Instant Genius - How to change your habits, with Dr Gabija Toleikyte

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

Struggling to form a new habit? Or kick an unhelpful one? While behaviour change is doubtlessly difficult, it can be made easier with a few simple psychological tools. To explain this and the neuroscience of habit formation, we speak to Dr Gabija Toleikyte, lecturer in Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Oh, and welcome to Instant Genius, the Bitesize Masterclass in podcast form. I'm Thomas Ling, digital editor at BBC Science Focus magazine. Now, if you've tried to introduce a new healthy habit into your life, you'll know that long-term behavioural change is far from easy, and you wouldn't be alone. According to one poll, less than a third of people in the UK kept their New Year's resolution last year. So why are forming habits so difficult?

And how do you create one that will truly stick? To discuss all this and more, I'm joined by neuroscientist Dr. Gabbya Tola Keita. She's a lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University, and author of the book, Why the F Can't I Change? Hello, thank you for joining us. Hi, Thomas, nice to be here. So, for many people wanting to make a change, whether it's going to the gym more, eating healthier,

stop looking at your phone so much in the morning like me, changing a behavior is really, really hard. But why is this? First of all, to change the behavior, we need to develop new networks in the brain that will take care of a new behavior. Whenever we do, whether it's eating sugary snacks, some ruminating thoughts or procrastination habits, we do those because we have already developed strong networks called brain highways in the brain that is almost form a default behaviors. In order to change that, we need to form competing networks that would allow us to do different things. And also, we need to weaken those default networks. But before we can do that, we first need to realize what are the root causes of this old behavior. Because

always with any bad habit, there is always something we are getting out of it. And when we form new habits and new behaviors, we want to make sure that we're getting exactly same rewards from new behavior. So let's imagine somebody is procrastinating and want to be more efficient at work. I don't know anybody who might do that. And if somebody wanted to be more effective where they work, and firstly might want to observe, when do they fall into the procrastination habits? Is it stress? Is it lack of clarity? Is it sleep deprivation? that is causing this. And let's imagine if it's stressful situation and procrastinating or going on Facebook or TikTok

reduces stress momentarily. What could be other ways to reduce stress? So one of the best ways to reduce stress is breathing exercises or doing mindfulness meditation for five minutes. So if instead of going on Facebook, let's imagine me or you, Thomas, start, stop right now, whatever we're doing, and we do breathing exercise and then go back to the task. So the habit of reducing stress by procrastination is gradually getting weaker and weaker, the more we practice that.

And the networks that are paired up with stress, browsing, Facebook, or TikTok get weaker. And the habit stress trigger doing breathing exercise or mindful meditation get stronger the more we repeated. So we need to address both things when we want to change behaviors, the root cause of this old habits, and also building and gradually strengthening new brain networks that take care of a new behavior. So say if someone's goal was to go to the gym most mornings,

what new behavioral habits would they have to set out? First of all, we need to assess what's the current situation. Is going to the gym every morning, every list, habit for somebody. If this person is going to the gym zero times a week, going to the gym five days a week is too big change too soon. So we want to start with small steps. The reason being in the brain we have a brain area called amygdala. Amygdala is quite an ancient region that we find in other mammals such as rodents, dogs, cats, cows and so on. And this brain region absolutely hates change. It hates novelty. And when we introduce too much change too soon,

amygdala creates feeling of anxiety or sometimes even anger that momentarily makes us think in an irrational manner. And it pushes us to act the old way. So amygdala doesn't understand that going to the gym will make you feel stronger and healthier ultimately. What amygdala sees is like suddenly your behavior is very different and it doesn't like it. So you want to introduce small steps. So is this amygdala effect? Is this why it's normally best to only set one goal for yourself? Multiple reasons.

Amygdala is one of the reasons. So we don't want to trigger amygdala with our New Year's resolutions. But also, when we try to change too many things at the same time, we drain the the energy of our bodies and brains, and there isn't enough really left to take care of all the new habits. So let me tell you a little bit about the brain region, which is required for creating new habits, but also for willpower. And that region is called prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal cortex is at the very front of your brain. It's the newest addition to the brain, and that's what makes us humans, is the region that takes care of willpower, decision-making.

prioritizing, understanding what's good for you, delaying gratification, long-term planning, and so on. So this region is required to make a challenging new goal, but also to stick to it. And if we give too many tasks for prefrontal cortex, what we see is so-called ego depletion. Ego depletion is the state when the prefrontal cortex is overwhelmed and doesn't, can't do any of those tasks, tasks efficiently. Also, prefrontal cortex requires enormous amounts of energy. And of course, when we are replenished and fresh after Christmas break, we might have that energy available.

But when we go back to work or school or whatever activities, the listeners might be engaged in, we might not have enough resources for prefrontal cortex to take care of so many different new habits. So when you're talking about our bodies being drained of energy and energy depletion, what exactly is the energy there? Is there simply just calories that we ingest, or is it something else? It's a little bit more complex.

