A simple way to break a bad habit | Judson Brewer | TED

Summary

The script explores the challenges and insights of mindfulness, particularly in the context of overcoming harmful habits like smoking and stress eating. It details how traditional methods of cognitive control often fail, especially under stress, and introduces a more effective approach using mindfulness and curiosity. By becoming acutely aware of the sensations and experiences associated with bad habits, individuals can become 'disenchanted' with their actions, leading to a natural and less forced change in behavior. The effectiveness of mindfulness is highlighted through personal anecdotes and scientific research, showing its power to break the cycle of addictive behaviors.

Takeaways

• 🧘 Paying attention to our breath during meditation can be challenging due to our natural reward-based learning processes.
• 🌟 When we focus on mindfulness and curiosity instead of forcing ourselves, we can gain a deeper understanding of our habits and their triggers.
• 🚫 The prefrontal cortex, responsible for cognitive control, can be the first to go offline when we're stressed, leading us back to old habits.
• 🧠 Mindfulness training can help break the spell of harmful habits by shifting from knowledge to wisdom through direct experience.
• 🔄 By becoming curiously aware of our cravings and behaviors, we can step out of reactive patterns and into a more conscious state of being.
• 📉 Mindfulness has been shown to be more effective than traditional therapy in helping people quit smoking, according to studies.
• 🧬 The default mode network in our brain, particularly the posterior cingulate cortex, is involved in getting caught up in cravings, which can be mitigated through mindfulness.
• 📱 Technology, which can contribute to distraction, can also be harnessed to deliver mindfulness tools that help us overcome unhealthy habits.
• 🌐 Context-dependent memory can be utilized to provide mindfulness tools at the most critical moments when the urge to engage in a habit arises.
• 🤔 Curiosity can transform our cravings into manageable experiences, allowing us to observe and let go of them without acting on them.
• 🌱 Over time, mindfulness can help us let go of old habits and form new, healthier ones as we learn to see the results of our actions more clearly.

Q & A

What is the initial instruction given for meditation in the transcript?

The initial instruction for meditation is to simply pay attention to one's breath and to bring the mind back whenever it wanders.

Why is it difficult to maintain focus during meditation according to the speaker?

Maintaining focus is difficult because we are fighting against a deeply ingrained evolutionary process known as positive and negative reinforcement, which is a reward-based learning process.

How does the reward-based learning process work in the context of eating food?

When we see food that looks good, our brain signals that it's a source of calories and survival. After eating and tasting the food, if it tastes good, especially with sugar, our bodies send a signal to remember what and where we ate it, thus laying down a context-dependent memory to repeat the process.

What is the connection between emotional signals and the urge to eat?

Emotional signals, such as feeling sad or stressed, can trigger the urge to eat, similar to hunger signals from our stomach. This is a learned behavior where eating something good is associated with feeling better.

How does the speaker suggest we approach our habits instead of fighting them?

The speaker suggests tapping into the natural reward-based learning process but with a twist of curiosity. By being curious about our momentary experiences, we can gain a deeper understanding and potentially break the cycle of unhealthy habits.

What was the approach taken in the mindfulness training study for helping people quit smoking?

Instead of forcing participants to quit smoking, the mindfulness training focused on fostering curiosity. Participants were even told to smoke but to be really curious about the experience, which led to a deeper, visceral understanding of the unappealing aspects of smoking.

How does the prefrontal cortex play a role in our behavior?

The prefrontal cortex, the youngest part of our brain from an evolutionary perspective, understands on an intellectual level that certain behaviors, like smoking, are harmful. It uses cognitive control to help us change our behavior, but it's also the first part to go offline when we're stressed, leading to a fall back into old habits.

What is the significance of becoming disenchanted with our habits?

Becoming disenchanted with our habits allows us to understand them at a deeper level and to know it in our bones, which reduces the need to force ourselves to restrain from behavior. We become less interested in the behavior in the first place, which is a key aspect of mindfulness.

How does curiosity help in managing cravings?

Curiosity allows us to notice that cravings are made up of body sensations that come and go. By focusing on these sensations, we can manage them from moment to moment, rather than being overwhelmed by a large, intimidating craving.

What are the benefits of mindfulness training as demonstrated in the study?

Mindfulness training was found to be twice as effective as gold standard therapy in helping people quit smoking. It helps individuals step out of fear-based, reactive habit patterns and into a more curious and aware state of being.

How can technology be used to support mindfulness and break unhealthy habit patterns?

