Many of the ways to reduce inflammation are based on habit changes. Sleeping earlier, eating better, and taking the time to slow down and reduce psychological stress all require changing daily habits.

This can be very challenging. Habits are, by their nature, occurring without much conscious awareness. The brain likes to save energy and spend less effort whenever it can.

The brain forms habits by connecting a series of neurons to form predictable pathways that create more efficiency and require little effort to maintain. The problem is many of these pathways, for most people, can form to create bad habits, such as smoking, staying awake late for shows, and eating processed food.

The question is how to change bad habits for good habits?

The key is identity. How you see yourself makes all the difference. 

For example, many people do not see themselves as someone who regularly exercises. When trying to change into a person who exercises, they are told to go to the gym for at least 30 minutes three times a week. The problem is many people have busy lives, are stressed out, and do not identify with being an exerciser. Therefore, there is too much friction to suddenly begin going to the gym a lot.

However, if someone already identifies as being a person who exercises, then there is much less resistance against exercising.

The way to create the needed identify shift is with small goals. For example, rather than working out at the gym, simply workout for 5 minutes every day. Also, make the workout accessible, such as doing bodyweight movements at home. Find multiple ways to make the workout easy and more likely to happen.

Although 5 minutes is obviously not enough of a workout, it is enough to start the identity shift. Someone that does a 5-minute workout every day for 4 weeks can identify as a person who exercises.

This new identity increases the likelihood of exercising for longer. This also raises the probability of going to the gym for a more intense exercise sessions in the future.

This small habit approach can be used for all the needed habit changes.

To meditate for longer, become someone who meditates by starting with 20 relaxed and aware daily breathes.

To eat better food, become someone who is aware of food quality by eating just one quality meal a day.

To sleep earlier, become someone who prioritizes sleep by going to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual.

You get the point.

All these habits can be slowly increased over a series of weeks and months, until full habit goals are reached.

The secret to this process is self-love and patience. Part of the mind is critical and will think that such small changes do not matter. The critical mind may judge taking such small steps as being weak or lazy. But just ask the mind if trying massive habit change has worked so far. If you are like most people, big habit changes often do not last and rely too much on motivation and willpower.

An important part of self-love is celebrating success. Just one week of small habit change should be celebrated. Set goals and break them down into smaller goals. Meeting and celebrating the many goals along the way to big goals improves the likelihood of making amazing life changes.

Also, depending on overall health it may be important to have a few days where habit rules are more flexible. Some people follow the 80/20 rule, where about 80% of the time healthy habits are closely followed and 20% of the time there is more flexibility. This allows greater flexibility when hanging out with friends and having fun. However, if there are serious health problems, then it is best to follow healthy habits as close to 100% of the time as possible.

Time of day affects the ability to form new habits. There are more specific neurotransmitters available at different times of day. For this reason, the first eight hours of the day is the best time to begin a new habit, which may have been difficult to start in the past.

Another way to make habits easier is to stack new habits behind already well-established habits. As an example, waking up in the morning is consistent and may be used as a cue to begin a new habit, such as exercising. Other habit cues to use can be TV watching or cooking, which can each be used to set up another habit.

Also, if you are having a hard time getting into a habit, then simply visualize in detail the steps involved in doing the habit. This visualization primes the neurons needed to perform the habit and makes the habit easier to start.

One of the best ways to start new habits is to fully realize the incredible power of small habit changes to transform your identity and your health.

Three excellent books about habits are:

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way To Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by  Charles Duhigg

Habits can also be difficult because of buried emotions and self-sabotaging behaviors. Uncovering big emotional reasons for behavior is extremely important. Here are a few great books to understand this better:

The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest

Innercise: The New Science To Unlock Your Brain’s Hidden Power by John Assaraf

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins