Habits are odd tricks: they can be formed even without the memory facet of the brain. This idea and more is explored in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. The book focuses on the life of a man named Eugene Pauly, or E.P. in the medical world. In the early 1990’s, Eugene came down with a terrible illness. His wife, Beverly, rushed him to the hospital, where doctors concluded he was suffering from viral encephalitis, a relatively harmless disease that, in rare cases, makes its way into the brain and causes damage to the tissue where thoughts and dreams are stored. While Eugene made an amazing recovery in terms of a fully-functioning nervous system, he could no longer remember dates or names. Upon
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Every day, Squire would ask Eugene to draw a map of the house, and every day, Eugene could not even draw a rough sketch. However, Eugene was able to stand up, walk to the restroom, and return to his seat without assistance. How could a man who was not able to draw a map of his house be able to find the restroom? Similarly, E.P. could not verbally state his route in which he would walk, but every morning he went for a walk around the neighborhood and would return home safely. “Squire’s studies would show that even someone who can’t remember his own age or almost anything else can develop habits that seem inconceivably complex – until you realize that everyone relies on similar neurological processes every day,” Duhigg states. This means that everyone forms habits in a patterned, logical way; this was one of many lessons learned from reading about …show more content…
It starts with a cue that signals the brain to use a certain habit, then the routine (which can be mental, physical, or emotional), and finally the reward to help the brain remember that particular loop. For example, I have a bad habit of snacking late at night. The trigger for this habit starts with the fact that I work on homework at night. I generally come to a point when I get fatigued, or I cannot come up with the right answer. This causes my mind to wander, and I wind up thinking about all the snacks that are stored less than ten feet away from me. My routine is then to put the laptop or worksheet aside, stand up, and open a package of cookies or heat up mac-n-cheese. The reward is how delicious the food tastes, as well as a small break from the monotony of homework. Another bad habit of mine is biting my fingernails. It has a similar loop: I become stressed out, I get distracted by hangnails and bite them off, and I feel a sense of relief that that distraction is gone. At the same time, the habit loop can be beneficial in forming good habits. It has caused me to compartmentalize my thoughts, which means if I get overwhelmed, I have the ability to push the less pressing matters out of my mind to deal with
Every day, Squire would ask Eugene to draw a map of the house, and every day, Eugene could not even draw a rough sketch. However, Eugene was able to stand up, walk to the restroom, and return to his seat without assistance. How could a man who was not able to draw a map of his house be able to find the restroom? Similarly, E.P. could not verbally state his route in which he would walk, but every morning he went for a walk around the neighborhood and would return home safely. “Squire’s studies would show that even someone who can’t remember his own age or almost anything else can develop habits that seem inconceivably complex – until you realize that everyone relies on similar neurological processes every day,” Duhigg states. This means that everyone forms habits in a patterned, logical way; this was one of many lessons learned from reading about …show more content…
It starts with a cue that signals the brain to use a certain habit, then the routine (which can be mental, physical, or emotional), and finally the reward to help the brain remember that particular loop. For example, I have a bad habit of snacking late at night. The trigger for this habit starts with the fact that I work on homework at night. I generally come to a point when I get fatigued, or I cannot come up with the right answer. This causes my mind to wander, and I wind up thinking about all the snacks that are stored less than ten feet away from me. My routine is then to put the laptop or worksheet aside, stand up, and open a package of cookies or heat up mac-n-cheese. The reward is how delicious the food tastes, as well as a small break from the monotony of homework. Another bad habit of mine is biting my fingernails. It has a similar loop: I become stressed out, I get distracted by hangnails and bite them off, and I feel a sense of relief that that distraction is gone. At the same time, the habit loop can be beneficial in forming good habits. It has caused me to compartmentalize my thoughts, which means if I get overwhelmed, I have the ability to push the less pressing matters out of my mind to deal with