How Long Does It Take to Form a Lasting Health Habit?

• Habit formation takes longer than 21 days — The study debunks the idea that habits form in just 21 days. According to the study, the median time to develop a habit was between 59 and 66 days, while the average ranged from 106 to 154 days. Some individuals formed habits in as little as four days, while others took up to 335 days, showing that habit formation is highly individualized.³

• Short-term challenges aren’t enough for lasting habits — As the researchers explained:

“Contrary to the widely held belief that habits can form within 21 days, our research indicates that habit formation typically requires a duration of two to five months for most health behaviors to become automatic. This insight is essential, as it sets more realistic expectations for individuals attempting lifestyle changes.”

• Recognize that health habits take time — Understanding that health habits take time to develop can help maintain motivation during the initial stages of behavior change. As the researchers noted:

“Short-term ‘21-day challenges’ are often insufficient for lasting habits, especially for complex behaviors like exercise and healthy eating. Consistent practice over several months is needed for habit formation.”

• Simple habits form faster than complex ones — The complexity of the behavior also made a difference. Simpler behaviors, like drinking a glass of water each morning, became automatic much faster than complex habits, like starting a consistent workout routine. Morning habits also tend to solidify faster than evening habits, likely due to cognitive function peaking earlier in the day and fewer external distractions disrupting routine formation.⁴

• Consistency is the key to making habits stick — Individuals who performed an action at the same time each day and linked it to a specific event, such as brushing their teeth or finishing a meal, had a significantly higher chance of making it permanent. On the other hand, behaviors performed inconsistently or at different times each day were much harder to establish as lasting habits.⁵

• Self-selected habits are more sustainable — The study found that self-selected habits were far more likely to stick than those imposed by external sources.

People who chose their own goals were more committed and maintained them longer, while habits that were assigned, such as doctor-prescribed lifestyle changes, were less likely to be sustained unless the individual found personal motivation to adopt them. This underscores the importance of personal investment in long-term behavior change.

• Habit formation speed varies from person to person — Factors such as personality traits, existing routines, and prior experiences played a major role in how quickly a new behavior became automatic. People with structured, predictable daily lives formed habits more quickly than those with erratic or highly variable schedules.

• Setting realistic expectations helps prevent failure — If you’ve ever given up on a habit after a few weeks because it didn’t feel automatic yet, that doesn’t mean you failed. It simply means the process takes longer than most people assume. By choosing habits that fit into your daily routine, practicing them consistently, and allowing yourself to stumble without giving up, you’ll be able to adopt lasting changes that improve your health over time.

• The basal ganglia automate repetitive behaviors — According to a review article published in Reviews in the Neurosciences,⁶ the basal ganglia use a process called “chunking” to combine separate actions into a smooth, automatic routine.

When you first learn a new habit, each step requires conscious effort, but over time, the basal ganglia bundle these repetitive steps into a fluid sequence. This allows behaviors to be executed with minimal conscious thought, similar to how you tie your shoes or drive a familiar route.

• The striatum organizes motor patterns for habit execution — Inside the basal ganglia, the striatum is the primary input structure that integrates information from different brain areas. It receives signals from the cortex, which helps initiate behaviors, and from the thalamus, which regulates sensory and motor information. As habits form, the striatum organizes motor actions into structured patterns, ensuring they happen in the correct order.

• Dopamine strengthens habit formation through reward reinforcement — Neuroscientists have found that dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation and reward, is a key driver in this process. When you repeat a behavior that leads to a positive outcome, like feeling refreshed after drinking water or accomplished after completing a workout, the brain reinforces that action.

Dopamine strengthens connections in the basal ganglia, making the behavior more likely to become automatic over time.⁷ This explains why habits with immediate benefits tend to form faster than those with delayed rewards. For example, snacking on sweets is easy to turn into a habit because it provides an immediate dopamine hit, while exercise takes more effort to establish since the benefits are often delayed.

• The brain uses two opposing pathways to regulate habits — The striatum works with two opposing pathways — the direct and indirect pathways — to regulate habit formation. The direct pathway facilitates behaviors by reducing inhibition in the brain’s motor system, allowing actions to be carried out smoothly.

The indirect pathway, on the other hand, suppresses competing behaviors, ensuring that only the most relevant action is performed. These pathways work together to streamline habits while preventing unnecessary movements.⁸

• Substance P helps coordinate movement sequences — Researchers suggest that substance P, a neuropeptide found in the striatum, plays a role in reinforcing habitual actions. It helps coordinate movement sequences by enhancing communication between neurons and making sure actions are executed in the correct order.

This process is particularly important for complex habits that require multiple steps, such as playing an instrument or following a workout routine.⁹

• The basal ganglia take over as habits become ingrained — As habits become deeply ingrained, the basal ganglia gradually take over control from the cortex. This transition explains why well-practiced routines feel effortless, while new behaviors require conscious effort. However, disrupting this system, such as in conditions like Parkinson’s disease, makes it difficult to initiate or maintain habitual actions.

• Consistent repetition strengthens automaticity — The study highlighted that repeating a behavior in a consistent setting strengthens the association between action and context, making the behavior automatic over time and freeing up cognitive resources for other tasks. Once this occurs, habits persist even when motivation fades.

For example, washing hands after using the restroom or fastening a seatbelt upon entering a car requires little thought because the behaviors have been repeatedly associated with the same context.¹²

• Simple habits form faster than complex ones — Researchers analyzed an experiment where participants adopted simple, health-promoting behaviors, such as eating fruit or walking, and linking them to a fixed daily cue, like finishing breakfast. Researchers tracked habit strength over time and found that automaticity followed a predictable pattern, with rapid initial growth that eventually plateaued. As they explained:

“Daily ratings of the subjective automaticity of the behavior (that is, habit strength) showed an asymptotic increase, with an initial acceleration that slowed to a plateau after an average of 66 days.

