Nobody sets out to pick up a bad habit that will be difficult to break. This is true even if someone tries out something known to be highly addictive. Oftentimes, there's a false belief that they're the one person who has the uncanny ability to not fall victim to the addictive behavior. But a behavior doesn't have to start as addictive to become a bad habit.

Dr. Arif Khan, a pediatric neurologist, shares exactly how easy it is to pick up bad habits and the three tricks that can break them. Habits can be good or bad. Someone brushing their teeth twice a day is a habit dentists love for their patients, while spending 12 hours scrolling social media would likely be under a different category. While Khan likely isn't talking about breaking a habit that has turned into an addiction, like smoking, other habits people hope to change may respond to these science-backed tips.

Relaxing amidst kitchen chaos with a tablet and headphones.Photo credit: Canva

"Have you ever noticed how your day starts?" Khan asks. "You open your eyes, and your hands already know what to do. Same apps, same path to the kitchen, same routines you never actually chose. It feels automatic because, well, it is. Habits aren't a personality trait, they're neural shortcuts your brain builds to save energy."

Khan explains the process of the brain building a new habit on his YouTube channel, The Brain Project. "Once your brain creates a shortcut, it loves using it, even when that shortcut works against you," he says. Turns out brains are actually like being comfortable. They want to take the path of least resistance because it requires much less energy. If someone's brain has created a shortcut, there's no need to problem-solve or plan for the unexpected, so the brain gets to be placed on autopilot. Breaking a habit disrupts this clear, easy path.

Family disapproves of smoking in the park.Photo credit: Canva

"Deep inside your brain is a structure called the basal ganglia. Think of it like the autopilot system. When you repeat a behavior enough times, this part of the brain saves it as a pattern. Your brain basically goes, 'Oh, we've done this before. This is easy. Let's do it again. The crazy part, once the habit forms, the brain's decision-making regions literally quiet down. You're no longer choosing, you're just doing. This isn't a lack of willpower, this is straight up biology," Khan says before sharing the strategies to help break habits.

"Every habit starts with a cue. A feeling, a trigger, anything like stress, boredom, loneliness, a notification on your phone. Now, most people try to change the behavior, but by the time you notice the behavior, the brain has already made the decision. The real work happens earlier. Ask yourself, what happens right before the habit?" Khan asks. "What were you feeling then? What were you avoiding then?"

Khan explains that figuring out the feeling that comes just before the behavior can help you change the pathway in the brain by interrupting the pattern. When the feeling is noticed, that's when you have time to choose a different behavior.

The neurologist explains, "Your brain doesn't resist change because it's lazy. It resists change when the change feels too big. The part of your brain that manages planning and discipline, the prefrontal cortex, gets tired easily. So when a task feels overwhelming, your brain defaults straight back to the old pattern. Here's the fix: Shrink the task. Not to make it easier, but to make it neurologically doable. Just one step, like read one page. Do one push-up. Write one sentence. Drink one glass of water."

He shares that your brain is looking for consistency, not perfection, and small repeated actions create dopamine in the brain. Taking the first step makes your brain believe that the habit is now possible.

Parent and child in a tech discussion over breakfast.Photo credit: Canva

Habits survive because they're rewarding. Even if the reward isn't something big, there's still a release of dopamine when a habit is repeated, which is probably what makes habits so difficult to break. Khan says that some rewards are subtle, like relief or a sense of control.

"To break the habit, you don't remove the reward. You tend to replace it, and after the new behavior, give your brain something meaningful. A deep breath, a moment of pride, 'I did it!' A physical gesture, like placing your hand on your chest. Here's the truth: Your old habits were built by accident. Your new ones will be built by awareness."

Nearly every parent hopes their child will be better off than they are: smarter, more secure, and more well-adjusted. Many parents see this as a stamp of successful parenting, but something has changed for children growing up today. While younger generations are known for their empathy, their cognitive capabilities seem to be lagging behind those of previous generations for the first time in history.

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a teacher turned cognitive neuroscientist who focuses on human learning, appeared before Congress to discuss concerns about cognitive development in children. In his address to the members of Congress, he says, "A sad fact that our generation has to face is this: our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Since we've been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents, and that's exactly what we want. We want sharper kids."

Student smiling in a classroom, working on a laptop.Photo credit: Canva

Horvath explains that the reason this happens is that each generation has gone to school longer than the previous generation. Gen Z is no exception to the longer duration of time spent in school, but they're the first ones who aren't meeting this normal increase in cognitive development. According to the cognitive neuroscientist, the decline is due to the introduction of screens in the classroom, which started around 2010.

"Across 80 countries, as Jean was just saying, if you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly. To the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation less than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school," Horvath reveals.

In most cases, the decline in performance doesn't result in better strategies. The neuroscientist shares that the standardized testing has been adjusted to accommodate lower expectations and shorter attention spans. This is an approach that educators, scientists, and researchers went to Capitol Hill to express wasn't working. But not every country is taking the approach of lowering standards to meet lowered cognitive ability. Denmark went in the opposite direction when it realized their students were slipping behind.

France24 recently interviewed educators in Denmark following their seemingly novel approach to students struggling with cognitive development. Since the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year, Denmark has not only been having students turn in their cellphones, but they've also taken tablets, laptops, and computers out of the classroom. No more digital learning for the majority of the school day. Danes went old school by bringing back physical textbooks, workbooks, and writing assignments. The results have been undeniable. Even the students can't seem to deny the success of the countrywide shift in educational approach.

"I think the biggest issue has been that, because we kind of got rid of the books and started using screens instead, that we've noticed that a lot of the kids have trouble concentrating, so it's pretty easy to swipe with three fingers over to a different screen and have a video game going, for example, in class," Copenhagen English teacher, Islam Dijab tells France24.

Now, instead of computers being part of every lesson, Denmark uses computers very........

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