What’s Good About Your Bad Habits?

In fitness we are used to talking about “good” and “bad.” Foods, workout routines, sleeping patterns, lifestyle habits—they all get categorized as either “good” or “bad.” But what if the things that go in the “bad” box also have something good about them? Would that change your approach to making changes?

Rarely One Or The Other

Nothing we do is one dimensional, and fitness is no exception. Plenty of the choices we make around food and activity are related to culture, entertainment, or comfort, which makes doing them vs. not doing them a little more complicated than a simple, binary choice. Consider:

1. 1. 1. 1. Plenty of research has been indicating that strong social connections make people happier, healthier, and contribute to longevity. That means that going out to happy hour on Thursday nights because it’s a fun time with friends or co-workers can be a very healthy thing, even if you tend to have one more drink than you should.
         2. When you curl up on the couch in front of the TV with a bowl of ice-cream, that might be the time that you can truly turn off and forget the stresses of work and life. We know that chronic stress is very damaging. Our bodies need to have a chance to get completely out of the “fight or flight” status that stress brings on. If a little TV and a favorite treat does that, it may well be worth it.

How Much Is Too Much, That Is The Question

Try this experiment. Ask yourself what is good about your “bad” habits. What does having a doughnut do for you? How about binge watching a TV show? Eating that bagel for breakfast? Once you have identified the good, ask yourself two questions: can I get the same benefit in some other way or, if not, how much of it do I really need? If you decide that your little vice really gives you something you can’t find elsewhere, then ask yourself how much you need to get the benefit. Often, we mindlessly continue with something long after we’ve exhausted all the pleasure out of it (witness empty pints of ice-cream followed by an upset stomach. I’ve been told that can happen 😉). You might find that you can have your indulgence on the regular, targeting the benefit, while not letting it get so out of control that only the negatives come through. If you have tried to eliminate something before and failed, this approach can be a revelation.