2023-04-19 21:30:00
One of the main motivating arguments of those who are trying to follow a healthier life is that the first 21 days of a new habit are essential to solidify a habit in the routine. However, a study published this Monday (17/4) shows that the account is much more complex.
Research published in the scientific journal PNAS shows that the time interval for someone to get used to performing a new function in their daily lives depends on what they want to integrate into their daily lives.
The study was carried out by marketing specialists, psychologists and programmers from the universities of Paris, France, Chicago, Philadelphia and Pasadena, in the United States. The survey involved data from more than 65,000 people over two years.
Habits of 60,277 people who started going to the gym routinely were analyzed, and the results were compared to those of 5,246 individuals who started working in hospitals and needed to learn to wash their hands frequently.
While going to the gym took six months to become a habit, on average, regular handwashing took just 15 days.
“Contrary to popular belief in a magic number of days to develop a habit, we found that it usually takes months to get used to going to the gym, but only a few weeks to learn to wash your hands,” summarize the researchers.
External factors influence
Scientists explain that adapting to a new routine even depends on external factors. In the case of the gym, for example, even changes in the weather compromised the habit — following all, who likes going to the gym in the rain?
Age, gender and even the number of children are also factors that can make habits take longer to solidify. Married, older people who live far from urban centers took longer to get used to going to the gym. In the case of handwashing, the habit has developed approximately similarly across all social strata.
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