Breaking Bad

Everyone has at least one bad habit in their life. Over the last two years, because of COVID, there has been a 61% increase in people developing at least one to cope with the “Pandemic Stress”. People develop such habits as a coping mechanism to handle the increased levels of anxiety being put into their lives. Some are harmless like drinking a glass of celery juice in the morning, to more harmful ones like drug use. These are the ‘Top Five’ habits keeping you from your doomsday planning goals.

Social Media

In our modern technology-driven world, these platforms are the way many of us keep in touch with family members and stay current on world events. The average person spends 2 hours and 32 minutes on a social media platform every day. 55% of the world population has a profile somewhere on the internet. In 2021, 330 million people confessed they are addicted to their profile. Sufferers of a social media addiction are twice as likely to show symptoms of depression. To cure it, limit your exposure to your site of choice to once a day. Also, you should only have one profile on the entire internet on the platform you use the most. All social media sites are connected, so news on one platform with eventually reach another one in minutes. Engage in a hobby outside of your profile, or take part in some form of volunteer work. This will fill up the dead air in your life-giving you something to do, instead of hitting refresh on your profile every minute.

Video Games

The Video Games industry generates 10.3 billion dollars a year. Online platforms like Steam have opened a whole new realm of gaming. 40% of players use games to escape reality, leading many to develop an addiction to them. The average addict plays 50 hours a week. Most sufferers are children and teens, but adults have also fallen into the gaming slump. To treat them, doctors recommend getting into contact with a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapist. They teach them how to replace thoughts of gaming with healthier ones. At home, slowly wane yourself off of the games by setting up a strict playtime. Another helpful tip to curb your gaming addiction is to keep devices out of the bedroom.

Procrastination

Procrastination is when you delay or postpone an activity, knowing that doing so can lead to a negative consequence. Causes of it are poor time management skills and lacking the motivation to complete the task at hand. Prolonged procrastination has led to emotional problems, anxiety, and depression. It has affected 60% of the country’s population at some point in our lives. The best way to cure procrastination is to find the root cause as to why you are doing it in the first place. The leading cause, according to researchers, is we just don’t know how to get started on it. Instead of learning how to do the project, we avoid it by doing the things we already know. The best way to get over this is to look up how to complete the task. Once you familiarize yourself with the steps, the rest can be smooth sailing. If it’s caused by a lack of motivation, then the project is more than likely a big one. The best way to approach these projects is to break them down by step. Personally, I created a To-Do journal that has a page dedicated to each step. For example, I have a page dedicated to ‘Books to Check Out Of The Library’, ‘Articles I want to Read’, and another one that lists each video in a folder in my YouTube Account I have bookmarked to watch later.

Alcohol

Alcohol is a psychoactive substance, widely used in many cultures for centuries. Many of history’s greatest achievements and hardest downfalls resulted from alcohol. 85% of people over 18 have drunk it at some point in their lives. 95,000 people die each year from it, making it the third most preventable cause of death in the country. There are many reasons people have been known to become alcoholics. There are plenty of treatment options available for those seeking recovery. These options can be found at1-888-685-5770. Your health insurance might also have options available for you. They can be found by calling the customer service line on the back of your insurance card. Alcoholics Anonymous has a proven track record of helping others. For meeting locations in your area, contact them at aa.org.

Smoking

34.1 million people smoke regularly, making Big Tobacco a 35 billion dollar industry. The average smoker puffs 200 times a day. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the US. Smoking addiction is caused by the nicotine in tobacco, not the tobacco itself. Smoking is the hardest habit to break despite the hundreds of treatment options available. Like alcohol, finding treatment is a trial-and-error journey. Health insurance providers have now started covering treatment options like the Patch and Gum. Your doctor can notify you of support groups in your area. The FDA has also begun trials on a pill to help curb nicotine addiction. Bills are being passed daily to limit tobacco sales and how much nicotine is in their products.