So calories, yes. So brain and body needs energy in the form of glucose. That's what the cells require. And we get glucose for all sorts of nutritious foods and delicious foods we eat. But in addition to that, prefrontal cortex needs time to replace. vanish and restore neurotransmitter balance. So when neurons talk to each other, they use chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. And they get used up.

The brain that needs time to produce them and reload them in the structures, neuronal structures called synapses to be ready again. So it's a little bit more complex than just, you know, like, oh, I'll have another chocolate bar and then I can do new habits. Brain does need downtime and quite a lot of downtime. How much day I'm sorry? Well, it depends what you do and it depends what your activity is. It depends also on your neurodiversity profile.

So overall good like sort of rule of thumb is that we can do about four to six hours of prefrontal cortex dependent activities a day. Four hours if we are sort of if it is a relatively stressful environment and six hours if we take frequent breaks and replace. finish and recover. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. It's peak pollination season, and my business is scaling fast. To keep the nectar flowing, I need a phone plan with top priority data speed.

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Visit focal powered by name.com for more information. So when it comes to behavioral change, what are the most common pitfalls? One of the most common things I see with my readers of my book and my previous clients is trying to change too much to soon. It's the second one being changing, it's changing things that we think we should change as opposed to what we truly want to change. So having incorporated values from other people or societal norms, going to the gym is a very classical one. I had a client recently who was like, oh, I should go to the gym more often. I was like, do you enjoy going to the gym? What associations do you have around going to the gym? And I was like, actually, I hate going to the gym. It feels like a torture.

to me. So that just tells that it's something that we learn from either societal norms or other people's voices in our head. So figuring out what you want to change. But third common pitfall is associating change with pain. So if you're trying to eat healthier, but you truly like pastries and chocolate and things that are quite sure. sugary and very delicious and elicit enormous amounts of dopamine in our reward centers, instead of thinking, okay, well, to eat healthier, it means to endure some pain or lack of pleasure. That's one way of looking at, but we are much less likely to do new behavior. But if you write down the huge list of benefits of eating healthier and try to elicit as much

dopamine as you can with a healthier eating habits. So for example, taking time to prepare really nice meals that would be healthier options such as smoothie instead of pastry that would still be equally delicious, but perhaps a healthy alternative. And taking time to really create food that tastes equally as good, but is healthier, is required. So we do need dopamine to make a lasting change and to have motivation to change. So when you talk about this list, is this a list that people should write out every day? No, it's enough to write it out once physically, have it written or write it on the computer and print it and have it somewhere visible. I usually recommend to write about 50 reasons of why you want to change. So 50-5-0? 5-0. And if you struggle to come up

even with 10, it means that probably that's not something you should change. So why is it that people can maintain a new habit or a new behavior for a little while, but then this goes away? So for instance, the gym is often flooded with new people in January, but then this goes away as people's motivation wanes. Why does that motivation wane? A lot of times we make a start in a new habit when we're in a good place of mind, when we're in a reasonably good emotional state and when we have time for it. Now, when the war gets busier, kids get ill, we get ill, we get an anxious state or depressed state, suddenly there is not enough resources in the brain to deal with that. And that naturally, then we take care of what's urgent as opposed to nice to have.

So we revert to the more survival state as opposed to thriving state. And we need to allow ourselves to do so. It's one of the biggest misconceptions that once we change a habit, it sticks with us. That's not true. Once we change the habit, yes, it sticks to us with us for a while. But if it is not an essential thing, when we're going through the phases in life, when we are struggling with something, whether it's a workload, whether it's family situation, whether it's mental or emotional well-being or physical well-being for that matter, it's not only natural,

also essential for us to drop things that are not important at that given moment of time, that are not essential for our survival. And then when we get in a better place with those core, crucial, essential, well-being issues or demands that are placed on us, then we gradually can come back to those habits. So I think we need to be aware when it's a good time for those nice to have habits. and when that's not feasible. So is there a way to make habits stick, or should we just accept that it's not always going to be possible?

I think just accepting what's realistic is crucial. And strangely, when people are much more kind and compassionate to themselves about changing habits, usually they can vivid back to the good new habits quicker after the downtime. If we have an idea that or should stick to new habits no matter what, that produces a lot of stress and puts us much more in a migdal dominant way of thinking. And when we accept that sometimes that's just not feasible and there are other priorities, it usually helps us to go back to the good habits after we had that time to deal with any

emergencies we had to much, much quicker because we don't have any associated negative emotions around it. So imagine somebody who has set a goal to go to the gym in the morning. They wake up, but they really, really don't want to go. As a neuroscientist, what would you advise them to do in that morning? Depending on the cause of why they don't want to go. If they don't want to go because they just rather sleeping in bed and are feeling relatively lazy, then I would recommend looking at the list of 50-50 benefits of going to the gym.

