Lasting habits: why 21 days are a myth
Monday, 6:30 a.m. The alarm goes off, you get up, reach for a glass of water and prepare yourself a balanced breakfast – without thinking about it. Does that sound like your morning? Probably not. Most people in Switzerland regularly resolve to live more healthily. And give up after a few weeks. Not out of laziness, but because they approach lasting habits in the wrong way.
Everywhere you read that 21 days are enough to form a new habit. This figure comes from a misunderstood quotation by a surgeon in the 1960s and has little to do with reality. A study by Phillippa Lally and colleagues at University College London (published in 2009 in the European Journal of Social Psychology) showed: it takes on average 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic. For some participants even over 250 days. So the real problem is not a lack of discipline – but an unrealistic expectation.
How things stand with the habits of the Swiss population
The figures paint a contradictory picture. According to the Swiss Health Survey by the FSO, around 70% of the population pay attention to their diet. At the same time, only about a third manage to eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (source: FSO – Federal Statistical Office). So the intention is there. Putting it into practice day to day, however, stalls.
On exercise things look better: around 76% of people in Switzerland move regularly. But here too, keeping it up in the long term remains a central challenge, as the FSO notes.
What many people underestimate: knowledge alone changes no behaviour. Almost everyone knows that vegetables are healthy. And still we reach for the chocolate in the evening.
The mechanism behind lasting habits
Anyone who understands how habits work has a decisive advantage. According to the principle of the so-called habit loop, every habit runs through three phases: cue, routine and reward (source: Wikipedia – habit). An example: you come home from work (cue), open the fridge and take an unhealthy snack (routine), feel better for a moment (reward).
The trick lies not in removing the reward. But in swapping the routine.
Instead of opening the fridge aimlessly, you could get into the habit of a structured breakfast in the morning that keeps you full for longer. Or you could put a high-protein snack ready for the afternoon, so that cravings never arise in the first place. Small changes in the right place make the real difference over weeks and months.
Three principles that really work
- Start small: Do not change five habits at once. A single new routine per month is enough.
- Link it to something existing: Connect the new habit to something you already do daily – drinking a glass of water after brushing your teeth, for example.
- Shape your environment: Put healthy options where you can see them, unhealthy ones further away. It sounds simple, but it works surprisingly well.
- Plan for setbacks: One bad day does not make a bad habit. What is decisive is carrying on the next morning.
Nutrition and exercise: the two pillars of lasting change
The Swiss Society for Nutrition (SGE) recommends the Swiss food pyramid as the basis for lasting eating habits: five portions of vegetables and fruit a day, 1 to 2 litres of fluid and regular meals. In its nutrition strategy, the FOPH emphasises that lasting changes in behaviour have to be actively encouraged in everyday life (source: FOPH – Federal Office of Public Health).
With protein intake in particular there is a knowledge gap. The EFSA recommends at least 0.83 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day for adults – essential for maintaining muscle mass and supporting long-term changes of diet (source: EFSA). If you have little time in the morning, a high-protein shake such as the Herbalife Formula 1 Banana Cream can be a practical addition for simplifying your daily routine while still ensuring a balanced supply of nutrients.
On exercise, the WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week. That is a little over 20 minutes a day – a walk during your lunch break or cycling to work is already enough. Anyone who wants to build sport and fitness more firmly into their day benefits from linking the exercise session to an existing habit.
Fluid: the underestimated habit
Have you ever counted how much you actually drink on a normal working day? Most people considerably overestimate their fluid intake. The SGE recommendation of 1 to 2 litres of water a day sounds doable, but is often not reached – especially when water alone is felt to be boring.
Here a little variety can help. Herbalife Herbal Tea Lemon, for example, can easily be built into your daily drinking routine and brings some flavour to the glass. That alone of course replaces no balanced diet, but it makes it easier not to forget to drink.
Lasting habits begin with the next small step
Forget the perfect plan. It does not exist. What does exist are small, repeatable actions that bed themselves into your day over 66 days and more. Shaping one meal more mindfully. One more glass of water a day. Ten minutes of movement before dinner. None of these changes is spectacular – but that is exactly the point. It is the spectacular resolutions that peter out after three weeks.
Start with a single thing today. Just one. And stick with it.
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