10 Bad Habits You Need to Stop.
By: Tori Andersson
Tags: Bad Habits, Change, New Year Resolution

Stress Eating. I can be a serious stress eater. I would eat whenever I felt unhappy, stressed, disappointed, or anxious. Of course, my eating had nothing to do with being hungry and everything to do with using food to full my emotional voids. Eating would comfort me for the time being, but this feeling was only momentary and would disappear right after I was done eating. Instead, I would be left with the same emotional void that triggered me to eat in the first place and a horrible feeling of guilt. Out of anger, I would make myself not eat a meal or even a day after stress-eating. Which, unfortunately, developed into an eating disorder. If you or someone that you know is a stress eater, don’t worry. But here are some tips on how to manage your stress better. Click here, to view the link. Nail Biting. Not only is nail-biting unhygienic, but it is also socially repelling, leads to dental problems like malocclusion (imperfect positioning of the teeth when the jaws are closed) of the anterior teeth, potentially cause stomach problems, and lead to severely deformed fingernails in the long run. There have been tests proven that people who bite their nails tend to have shorter nails than the average person and their nail plates also experience scarring and may eventually because absent. Understand what triggers your nail-biting behavior and replace it with another healthy habit. For example, if you bite your nails when you are stressed, go for a walk or listen to music instead the next time you feel stressed. Hanging out with Naysayers. I am pretty sure we all know a few of these people, people who play devil’s advocate to every idea you have and every goal you want to pursue. I believe that we are already our greatest self-critics, so it doesn’t help when there’s someone besides us, ever ready to pounce on what we say and tear it down. Hang out less with these naysayers and spend more time with supportive people who share constructive feedback instead. You will be much happier this way. If you are struggling with getting rid of naysayers, here are 10 ways to Ignore the Naysayers and Achieve Your Dreams. Being with People Who Don’t Appreciate You. Haven’t all of us been in this situation before? Trying to please people who don’t appreciate us? Bending over backward to be there for people when they are never there for us? We need to draw a line with people who don’t value us because these people damage our mental wellbeing. Stop spending time with people who don’t appreciate you, and spend more time with people who do instead. Are you unsure who you should get rid of? Here are 5 Kinds of Toxic People That You Need to Get Rid of Now. Smoking. Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death globally. In just the US alone, about 500,000 deaths are attributed to smoking-related diseases annually. A recent study estimated that as much as one-third of China’s male population will have significantly shortened life-spans due to smoke. Gender-wise, male and female smokers lose an average of 13.2 and 14.5 years of life. That’s over a decade of life right there. Not only that, smoking causes premature skin aging (wrinkles), yellowing of teeth, bad breathing, and worse of all-jeopardy of the health of people around you, including your loved ones. Studies have shown that non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke are at risk of many of the health problems associated with direct smoking. Excessive Drinking. All of us know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for us, but do you know how bad it really is? According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking too much — be it on a single occasion or over time — can seriously damage your health. Over drinking can cause brain problems, heart diseases, liver diseases, pancreas problems, and different types of cancer. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, making it harder to think clearly and move with coordination. Two main heart diseases that over drinking can cause is cardiomyopathy, stretching, and drooping of heart muscles. And arrhythmias, irregular heartbeat, stroke, and high blood pressures. You can develop pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion. You can even get breast cancer, liver cancer, throat cancer, esophagus cancer, and mouth cancer. If you drink a lot, perhaps cutting it out right away will be tough. Cut down the number of glasses you drink each time, followed by the number of times you drink a week. If need be, seek help from an AA Group — you aren’t alone in this. Changes start from today. Eating Junk Food (Including Diet Soda). Junk food, they are everywhere in our society today. from McDonald’s to KFC, to Burger King, to 24-hour takeouts, junk food such as fries, highly processed burgers, and sodas has become a staple in our society today. If you think, “Hey, but junk food is tasty”, think again. A study by Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny suggests that junk food consumption alters brain activity in a way similar to addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin. And you wonder why you seem to crave fast food when you just have some the day before? While it may not be possible to remove junk food completely from our diets right away, we can reduce our junk food consumption starting today. Instead of soda, opt for fruit juice (fresh juice, not the carbonated kind) or mineral water. Instead of fries, switch to mashed potato, a salad, or rice (many food outlets allow for this today). Instead of a fried meat patty, go for a grilled one. Where possible, opt for healthy food joins like salad bars and delis as opposed to fast food outlets. Every little step goes a long way. Here’re some healthy snack ideas for you: 15 Healthy Snacks You Should Always Have At Home. Being Late. Not only is being late being rude to others, but it also means that you’re always rushing from one place to another, playing catch up in your agenda, and having to apologize to every person you meet. Stop being late and not being punctual, but practice being early instead. target to arrive 15 minutes earlier before any appointment and bring along something to do in those 15 minutes (or longer if the other person turns out to be late). Then you can stop playing catch up and stay ahead in life. Being in Bad Relationships. Are you always dating the wrong girls/guys? Do you end up with jerks all the time? Well, you may not be able to stop yourself from meeting bad partners but you can certainly stop yourself from furthering contact with them, spending time with them, or even entering into a relationship with them. I used to invest myself in this guy who was nothing but getting burned over and over again, I realized that he was a total waste of my time and I deserved better. I decided to cut him off, and it was soon after that my mental health got better. Learn about why you shouldn’t stay in a bad relationship and how to deal with it if you’re in one. Focusing on the Negative. In every situation, there are two ways you can react: zoom down to the problem areas and crib about how things aren’t the way you want or celebrate the areas that are going well and work on making everything better. Many of us see the importance of doing the latter but in practice, we do the former. Why though? Criticizing and focusing on the negatives is easy but it doesn’t empower nor inspire us to be better. Make a change — for every negative encounter you run into, I challenge you to identify three things that are good about it. Practice doing this for a week, and by the end of the week, you’ll find that your first instinct is to think positive, not negative.

The Bottom Line.

So here you find the 10 most common bad habits and their consequences on your mind and body. The good news is that you can quit them all. Just spot out your own bad habits and take my suggestions to quit them. Then you’ll find your life a whole lot healthier and happier! Need more tips to break your bad habits? Check out these articles:

How to Break Bad Habits: I Broke 3 Bad Habits in Less Than 2 Months.

How Long Does It Take to Break a Habit? Science Will Tell You.

Why We Keep Bad Habits that Are No Good For Us.

How To Break Bad Habits Once and For All.