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Uh-oh, the new year's just begun and already you're finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There's a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break – they get wired into our brains。
That's not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad。
"Why are bad habits stronger? You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain's pleasure pathway。
"We all as creatures are hard-wired that way, to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that's delayed," Volkow says。
Just how that bit of happiness turns into a habit involves a pleasure-sensing chemical named dopamine. It conditions the brain to want that reward again and again – reinforcing the connection each time – especially when it gets the right cue from your environment。
People tend to overestimate their ability to resist temptations around them, thus undermining attempts to shed bad habits, says experimental psychologist Loran Nordgren, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management。
Even scientists who recognize it can fall prey。
"I don't like popcorn. But every time I go to the cinema, I have to eat it," Volkow says. "It's fascinating."
A movement to pay people for behavior changes may exploit that connection, as some companies offer employees outright payments or insurance rebates for adopting better habits。
However paying for behavior plays out, researchers say there are some steps that may help counter your brain's hold on bad habits:
Repeat, repeat, repeat the new behavior – the same routine at the same time of day. Resolved to exercise? Doing it at the same time of the morning, rather than fitting it in haphazardly, makes the striatum recognize the habit so eventually, "if you don't do it, you feel awful," says Volkow the neuroscientist, who's also a passionate runner。
Exercise itself raises dopamine levels, so eventually your brain will get a feel-good hit even if your muscles protest。
Reward yourself with something you really desire, Volkow stresses. You exercised all week? Stuck to your diet? Buy a book, a great pair of jeans, or try a fancy restaurant - safer perhaps than a box of cookies because the price inhibits the quantity。
參考譯文：
噢喔，新的一年才剛剛開始，你就發現很難堅持“告別垃圾食品、遠離沙發、戒煙”這些新年決心了吧?我們很難改掉壞習慣是由于生物學的原因——這些壞習慣根植于我們的大腦中。
這并不是讓人放棄新年決心的借口。了解不健康的習慣怎樣變得根深蒂固可以啟發科學家研究出一些讓好習慣代替壞習慣的“技巧”。
諾拉•沃爾科夫博士說：“為什么壞習慣更加頑固?因為它能帶來即時的犒賞，而這種即時犒賞的力量很強大。”沃爾科夫博士是美國國家藥物濫用研究所主任，同時也是大腦快樂通道方面的權威。
沃爾科夫博士說，“我們的這種天性決定了我們會更看重眼前的好處，而不是遲來的好處。”
那么這一點快樂的感覺是怎樣轉化為一種習慣的呢?這與一種感知快樂的化學物質多巴胺有關。多巴胺使大腦不斷期望得到這種犒賞，從而不斷加強快樂感與這種行為之間的聯系，特別是當它能從周圍環境中得到正確的暗示時。
西北大學凱洛格管理學院副教授、實驗心理學家羅蘭•諾德格倫說，人們往往高估自己抵抗身邊誘惑的能力，這使他們為擺脫壞習慣而做出的努力毀于一旦。
即使是能意識到這一點的科學家，也難以幸免。
沃爾科夫說：“我不喜歡吃爆米花，但每次去電影院我都會吃。它讓我很難抗拒。”
一項“為行為變化買單”的運動可能會對這種聯系加以利用，在這項運動中，一些公司給雇員提供“即時報酬”或是“保險回扣”，以激勵他們形成更好的習慣。
不管這項運動結果如何，研究人員說我們的確可以采取某些行動來對抗壞習慣對大腦的吸引力。
那就是，重復，重復，再重復你的新行為，使之成為每天固定時間的例行活動。下決心鍛煉?那就每天早上固定時間鍛煉，而不要隨意找時間，這樣會使大腦紋狀體最終接受這個新習慣。神經學家沃爾科夫也是一個熱愛跑步的人，他說：“如果你哪天沒鍛煉，就會感覺很糟糕。”
運動本身能提升多巴胺的水平，這樣盡管運動結束后你的肌肉感覺酸痛，但是你的大腦還是會感覺良好。
沃爾科夫強調說，要獎勵自己一點你真正想要的東西。你堅持鍛煉了一整周?嚴格遵循了你的節食食譜?那給你自己買本書，買一條漂亮的牛仔褲，或者去一家高檔的餐館吧!這應該會比買一盒曲奇餅要安全，畢竟，餐廳的價格會提醒你別吃那么多東西。
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