Technology, particularly apps and online-based mindfulness training programs, can be used to deliver mindfulness tools to people at their fingertips, in the contexts that matter most. This can help them tap into their inherent capacity to be curiously aware at the moment an unhealthy urge arises.

What is the role of the default mode network in habit formation and mindfulness?

The default mode network, particularly the posterior cingulate cortex, is believed to be activated when we get caught up in cravings. However, when we practice mindfulness by being curiously aware, this brain region quiets down, helping us step out of the process of getting sucked into cravings.

Outlines

00:00

🧘 The Challenge of Mindfulness

The first paragraph discusses the struggle of maintaining focus during meditation, particularly on one's breath. The author describes personal experiences of finding meditation physically and mentally exhausting, despite the simplicity of the instructions. The text delves into the science behind our inability to concentrate, highlighting the power of positive and negative reinforcement in shaping our behaviors. It explains how these evolutionary learning processes, initially designed for survival, can lead to harmful habits such as overeating and smoking. The author then introduces the idea of using curiosity as a tool to tap into our natural learning processes, shifting from a forceful approach to a more inquisitive one, which can lead to a deeper understanding and change in behavior.

05:03

🧠 Cognitive Control and Mindfulness

The second paragraph explores the role of the prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and the challenges of changing behavior when under stress. It emphasizes the importance of understanding our habits deeply, moving beyond intellectual knowledge to a visceral understanding that can lead to a natural disengagement from unhealthy behaviors. The author explains that mindfulness involves a deep, curious observation of our experiences, which can help us step out of reactive patterns and into a more conscious state of being. This approach is supported by the rewarding feeling of curiosity, which allows us to manage our cravings and urges more effectively. The effectiveness of mindfulness is backed by a study showing it to be more successful than traditional therapy in helping people quit smoking. The text also discusses the neural mechanisms involved in mindfulness, particularly the default mode network and its role in self-referential processing and the experience of craving. Finally, the author suggests that technology, which often contributes to distraction, can be harnessed to deliver mindfulness tools that can help individuals break free from unhealthy habits.

Keywords

💡Meditation

Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind and achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. In the video, it is presented as a method to train the mind to pay attention to one's breath and redirect wandering thoughts. It is central to the theme of the video, which explores the challenges and benefits of mindfulness and its application in breaking unhealthy habits.

💡Mind Wandering

Mind wandering refers to the common experience of the mind drifting away from the current task or focus, often into daydreams or unrelated thoughts. The video discusses how mind wandering is a natural occurrence even when one is trying to concentrate, such as during meditation, and is part of the broader challenge of maintaining attention.

💡Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Positive and negative reinforcement are learning processes where behavior is increased or decreased through the presentation or removal of rewards or punishments. The video uses this concept to explain how habits are formed, such as eating food for pleasure or smoking to feel cool, which are then repeated due to the associated rewards.

💡Habit Formation

Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes automatic through repetition. The video illustrates how habits are formed through the cycle of trigger, behavior, and reward, and how these can lead to unhealthy behaviors like overeating or smoking.

💡Mindfulness Training

Mindfulness training is a form of mental training that involves focusing one's attention on the present moment and accepting it without judgment. The video discusses how mindfulness training can help individuals quit smoking by fostering curiosity and awareness, leading to a deeper understanding and disenchanted view of the habit.

💡Disenchantment

Disenchantment, in the context of the video, refers to the process of becoming disillusioned or losing interest in a previously engaging habit or behavior. It is a key aspect of mindfulness, where by being curiously aware of one's experience, individuals can move from intellectual knowledge to a deeper, visceral understanding, leading to a loss of desire to continue the habit.

💡Cognitive Control

Cognitive control is the use of higher-order cognitive processes to guide behavior and override automatic responses. The video explains that cognitive control is the intellectual understanding that something is harmful, such as smoking, but it can fail when we are stressed or tired, leading to a return to old habits.

💡Default Mode Network

The default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain regions that are active when a person is not focused on the outside world. The video suggests that a part of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex, is particularly active when we are caught up in cravings, but quiets down when we practice mindfulness and curiosity, indicating a shift in our engagement with the habit.

💡Cravings

Cravings are strong desires for a particular experience or substance, often associated with addictive behaviors. The video uses cravings as an example of how mindfulness can help individuals manage these intense desires by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable sensory experiences that can be observed and let go of.

💡Curiosity

Curiosity is the desire to learn or know more about something or someone. In the video, curiosity is presented as a tool for mindfulness, where being curious about one's experience can lead to a deeper understanding and a shift away from automatic, habitual responses to cravings or triggers.

