjXI8cW7SVsgJPYuWWb&index=4
A Habit to Improve Movement or Skill Performance
Anders Ericsson was a psychologist and researcher who
studied the psychological nature of expertise and human performance. He
described the value of purposeful practice in building new skills and
abilities:
Purposeful Practice3 has well defined goals, is
focused, involves feedback, and nudges you out of your comfort zone.
While this type of practice is intended to be intense – high
level of focus and demand in a 60-minute block of time – why not set the
foundation for purposeful practice with a couple of minutes of movement
practice every 30-60 minutes?
Let Amelie and Anders be your gymnastics guides!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rzb-aNV5W8&list=PLtbxeURCQnLIQLrjXI8cW7SVsgJPYuWWb
Or follow the path to improving athletic performance in my
previous blog post https://movement-x.com/sports/mobility-and-stability/
A Habit to Improve Learning and Productivity
Brain coach, Jim Kwik, has dedicated his personal and
professional life to helping people learn better. In his book, Limitless,
Kwik laments the oft used and less-than-stellar approach of burning the
midnight oil the night before the exam, trying to “learn” as much as you can in
one block of time. Kwik teaches about the value of learning in chunks and
espouses the approach of breaking up your learning time into 25 minutes of work
followed by a 5-minute brain break. This approach builds on the Serial Position
Effect to enhance learning4.
Serial Position Effect: The tendency to most
frequently remember the first and last chunk of information we are presented
with.
Using the chunking approach, the learner can take advantage
of multiple “first and last” chunks of information to enhance the learning
experience.
The 5-minute brain break can be the learner’s cue to insert
a movement habit, such as a walk around the block/office/etc. Or 5 minutes of
mountain climbers?!
Movement Routine: Keys to Long-Term Sustainability
Establishing a new habit loop may seem simple, but it is not
easy. Duhigg paves the way by highlighting some keys to successful habit change
[2]:
- Start
by identifying a habit loop you are trying to replace.
- Use
the same cue, insert a new habit, and provide the same reward
- Build
belief that you can accomplish your habits—belief is what makes habits
stick in the face of stress
- Build
your community—it’s easier to make a habit stick in the face of stress
when you have a movement support system. Two can be a community, so
recruit a movement buddy to embark on the journey with you.
Here’s what my habit loop looks like:
- Identify
the habit loop: Checking my phone due to boredom anticipating the reward
of something exciting on my phone.
- Using
boredom as my cue, I insert a new habit: a calisthenic movement chosen by
my daughter.
- Provide
the same reward: Anticipatory excitement that I can tumble with my
gymnastics-loving daughter.
- Belief—There
is a movement ninja inside every one of us. Set your ninja free!
- Community—The
MovementX community, my family and friends.
Final Pitch
Movement can be the mother of all keystone habits. Whether
you are attempting to reduce pain, improve your health, or alleviate your
boredom, choose movement (until it becomes a subconscious habit)! Just identify
the cue -> habit -> reward loop that you can replace with movement, mix
in some belief, with a dash of community, and a world of opportunities awaits!
References
1. Neal DT, Wood W, and Quinn JM. Habits – A Repeat
Performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science 15, no 4
(2006): 198-202.
2. Duhigg C. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in
Life and Business (2012)
3. Ericsson A and Pool R. Peak: Secrets from the New Science
of Expertise (2016)
4. Kwik J. Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything
Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life (2020)
5. Lieberman DE. Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved
to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding (2021)
6. Hamilton, Marc T. et al. A potent physiological method to magnify and sustain soleus oxidative metabolism improves glucose and lipid regulation. iScience, Volume 25, Issue 9, 104869 (2022).
