HOW TO GET UNSTUCK: THE NEW SCIENCE OF CHANGING OLD HABITS

Forget "being good" or exercising willpower - it may not even be a thing. Try these research-based hacks for ditching old not-great routines and building different ones that make you happier and healthier.

-  LESLIE GOLDMAN

Like most of us, I spend way too much time online. Part of this is for work, but if I'm honest, a sizable chunk consists of mindless scrolling. I typically succumb during periods of boredom, though the stress of a deadline can lead me down a rabbit hole.

Let's say I'm-oh, I don't know, researching a story on changing bad habits. Soon enough, instead of reading the latest study on the subject, I'm pinning an air fryer recipe on Pinterest and buying a Sherpa fleece-lined scarf. And I've tried willing myself to make today the day I don't check social media 34 times before noon. Yet somehow, as I take my first sip of coffee, my cursor makes its way to that tab seemingly all on its own.

Unfortunately, I learn every day what researchers are finding out: Relying on willpower-the notion that you can overcome temptation and stick to a goal if you simply try hard enough-isn't the most efficient, effective way to change habits. In fact, according to one APA survey, it was the most commonly cited barrier to making healthy lifestyle changes. "There's no clear evidence that willpower even exists," says Judson Brewer, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health and the author of several books, including The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love. One thing is certain: If it does exist, it tends to flake out at just the moments we need it most.

Dr. Brewer cites research suggesting that during times of stress, such as when we're hungry, angry, lonely or tired, the area of the brain thought to be responsible for controlling behavior, called the prefrontal cortex, goes offline, making us more likely to give in to unsavory habits. If you've ever emptied your coworker's candy bowl when tensions were running high at work, you've experienced this firsthand.