💡Inner Scientist

The term 'inner scientist' is used in the video to describe the mindset one adopts when practicing mindfulness, where one observes and experiments with their experiences without judgment. It is a metaphor for the curious and investigative approach that can lead to insights and behavioral change.

Highlights

The speaker initially found it difficult to meditate, despite the simple instruction to focus on the breath.

Studies show that about half of us will drift off into a daydream or check our phones when trying to pay attention.

We are fighting an evolutionarily conserved learning process called positive and negative reinforcement.

The process involves seeing a reward (e.g. food), performing a behavior (eating), and receiving a reward (good taste).

Our brains learn to repeat the process the next time, creating a habit loop.

We can use this process for more than just finding food, like eating to feel better emotionally.

The speaker started smoking in high school to fit in and feel cool, creating another habit loop.

These habit loops have evolved from helping us survive to now contributing to health problems like obesity and smoking.

Instead of fighting our brains, we can tap into the reward-based learning process with a twist - curiosity.

The speaker's lab studied whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking by being curious about the experience.

Participants were told to smoke but be curious about what it's like, leading to new realizations about how it tastes.

Curiosity helps us move from knowledge to wisdom and become disenchanted with our habits.

The prefrontal cortex, which understands intellectually that we shouldn't smoke, goes offline when stressed.

When we get curious, we notice that cravings are just body sensations that come and go.

Mindfulness training was found to be twice as effective as standard therapy for helping people quit smoking.

Experienced meditators show activation in the default mode network, particularly the posterior cingulate cortex, when caught up in cravings.

Curiosity quiets down this brain region, helping us step out of the craving process.

The speaker's team is developing app-based mindfulness programs to target these mechanisms and help people break habit loops.

Context-dependent memory allows delivering these tools at the right time to help people tap into their natural curiosity.

We can all try being curiously aware the next time we have an urge to check our phone, eat, or engage in another habit.

Transcripts

When I was first learning to meditate,

the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath,

and when my mind wandered, to bring it back.

Sounded simple enough.

Yet I'd sit on these silent retreats,

sweating through T-shirts in the middle of winter.

I'd take naps every chance I got because it was really hard work.

Actually, it was exhausting.

The instruction was simple enough

but I was missing something really important.

So why is it so hard to pay attention?

Well, studies show

that even when we're really trying to pay attention to something --

like maybe this talk --

at some point,

about half of us will drift off into a daydream,

or have this urge to check our Twitter feed.

So what's going on here?

It turns out that we're fighting one of the most evolutionarily-conserved

learning processes currently known in science,

one that's conserved

back to the most basic nervous systems known to man.

This reward-based learning process

is called positive and negative reinforcement,

and basically goes like this.

We see some food that looks good,

our brain says, "Calories! ... Survival!"

We eat the food, we taste it --

it tastes good.

And especially with sugar,

our bodies send a signal to our brain that says,

"Remember what you're eating and where you found it."

We lay down this context-dependent memory

and learn to repeat the process next time.

See food,

eat food, feel good,

repeat.

Trigger, behavior, reward.

Simple, right?

Well, after a while, our creative brains say,

"You know what?

You can use this for more than just remembering where food is.

You know, next time you feel bad,

why don't you try eating something good so you'll feel better?"

We thank our brains for the great idea,

try this and quickly learn

that if we eat chocolate or ice cream when we're mad or sad,

we feel better.

Same process,

just a different trigger.

Instead of this hunger signal coming from our stomach,

this emotional signal -- feeling sad --

triggers that urge to eat.

Maybe in our teenage years,

we were a nerd at school,

and we see those rebel kids outside smoking and we think,

"Hey, I want to be cool."

So we start smoking.

The Marlboro Man wasn't a dork, and that was no accident.

See cool,

smoke to be cool,

feel good. Repeat.

Trigger, behavior, reward.

And each time we do this,

we learn to repeat the process

and it becomes a habit.

So later,

feeling stressed out triggers that urge to smoke a cigarette

or to eat something sweet.

Now, with these same brain processes,

we've gone from learning to survive

to literally killing ourselves with these habits.

Obesity and smoking

are among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the world.

So back to my breath.

What if instead of fighting our brains,

or trying to force ourselves to pay attention,

we instead tapped into this natural, reward-based learning process ...

but added a twist?

What if instead we just got really curious

about what was happening in our momentary experience?

I'll give you an example.

In my lab,

we studied whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking.

Now, just like trying to force myself to pay attention to my breath,

they could try to force themselves to quit smoking.