Missing the occasional opportunity to perform the behavior did not seriously impair the habit formation process: automaticity gains soon resumed after one missed performance. Automaticity strength peaked more quickly for simple actions (for example, drinking water) than for more elaborate routines (for example, doing 50 sit-ups).”¹³

This supports the idea that small, manageable changes are easier to sustain than dramatic lifestyle overhauls. Simple habits form faster and require less effort to maintain, while more complex behaviors take longer to become automatic.

• Real-world applications of habit-based strategies — The review also examined real-world applications of habit-based strategies by analyzing an eight-week weight-loss intervention. Participants were assigned 10 small, daily diet and activity habits, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or eating fruit with lunch.¹⁴

Those in the intervention group lost an average of 2 kilograms (kg) over eight weeks, while the control group lost only 0.4 kg. During the 32-week follow-up, individuals who had developed strong automatic habits maintained an average weight loss of 3.8 kg, demonstrating that ingrained behaviors continue to drive long-term change even after initial motivation fades.¹⁵

• Sustainability, not short-term effort, is key to habit formation — These findings support the idea that habit formation is about sustainability, not short-term effort. When behaviors are deliberately structured into daily routines and reinforced through repetition, they become automatic. This eliminates the need for willpower and makes long-term adherence far more likely.¹⁶

• Adherence alone does not lead to lasting behavior change — Many people temporarily follow health recommendations but fail to integrate them into their daily lives, making them more likely to abandon these behaviors over time.¹⁸

• Routines, not habits, sustain long-term change — Unlike habits, which are often triggered by specific cues, routines are structured behaviors that occur consistently without requiring conscious effort. The researchers emphasized that shifting the focus from temporary adherence to long-term routine formation is the key to making health behaviors last.¹⁹

• Routines reduce decision fatigue, making healthy behaviors easier — One of the study’s most significant findings were that routines help reduce decision fatigue. When faced with choices, people tend to default to the easiest or most convenient option, which often results in unhealthy behaviors.

Structured routines remove the need for constant decision-making, allowing individuals to maintain health-promoting behaviors without relying on willpower or motivation.²⁰

• The Structured Day Hypothesis explains why routines matter — Researchers noted that individuals with structured daily schedules are far more likely to maintain consistent health behaviors. A clear example is seen in children, who tend to gain weight over the summer when school routines are removed. Without the predictability of a structured day, behaviors become less regulated, which leads to unhealthy patterns.²¹

• Lack of structure leads to inconsistent behaviors — Adults who lack structured daily routines are far more prone to inconsistent eating patterns, irregular sleep schedules and lower levels of physical activity. In contrast, individuals with well-established daily routines are more likely to maintain stable, predictable health behavior over the long term.²²

• Long-term adherence is best achieved through routine formation — The study concluded that long-term adherence to health behaviors is best achieved through strategic routine formation rather than short-term compliance with recommendations.

By embedding health behaviors into your daily life in a structured way, you will be able to sustain these behaviors without constant effort, making them a natural part of your lifestyle rather than an ongoing struggle requiring motivation.²³

1. Attach your habit to something you already do — New habits stick when they’re linked to an existing routine. If you try to squeeze a new behavior into your day randomly, your brain treats it as optional. But if you connect it to something you already do, like stretching right after brushing your teeth or taking a walk after lunch, it becomes a seamless part of your daily flow.

If you want to drink more water, place a glass next to your coffee maker and drink it before your first sip of coffee. If you want to start meditating, do it right after making your bed. The simpler and more automatic the anchor, the better.

2. Keep the first step so small it feels too easy — The biggest mistake people make is going too big, too fast. A massive lifestyle change is overwhelming, and your brain will fight it. Start with something so small that it feels impossible to fail. For instance, if you want to read more, commit to one page per night. If you want to work out, start with two minutes of movement.

This works because success builds momentum. Once you’ve started, you’re far more likely to keep going. The goal isn’t to get immediate results. It’s to create a foundation for consistency.

3. Plan for disruptions before they happen — Life will get in the way, and when it does, most people abandon their habits. The key to long-term success is anticipating obstacles and having a backup plan in place. If you usually exercise in the morning but have an early meeting, decide ahead of time what you’ll do instead. If you’re traveling, pick a modified version of your routine that you can still complete.

Habits survive when they’re flexible. A rigid “all-or-nothing” mindset is what causes people to quit. Instead of perfection, focus on keeping the habit alive, even if it’s in a smaller form.

4. Use external cues to eliminate decision-making — The more decisions you have to make, the easier it is to talk yourself out of a habit. Set up your environment so that the right choice is the easiest choice. If you want to work out in the morning, lay out your workout clothes the night before. If you want to eat healthier, make sure nutritious foods are the first thing you see in your fridge.

Your environment shapes your behavior more than you realize. Instead of relying on willpower, design your surroundings in a way that makes success automatic.

5. Track progress but focus on consistency, not perfection — Tracking progress helps reinforce habits, but the real key is focusing on showing up — not hitting a perfect streak. If you’re trying to form a habit, don’t measure success by how much you improve each time. Instead, measure success by how many days you show up.

Use a habit tracker, a simple checklist or a calendar to mark each day you complete the habit. Seeing visible progress keeps you motivated, and over time, the act of tracking itself reinforces the habit. But if you miss a day, move on. The real danger isn’t missing once — it’s letting that one miss turn into quitting altogether.

Making habits stick isn’t about having more willpower. It’s about having a smarter strategy. Set yourself up for success by making it easier to do the right thing than the wrong one. The easier you make the habit, the less effort it takes to maintain, and before you know it, it’ll feel like second nature.