BAD HABIT 3

BAD HABIT 2 COMPLAINING

We all need a good vent sometimes, right? Well, maybe not. ‘We tell ourselves we need to get it off our chest, but each time we do, we get upset all over again,’ says Guy Winch, PhD and author of The

Squeaky Wheel. ‘We end up 10 to 12 times more aggravated.’ That’s not the only drawback: all that bitching and moaning causes permanent changes to the wiring of your brain.

‘Whenever you have a thought, one synapse shoots a chemical across the cleft to another synapse, building a bridge over which an electric signal can cross, carrying along its charge the relevant information you’re thinking about,’ explains author Steven Parton. ‘Every time this charge is triggered, the synapses grow closer together in order to decrease the distance the electrical charge has to cross... The brain is rewiring its circuitry, physically changing itself, to make it more likely that the proper synapses will share the chemical link and spark together, in essence, making it easier for the thought to trigger.’

Complaining can also affect your health in general. ‘When your brain is firing off these synapses of anger, you’re weakening your immune system, raising your blood pressure, increasing your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and a plethora of other negative ailments,’ says Parton.

KICK IT

First off: be aware of who you’re hanging out with. ‘When we see someone experiencing an emotion, our brain ‘tries out’ that same emotion to imagine what the other person is going through,’ writes Parton. ‘It’s how we get the mob mentality... It’s our shared bliss at music festivals. But it’s also your night at the bar with your friends who love to constantly bitch.’

If you do decide to complain, make it productive. ‘Research has found that 95% of consumers who have a problem with a product don’t complain to the company, but they’ll tell eight to 16 people,’ he says. ‘We’re not complaining to the people who can resolve our issue.’ Secondly, keep the complaint succinct and be as nice as you can about it. ‘You want to deliver your complaint in a way that motivates the other person to help,’ explains Winch.

Think about what you’re hoping to achieve by complaining: it helps to have a specific goal in mind.

Is there anything better than a glass of wine after a long

day? ‘Alcohol releases pleasure chemicals… when you get that feeling, you want a little more, and more…’ says psychologist Michael Levy, PhD, director of substance use services at North Shore Medical Center. Having a few drinks on occasion is one thing; regularly overindulging is quite another. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US recommends that women have one drink a day at most: drinking more than that can increase your risk of high blood pressure and even certain cancers.

KICK IT

Start with a big glass of water or a non-alcoholic or low-alcohol drink. We love The Duchess (it tastes just like a gin and tonic) and there are great non-alcoholic beers on the market.

Pour your drink into a tall, thin glass rather than a tumbler. ‘People estimate that tall glasses hold more liquid than wide ones,’ says Brian Wansink, a professor of nutrition and marketing at Cornell University. His analysis on drinking habits, published in the British Medical Journal, found that even professional bartenders will unintentionally pour up to a third more liquor into short glasses.

• Invest in a spirit measure. The charity Drinkaware says: ‘Pub measures are 25ml, which doesn’t look a lot in a glass. At home you’re likely to lose track of how much goes in the glass.’ And if you’re having wine, put the glass down before you pour. If you’re holding it, it’s difficult to judge how much you’re serving up as you’re viewing it from the top; one study found that people drank 12,2% more if they held the glass while pouring.

• Choose a dark spirit or a glass of red. If the drink is clear, we tend to believe we’re drinking less. A report in The International Journal on Drug Policy noted that people drank 20% less if they stuck to darker drinks.

• Drink from a small glass, or a cheap one. Prof Theresa Marteau of Cambridge University found that people consumed nearly 10% more wine, and were more likely to order another glass if it was being served in a bigger glass. ‘It seems to make people think, “That wasn’t a full glass; I’ll have another,” she explains. As for the cheaper glass: ‘The brain associates weight with value, so we think wine tastes better when it’s drunk from a heavier glass,’ says Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University. Bring out the plastic cups.

