Many people want to be healthier but are not quite sure where to start. If you have goals to be healthier this year, you are not alone. Year after year, the most common New Year’s resolutions relate to improving our health.
The statistics can help motivate us to change. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. In 2022, one in every five deaths in the U.S. was caused by heart disease. Nearly half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, which is the leading cause of heart disease.
It sure makes me want to love my heart more, especially during American Heart Month. It is not always the case, but research suggests that changing our lifestyle choices could change these statistics. When we examine our lifestyle, we see it is really made up of many habits throughout a typical day — habits we rarely think about because, well, they are habits.
Several years ago, behavior scientist B.J. Fogg, wrote a book called “Tiny Habits.” That inspired other authors like psychologist S.J. Scott, who wrote “Habit Stacking,” and James Clear, who authored “Atomic Habits.” One concept they all discuss is habit stacking. This is when we regularly link a new positive action to other parts of our current routine.
Some habits you may already stack without realizing, because they happen with your morning or evening routine. Each evening before bed, I take out my contact lenses. Then, I wash my face. Then I floss and brush my teeth. One action stacked on the next until my routine is complete.
Proponents of habit stacking would say this is the best way to help our brains and bodies establish new habits. Find something you already do that will act as a cue for your next habit. In “Atomic Habits,” Clear discusses the four laws of behavior change. The first law is that there is a cue. The more obvious we make our cue, the greater the chance we will follow the cue with our habit.
The formula for habit stacking is “After/Before [current habit], I will [new habit].” That means thinking about our current habits as well as the behavior we would like to add.
I taught a workshop about this to a small group last week. One of the participants shared that she would like to get more physical activity. We dug a little deeper and found she likes walking and would like to walk more regularly. First step complete — identify the habit she would like to incorporate. Next, we needed to find an existing habit to stack it on.
That required some thinking about her current habits. She explained that her life does not have much routine. Maybe you can relate to that. But one thing that happens every morning is feeding her cat. So, here is how habit stacking could work. “After I feed the cat, I will put on my walking shoes and walk for 20 minutes.”
Clear offers these other examples. When I see a set of stairs, I will take them instead of using the elevator. When I serve myself a meal, I will always put veggies on my plate first.
The American Heart Association has Healthy Habit Hacks on its website heart.org. These are based on the same research about behavior change. They have some good habit stacking suggestions, too. When you heat water for coffee or tea, wash and prepare a vegetable or fruit for snacking later. When you turn on the TV in the evening, march in place for 5 minutes before you sit down to watch.
The AHA also has a list of Life’s Essential 8, which is a checklist of the health behaviors and health factors that most influence having a healthy heart. The behaviors are to eat better, be more active, quit tobacco and get healthy sleep.
During a class series this summer, a participant shared that eating well and getting physical activity was not his challenge. His hangup was smoking. My teaching colleague shared an idea to replace the next cigarette with a small piece of hard candy. If you have the desire to quit, your doctor can connect you with trained professionals to come up with a plan to help you succeed.
Whether it is healthy eating, increasing activity, quitting smoking or vaping or getting better sleep, I encourage you to choose one of these to focus on this February. Pick a new habit that you can stack on something you are already doing. Your heart will be grateful!
I’ll leave you with this quote from “The Heart Truth,” “Every day is a fresh start. It’s never too late or too early to invest in your heart health.”
