Notes

Can CBT make healthy habits stick?

Whether you want to sleep better or get more exercise, the solution may be all in your head

Written by SYDNEY LONEY Illustration by VÉRONIQUE BUIST

As the pandemic tested our mental health, it also prevented us from visiting the very professionals who might have mitigated that strain. Small wonder that and sleep are what Amaria calls “the trifecta of self-care,” and CBT can help you establish better habits around all three. A first step toward better habit building is to set goals, says tech has stepped in: In 2021, it was estimated Dr. Randy Paterson, a psychologist in Vancouver that there were somewhere between 10,000 and author of How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies a nd 20,000 menta l-hea lth-related apps on You Already Use. He recommends setting ultithe market. Many of those apps use cognitive mate goals (exercising three times a week for behavioural therapy to tackle everything from one hour) and immediate goals (what’s actuanxiety to insomnia—but CBT, in app form or ally going to happen this week—like walking otherwise, can likely do even more. once around the block). “You think, ‘Of course

The underlying principle of CBT is that thoughts, I can do that,’ and then you gradually ramp it feelings and behaviour are all connected, and up,” says Paterson. Hitting these manageable when you change one, you can change the oth- increments essentially tricks your brain into ers. “If you look at your running shoes and think, reaching your ultimate goal. ‘Well, these were a waste of money,’ it makes you Another way to use what he calls “self-directed feel bad about yourself and skip the gym,” says CBT” is to monitor what you’re doing in the area Dr. Khush Amaria, a psychologist and senior clin- where you want to build healthier habits. For inical director at MindBeacon in Toronto. “Instead, stance, rate the quality of your sleep from zero to when you look at your shoes, think, ‘The last time 10 for a week to get a sense of what’s going on. I felt like this but still made it to the gym, I felt bet- “Habit change is a journey from an origin to a dester afterward.’” A little positive reinforcement can tination, which means you have to know what the make a big difference. origin is,” says Paterson. Next, pick the healthy

Psychologists have used CBT to treat mental habit you’re going to adopt, whether it’s sticking to health issues for 50 years, and much of that treat- a standard bedtime, looking at a book instead of ment is based on developing healthier habits. “Its your phone or investing in a white noise machine. use as a stand-alone treatment for things like exer- In the end, it’s not about getting rid of bad habits, cise is more recent,” says Amaria, “but the connec- adds Amaria, but building new, better ones. And, tion has always been there.” Exercise, nutrition as luck would have it, there’s an app for that.

THREE APPS TO BUILD BET TER HABITS Streaks A to-do list that helps you track up to 24 goals and tasks each day, whether it’s not smoking or eating more veggies. Calm This award-winning app can help you develop healthy sleep habits, reduce stress or learn to meditate. Ate Food Diary Build healthier food habits through mindfulness (without counting calories or restricting foods).