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Scott Webb: Let's be honest, most of us have at least one bad habit, maybe many of them, and possibly even some addictions and kicking them can be downright difficult. Joining me today to differentiate bad habits from addictions and offer strategies for dealing with both is Jim Henceroth. He's an addiction counselor with Genesis Healthcare System.

This is Sounds of Good Health with genesis brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. I'm Scott Webb. So Jim, thanks so much for your time today. We were just kind of talking off the air that people have habits, they have bad habits and sometimes they sneak up on us and we're not sure how something that started out so sort of innocently and benignly became a bad habit, right? So let's talk about this today, how are bad habits formed?

Jim Henceroth: Well, first, it's good to mention it. There's three parts to a habit. There's the trigger. There's the behavior itself and some kind of reward for that behavior. So like take, for example, I mean, say tonight I go home, walk into my kitchen and there's a bag of potato chips on the counter. That's going to be a trigger for me. I'm going to want to eat some of those. I mean, maybe I'll have half of those eaten before dinner time and spoil my appetite. But what's going to happen there is while I'm eating that, it's going to taste really good, the salt content, the fat in those chips. There's a reward that goes along with that of it tasting good, but also there's going to be kind of a sense of well-being. I'm going to kind of feel good inside because of eating those. The reason for that reward is that dopamine, there's a neurotransmitter in our brain called dopamine that is released that's going to reinforce me eating those high-calorie potato chips. And that might sound kind of strange. I mean, why is my brain rewarding me for eating some kind of junk food that's really bad for me? But you got to kind of think about this. Our ancestors didn't have grocery stores. They didn't have fast food restaurants. So when they went to get food, they needed to get high-calorie food because they might chase down an animal for a few days or, you know, track an animal or chase an animal down or, you know, fight with it, or climb a tree and get stung by bees trying to get honey or dig up roots. They're expending a lot of calories to get calories in return. So they have to get more calories to outweigh the energy and the calorie spent in getting the food. So that's the way dopamine is supposed to reward that. So that reward is what's supposed to be in place. But now, the thing is we don't have a problem getting high-calorie food, it's all around us. So it kind of backfires. So that's one reason why lot of people have a little extra weight, that high calorie food is so, so available.

Scott Webb: Yeah. We're going to talk more about this, about the difference between a bad habit and an addiction. But before we get there, is everything a trigger? You know, is it the potato chips on the counter? Is it, you know, the muffins on the cart? I'm referring to my house now, unfortunately. Is everything in front of us, at the grocery store, at home, is everything potentially a trigger?

Jim Henceroth: Well, not everything's a trigger. I mean, there's some triggers that are pretty universal and there are some that are very specific to each person. Now, like for myself, I mean, the chips would be a specific one for me. So if I'm going to find a way to prevent having that trigger, one approach I could use is make sure the chips are in the pantry and in the cupboard. They're not under my nose. I'm not seeing them every time I walk out into the kitchen. And I might do okay with that, but I might also think, "I know those chips are in the cupboards, so I could maybe get a little bit of those." And if I'm able to do that a little bit, maybe that's no big deal, but I might have a hard time just keeping that to a small portion. I might keep going back, going back.

The best strategy when it comes to triggers is, if possible, just avoid the trigger. So I mean, I can't avoid them everywhere. If I'm in a grocery store, I'm going to see them, but I can avoid seeing them in my house. And along with avoiding that, it's going to be a good idea to replace that with something else, that's, you know, some kind of healthy food. I mean, there's bananas or almonds and walnuts. I mean, clementines. That's like the, candy of the fruit world. Those things are so sweet and juicy. I think I eat a couple of those things every day. So finding something else to replace that unhealthy trigger with, with something positive, it leads to some positive behavior or even some kind of activity that's enjoyable. So it's best to find either a way to get rid of the trigger when possible or find some way to kind of work around it or replace it.

