When the word “habit” or the phrase “habitual behavior” comes up, addiction is most often the first thought that comes to mind. To be sure, addiction is very much a concern right now, especially in certain regions and in certain environments, prison for example. That being the case, it behooves us as a thinking people to recognize the root of the problem – not just about substance abuse, but all forms of behavior that is habitual, both negative and positive. Those processes are neurological in nature, created by a vast and complicated array of bio-electrical impulses and floods of biochemicals occurring in the brain. Here, I hope that I may shed some light and maybe simplify some of those processes, even if only by identifying them.
The brain is the most complicated piece of machinery – biological and organic – known to humanity…so far. More than 99% of everything it does is automated, and the brain actually prevents – deliberately – any of us from being conscious of those happenings. Our consciousness – the mind – exists in that tiny fraction of 0•X% we are able to think about. Basically, if you were able to think about the brain’s workings, you might, quite
literally, forget to breathe. As many of you have seen, the brain is an undulating mass of wrinkled material. The reason for this is that more surface area equals more space to store and process stimuli, food, air and sex being the three driving forces.
There are all kinds of crazy processes going on in your three pound mass of grey matter. One of those is the greatest pharmaceutical factories in the known universe. Our brains produce peptides, endorphins, triptimines, serotonin, dopamine, and a myriad of others. All of these play some role or another in forming our behavioral models, our habits and affect much of our risk-reward analysis and experience base. This leads us to the real root of habitual behaviors in the most simplified form: Neural Networks.
The brain and central nervous system is made up of mostly neurons. Neurons are defined as cells that make up the “nerve tissue consisting of nucleated portions and cytoplasmic extensions, the cell body and the dendrites and axons.” A real mouthful, but for example, axons are just like your TV cable cord, a shielded wire in a protected cover, whose purpose is transmitting signals. In your brain they form clusters making many of those brain wrinkles. In neuroscience there is a saying: “Neurons that fire together, wire together,” and that plays a major role in what become habitual behaviors.
When we repeat the same actions over and over again – negative or positive – there is a spectacular display of responses in the brain. These areas of the brain begin to “fire” actual electrical impulses. When enough of these areas fire together, they will eventually wire together, quite literally, and a habit may be formed. We all have a morning routine: wake up, go
to the potty, brush teeth, make coffee or tea, etc. A habitual behavior that involves several actions, each providing their own sense of reward. Relief. Relief and a fresh mouth. The pleasure of a warm beverage and a caffeine stimulated boost. This is where a habitual behaviour could lead to an addiction issue, and wrongly, the two are often seen – and treated – as separate issues.
To be transparent, I have no experience with what I consider “hard drugs” (opiates and stimulants, such as amphetamines). I’ve also never had an issue with alcohol. I DID smoke cigarettes; a pack a day or more for 30 years. Cigarettes are well known to be THE MOST addictive habit, more than opioids and speed(s), Physically speaking, nicotine
addiction ends in approximately three days and the detox is essentially painless. When compared to the nightmare stories of “the DTs” from dope or drink, no comparison exists. DTs from drink can, in fact, be so severe they can lead to death. So how it is that cigarettes are the most addictive of difficult to quit gets to the heart of this topic.
The secret is also the title of an album from 1990’s band Jane’s Addiction: “Ritual de la Habitual” – Ritual of the Habit. Addicts have long spoken of this, that “thrill” – an endorphin rush – of the chase to find a drug of choice, and the ritual of its preparation for use: cooking the spoon, drawing up the syringe, tying off the arms…the ritual. Criminals speak of the same “thrill”, especially those involved in various acts of robbery. Back to my own experiences, cigarettes being legal, easily accessible and accepted (once) in polite society, permeates all aspects of a smoker’s daily life. This allows two key components of habitual behavior(s) to be reinforced almost simultaneously: the ritual – packing cigarettes, pulling one, putting it in your mouth and lighting it (with or without that oddly pleasurable smell of a lit match) – and of course that first puff, which leads to another set of neural responses as the smoke hits the lungs and the nicotine hits the blood stream; all of it linked to an expanse of neural networks that were wired and fired together, to climax in a neurological explosion of electrical impulses and neurochemical soup…. gravy for the brain.
“Coffee and Cigarettes”, aside from being a great movie, begins the ritual of the habit. Another smoke after breakfast, and every other meal most likely. Various “smoke breaks” through the working day. Pull a cigarette and light it – without even thinking about it! – while mulling over a problem. A cigarette to offset a stressful situation. Always the ritual of the habit is present and reinforced, at least 20 times a day, and this is why the cigarette habit is the most difficult to break. It is deeply, psychologically entrenched in all parts of daily life, and it also blends into other areas of the psyche, such as archetypal self-image, in a way that only in the past 15 years has begun to become seriously negative. Most other “bad habits” never had the benefit of a positive image, even when being partially glamourized in the world of Hollywood, or any of the arts, i.e. music post 1960’s.
So what does all of this mean? Well, for starters we need to take a good look at how we address, and attempt to treat, serious substance abuse. The physical pleasure, “THE HIGH”, is not so much the root of the issue, and depending on the substance, the physical dependency is dealt with in days or weeks. The ritual of the habit, that is a whole other monster and it is one that is not so much addressed by state agencies such as the Virginia Dept. of Corrections, who are lagging behind in terms of the modern understandings of neuroscience. Neurons that fire together wire together, so when we alter or break a habit, we are literally talking about reprogramming and rewiring our brain. Not just the code as it were, but the physiological hardwiring that we, in some way, participated in creating to begin with.
I recently wrote about my Traumatic Brain Injury experience and some of the neuroscience related to it. I’ve had to use “reprogramming” techniques to correct issues with short term memory. The technique I used was: eating hot sauce (taste and touch), listening to unfamiliar complicated music (sound and cognitive stimuli), while reading a randomly selected section of a random book for 10 minutes. I would then wait 30 minutes and reread the same book section to stimulate short term memory. Taste + touch + sound + sight + cognitive thought, all mixed together, fired all of those related regions of neural clusters. Rereading the same script a short period later refired those regions, at least in part. Over time, this exercise, and other similar exercises, stimulated my brain into rewiring, correcting many of my short-term memory issues.
This analogy applies to ANY brain reprogramming. It is a brain hack – but it is NOT an overnight success. I reprogrammed my brain and rewired it in a very literal sense and it can be applied for any habitual behaviors. Those who have issues with anger, pessimism, this applies. Along with being a professional writer and musician, I am also an accomplished glass artist. The gentleman under whom I apprenticed had a saying in his glass studio: “100,000 tries and you too can be the master of whatever you choose.”
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