We all have little things that we wish we could change about ourselves. We call these bad habits or crutches. Little treats that make life easier to handle. That could be anything from the bar of chocolate that you desperately need when you get home to a glass of wine with your evening meal. The question is are these bad habits more dangerous than you think?
We’d like to think that we’re in control of them and that they aren’t in control of us. We want to believe that a little treat never hurt anyone. But you have to be careful because some bad habits have hidden dangers.
Below are some things to look into if you’re not sure if your bad habit is an issue:
Do You Know The Facts?
Perhaps your bad habit is fairly harmless. For instance, maybe you love binge watching TV shows and can spend a few hours without moving plowing through the new Marvel Netflix series. Nothing wrong with that, right? Wrong because if you do this, then you’re going to be sitting for an extended period. Research has shown that doing nothing for this long could be as detrimental to your health as smoking. So, there definitely is a harm here, and it’s not the only hidden danger.
You might love exercising and pushing your body to the limit. On the surface, this looks like a positive, a benefit to your life. But again, don’t be so sure because exercising too much can weaken your body, damaging your muscles and your joints. So even a habit that you think is great can be bad for you.
Are You Addicted?
If you’re not addicted, you should be able to stop doing something at any time. And, it’s not enough to say to yourself that you can stop. You have to be able to. For instance, you might like wine, and that’s fine. Lots of people do, but can you stop drinking it for a couple of days or even a week? If you can, and you don’t see any side effects, your body isn’t addicted. If you can’t and struggle, you are. Your body may even exhibit withdrawal symptoms. This could be a fever, mood changes or even fatigue.
You might then wonder what the harm is in a small addiction. After all, you’re not drinking enough to damage your body. But if you can’t stop now you won’t be able to when it might well be necessary. For instance, you could be out to dinner, and you might have driven there. You shouldn’t drink before you go home, but you haven’t had a glass of wine all day. Can you handle that? If you can’t, you could easily end up needing to speak to a defense lawyer for DWI. And, don’t forget at that point you won’t have just put your life at risk. Anyone on the road with you would have been in jeopardy because of your actions too.
Is It Impacting Your Life?
Finally, you might find that any bad habit could be an addiction impacting your quality of life. You won’t believe how much the average smoker spends on cigarettes. That’s money that you could instead be using to book a wonderful holiday or goodness knows what else.
*This article was contributed.