BAD HABIT 4 SITTING

Dr James Levine of the Mayo

Clinic, a researcher in the field of inactivity studies, defines excessive sitting (nine hours a day) as a ‘lethal activity’. Based on data collected from 18 different studies and nearly 800 000 people, an analysis published in the journal Diabetologia found that sitting for long stretches of time slows the body’s metabolism of glucose and lowers your levels of good cholesterol – enough to double your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Which is not great, considering that we spend 50-70% of our time at work, driving, using the

computer or in front of the TV. Being a couch potato in general doesn’t bode well for your health: an Australian study published in the British Journal

of Sports Medicine suggests that after age 25, every hour in front of the TV reduces your life expectancy by 21,8 minutes. Basically, sitting is such a low-energy activity that your body starts to shift into energy storage mode: scientists found that after an hour or more of sitting, the production of fat-burning enzymes declines by 90%. And before you think, ‘That’s okay, I go to the gym three times a week,’ take note: exercise is not enough to undo the damage.

KICK IT

Sitting is hard to avoid if you have a desk job, but Dr Levine recommends standing while you take a phone call or eat your lunch; initiating walking meetings; or investing in a treadmill desk (yes, that’s a real thing) or a standing desk. Even minor movements, he says, can help. So get up and walk around at least every hour, do some simple stretches at your desk or step outside on your lunch break.

BAD HABIT 5 IGNORING CLUTTER

Even minimal clutter ‘makes us

feel weighed down, both literally and figuratively,’ says Dawn Buse, PhD, a health psychologist in New York. ‘It’s been shown to be related to depression, anxiety, and even weight gain.’ Clutter can also have a negative impact on your ability to focus and process information. Neuroscientists at Princeton University found that physical clutter competes for your attention, resulting in a drop in performance and a rise in stress. A team of UCLA researchers, meanwhile, found that physical clutter overwhelms your senses and diminishes your capacity for creative thinking.

KICK IT

Whether you go full Marie

Kondo or just resolve to tackle the pile of unfolded laundry you’ve been ignoring, start somewhere – and persist. ‘Create a pocket of order,’ suggests Cindy Glovinsky, a psychotherapist, professional organiser and the author of Making Peace with the Things in Your Life. Start small, with a drawer or a bookshelf. Clutter control is mostly about making decisions, says Cynthia Townley, editor of website Organized Home. ‘Clutter is ducking decisions or refusing to make them.’

BAD HABIT 6 NOT MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR WORKOUTS

You work out, sure, but are you slacking off whenever the Zumba instructor walks to the other side of the class, sticking to a super-slow setting on the treadmill or stopping early to get a smoothie? ‘Full-assing a workout requires exerting yourself, sweating, panting and being physically vulnerable – not things many people enjoy,’ says Gregory Chertok, a certified sport psychology consultant. Even if you do go all out, just doing the same old exercises all the time can stunt your progress. ‘If you never vary your fitness routine, your body adapts to it, and muscle will stop growing,’ says Dr Pamela Peeke, author of Fit to Live.

KICK IT

This is about making a mindshift. You’re more likely to stick with it if you find activities that you like – and mix it up. ‘Variety keeps things fresh,’ says Gregory. Try out a new class, compile a high-energy playlist, go for a short hike instead of your usual 20 minutes on the treadmill, or sign up for boot camp. An element of novelty, says Gregory, ‘helps you stay engaged in your workout.’

BAD HABIT 7 BEING GLUED TO YOUR PHONE

In 2016, Apple confirmed that iPhone users unlock their

phones 80 times a day: that’s about 6-7 times an hour. And while checking in with your Whatsapp group chats might seem harmless, research shows it’s taking a toll on our health and our relationships. According to the British Chiropractic Association, leaning over that little screen has led to a rise in back pain, with 45% of 16- to 24-year-olds now suffering from it. It can also cause anxiety (‘why is no one responding to my text?’), sleep disturbances (that brightly lit screen supresses melatonin) and shorten your attention span. You’re also more likely to be involved in an accident: a University of Washington study found that pedestrians who walk and text were four times more likely to step onto the street without checking for traffic.

It’s not doing your personal relationships any favours either. In their 2016 Global Mobile Consumer Trends report, Deloitte noted that one in three UK adults admitted that overuse of their mobile had created conflict between them and their partner. There’s even evidence that social media promotes narcissism and that too much screen time is making children less empathetic.

KICK IT

Remove notifications so it doesn’t ping every time someone pins one of your pictures on Pinterest (who cares?) or when friends of friends comment on their pages. If you’re at work and looking for peace and quiet, put it on silent or flight mode. And don’t use your phone as an alarm clock. That way, you don’t have to keep it next to your bed – a sure-fire way to cut down on all that endless late-night scrolling through Instagram.