And the majority of them had tried this before and failed --

on average, six times.

Now, with mindfulness training,

we dropped the bit about forcing and instead focused on being curious.

In fact, we even told them to smoke.

What? Yeah, we said, "Go ahead and smoke,

just be really curious about what it's like when you do."

And what did they notice?

Well here's an example from one of our smokers.

She said, "Mindful smoking:

smells like stinky cheese

and tastes like chemicals,

YUCK!"

Now, she knew, cognitively that smoking was bad for her,

that's why she joined our program.

What she discovered just by being curiously aware when she smoked

was that smoking tastes like shit.

(Laughter)

Now, she moved from knowledge to wisdom.

She moved from knowing in her head that smoking was bad for her

to knowing it in her bones,

and the spell of smoking was broken.

She started to become disenchanted with her behavior.

Now, the prefrontal cortex,

that youngest part of our brain from an evolutionary perspective,

it understands on an intellectual level that we shouldn't smoke.

And it tries its hardest to help us change our behavior,

to help us stop smoking,

to help us stop eating that second, that third, that fourth cookie.

We call this cognitive control.

We're using cognition to control our behavior.

Unfortunately,

this is also the first part of our brain

that goes offline when we get stressed out,

which isn't that helpful.

Now, we can all relate to this in our own experience.

We're much more likely to do things like yell at our spouse or kids

when we're stressed out or tired,

even though we know it's not going to be helpful.

We just can't help ourselves.

When the prefrontal cortex goes offline,

we fall back into our old habits,

which is why this disenchantment is so important.

Seeing what we get from our habits

helps us understand them at a deeper level --

to know it in our bones

so we don't have to force ourselves to hold back

or restrain ourselves from behavior.

We're just less interested in doing it in the first place.

And this is what mindfulness is all about:

Seeing really clearly what we get when we get caught up in our behaviors,

becoming disenchanted on a visceral level

and from this disenchanted stance, naturally letting go.

This isn't to say that, poof, magically we quit smoking.

But over time, as we learn to see more and more clearly

the results of our actions,

we let go of old habits and form new ones.

The paradox here

is that mindfulness is just about being really interested

in getting close and personal

with what's actually happening in our bodies and minds

from moment to moment.

This willingness to turn toward our experience

rather than trying to make unpleasant cravings go away as quickly as possible.

And this willingness to turn toward our experience

is supported by curiosity,

which is naturally rewarding.

What does curiosity feel like?

It feels good.

And what happens when we get curious?

We start to notice that cravings are simply made up of body sensations --

oh, there's tightness, there's tension,

there's restlessness --

and that these body sensations come and go.

These are bite-size pieces of experiences

that we can manage from moment to moment

rather than getting clobbered by this huge, scary craving

that we choke on.

In other words, when we get curious,

we step out of our old, fear-based, reactive habit patterns,

and we step into being.

We become this inner scientist

where we're eagerly awaiting that next data point.

Now, this might sound too simplistic to affect behavior.

But in one study, we found that mindfulness training

was twice as good as gold standard therapy at helping people quit smoking.

So it actually works.

And when we studied the brains of experienced meditators,

we found that parts of a neural network of self-referential processing

called the default mode network

were at play.

Now, one current hypothesis is that a region of this network,

called the posterior cingulate cortex,

is activated not necessarily by craving itself

but when we get caught up in it, when we get sucked in,

and it takes us for a ride.

In contrast, when we let go --

step out of the process

just by being curiously aware of what's happening --

this same brain region quiets down.

Now we're testing app and online-based mindfulness training programs

that target these core mechanisms

and, ironically, use the same technology that's driving us to distraction

to help us step out of our unhealthy habit patterns

of smoking, of stress eating and other addictive behaviors.

Now, remember that bit about context-dependent memory?

We can deliver these tools to peoples' fingertips

in the contexts that matter most.

So we can help them

tap into their inherent capacity to be curiously aware

right when that urge to smoke or stress eat or whatever arises.

So if you don't smoke or stress eat,

maybe the next time you feel this urge to check your email when you're bored,

or you're trying to distract yourself from work,

or maybe to compulsively respond to that text message when you're driving,

see if you can tap into this natural capacity,

just be curiously aware

of what's happening in your body and mind in that moment.

It will just be another chance

to perpetuate one of our endless and exhaustive habit loops ...

or step out of it.

Instead of see text message, compulsively text back,

feel a little bit better --

notice the urge,

get curious,

feel the joy of letting go

and repeat.

Thank you.

(Applause)