and if somebody wakes up and doesn't want to go because they struggle in the mornings with energy levels, maybe going in the morning is not the best time for them either. So really kind of firstly, making the assessment of what is the best time for this habit is very important. A lot of people aren't very good at exercising in the mornings. If they really don't want to go because they are in a depressed-like state, maybe going to the gym is not the best option, maybe replacing it with other physical activities, such as going outside for a little bit, going out to the cafe to have breakfast instead of staying in the

house. So it has to be situational of what's the best thing to do in that scenario. So you've spoken about how writing a list of reasons why you want to do a certain activity could be beneficial. Are there any other key tools that you recommend people, you're using to changing a behavior or starting off a new habit? Yeah, there is a few. So, so first of all, writing 50 benefits of a new habit is good start. But second, if you want to go further, having a calendar or a map or something visual, the way to visualize when you actually have done it, it's a little bit like, you know, having golden stars for children for when they've done something. It seems to work for adults pretty well as well. And when you collected certain

number of golden stars rewarding yourself with something that you truly want. So, for example, if you went to the gym 10 times buying yourself a new T-shirt or some new audiobook, whatever might work for somebody. In your great book, you write about activity-dependent plasticity. Could you explain what that is? Activity-dependent brain plasticity is just a fancy word to describe that your brain networks, are constantly changing based on what you do most often. Different forms of activity depend on brain plasticity. So one is the networks, old networks that you have been using all the time,

getting stronger and stronger over time as you keep using them, such as, for example, if your brain networks are driving a car, getting stronger if you keep on driving a car. Now imagine you stop driving a car and this started taking public transport. Those networks that were in charge of driving a car, start getting weaker over time because you no longer use them. Imagine you decide that instead of taking public transport, you want to restart using bicycle and you haven't cycled for maybe 20 years.

So now brain regions that are in charge of riding a bike start getting strong over time because you're using those regions again. So that's also another form of activity-dependent brain plasticity. also in one region within hippocampal formation, a region called dentide chivers, we get new neurons born, which is called neurogenesis. That is also activity dependent brain plasticity, as it depends on what we do. So how can we increase our neuroplasticity to help form new habits? That's a great question. So there is a few things we can do. Some things are kind of obvious if we want to create strong networks doing those. activities more often. So regularity as opposed to duration seems to be important. So if you want to

become really, I don't know, proficient at juggling, juggling five minutes a day every day is better than juggling for an hour once a week. So doing the activity often seems to be a good way of strengthening, creating new networks and strengthening them. But also there are some things that are much less obvious. So physical exercise seems to increase neurogenesis and increase the levels of BDNF in the brain. And BDNF is important so-called neurotrophic factor that helps brains to V shape and reform the networks. And just gentle aerobic physical exercise such as jogging, speedy walking, gardening, cycling, and increase levels of BDNF in the brain. and increase brain plasticity.

Now, the third thing we can do is having loving and caring relationships in our life. Those relationships increase oxytocin in our brain. An oxytocin is both a hormone and neurotransmitter. An oxytocin protects the brain plasticity from negative effects of stress. So when we're experiencing stressful situations, brain plasticity is reduced. But if we have enough oxytocin in our bodies and brains, then that is being kept at the normal level. So it doesn't change when we experience stressful situations. So having good friendships, good romantic relationships, resonant working relationships, or taking care of other people, having a pet, all of those activities increase oxytocin and help us to maintain good brain plasticity levels.

So when you say the exercise is quite a good way to boost your neuroplasticity, does that mean going to the gym is quite a good goal to pick? Any form of physical exercise, it doesn't really have to be going to the gym. It doesn't even have to be structured exercise. Just being physically active is sufficient. So aiming for 10,000 steps a day, for example, is a good goal. as you can get 10,000 steps a day without actually going for official walk or going officially to the workout, just sort of getting around your day and trying to be as active as you can and trying to increase your activity levels that fit your life and what the tasks you're trying to achieve anyway. What should somebody do if they fail their goal after, say, two weeks? I should restrain from using the word fail.

We need to look back. Why? And this is very important discussion to have. We need to really have a thing. Why did I pick this goal in the first place? Was that a good goal for me? So maybe the person didn't fail the goal. Maybe the goal failed the person.

Okay? So this is a weird way to look at it. But we often fail in the comas. The goals that actually aren't well suited for us. So we need to V plan and choose a goal. that actually fits you as a person, that fits your life as it is. Because a lot of times we try to be who we aren't and set the goals based around that. And inevitably, not only we'll fail the goals, but we are failing ourselves by setting those goals

and not accepting ourselves as we are and the things that are truly important to us. That was Dr. Gabbya Ture Nikita, author of the book Why the F Can't I Change? scientist to show that you can. Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Genius, brought to you by the team behind BBC Science Focus magazine, which you can find on sale now in supermarkets and newsagents as well as your preferred app store. You can, of course, also find us online at sciencefocus.com. This podcast is sponsored by name, audio and focal. The texture and emotional depth of music can be lost through digital sources or poor signal. Name Audio believes you can have digital precision with analog warmth.

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