Scott Webb: Yeah, those are good tips. And when we think about habits versus addictions, you know, so you're saying, "Well, if the potato chips aren't on the counter, I'm less likely to eat them," is maybe one of the differences between a bad habit of eating half the chips when they're there and an addiction is it doesn't matter where you hide the chips, it doesn't matter where you put the chips. If you're addicted to the chips, you're going to find them. And that's just one little snapshot of that. But really, Jim, what is the difference between a bad habit and an addiction?

Jim Henceroth: Yeah, that's a good question. Even folks in the scientific community kind of have a little bit of a debate going on about that, where one leaves off and where the other one starts. But basically, with a bad habit, that's something that's manageable. It might be stubborn, we might have to work at it, but we can find a way around that. Now with addiction, that is a whole different ball game there. When a person becomes addicted to a drug like alcohol or, you know, prescription painkillers or cocaine, that actually changes the brain. That's a permanent change. Addiction is a chronic disorder. It's a disease of the brain. And when that happens, the brain is addicted and it can't become unaddicted and that's the bad news. It can't go back to becoming unaddicted. The good news is if a person knows what to do about that and gets the right kind of help, that's really why treatment's really important, is you get the skills to quit. But what a lot of people don't think about is it's important to get these tools in your toolbox to stay quit, because a lot of people will try to quit on their own and they end up having to quit again. And they ended up having to quit again because they keep using again, even though they really don't want to. So treatment, some kind of help like that that provides those skills for an ongoing maintenance plan for maintaining recovery, for maintaining remission. And those two words are interchangeable, remission or recovery, or getting the disease to go to sleep, to getting the addiction go to sleep. I mean, that's the important thing. And so, the bad news is it's a permanent change. The good news is if you know what to do about it, life can be good and it doesn't have to be this ongoing problem. You do what you need to do to stay healthy and life is wonderful.

Scott Webb: So Jim, when we think about the bad habits and how we can overcome bad habits like overeating, what are some suggestions and tips that you have?

Jim Henceroth: Well, when it comes to overeating, there are some things that are helpful. One thing for example, is to consider portion size. And I know we always hear that, we'll eat smaller portions. But there's some things that can help with that. I mean, like for example, going to a restaurant, portion sizes are typically twice the size that they were when I was a kid. I'm 60 years old now, and that's a huge change. So one thing that we can do is when we go to the restaurant, we order our meal, we ask the server when they bring the mean to also, "Hey, bring a to-go box." We take half of that food, put it in the to-go box, there's lunch for tomorrow. And maybe it's only half of the main entree or the main course, at least putting some into the to-go box, that automatically cuts down that portion size. And another consideration is if I have a portion of food on a smaller sized plate, I'm more likely to feel satisfied with that. If I were to put that same portion of food on a larger plate, I'm probably going to feel deprived or unfulfilled. So that visual aspect of that has some kind of psychological effect on us.

Scott Webb: Yeah. Isn't It funny how our brains work, right? When say visually, like when there's a small amount of food on a bigger plate, you feel like you're being cheated and deprived, but when the plate's just a little bit smaller, such as psychology really to all of this.

Jim Henceroth: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's fascinating how we work. And something else we can also do that's helpful for a lot of people is to just kind of slow down your pace of eating. And what happens a lot with unwanted habits is we kind of lose awareness of what we're doing. And in fact, like with eating, overeating, it's actually called trance eating. We kind of enter into a trance. We're not really paying that much attention to what we're doing. We just kind of keep eating and eating and eating. If you kind of become mindful of the experience, you kind of think for a minute, enjoy the taste, enjoy the texture, the aroma, that allows us to be more aware, slow it down, and we actually can end up having greater satisfaction from eating smaller portions of healthy food than if we were just kind of eating, eating, eating like some food that's unhealthy. And we feel the sensation of fullness sooner when we're more aware and eating slower. It takes a little while for that sensation of fullness to register if we eat quickly. We can be full before we really feel full. So that speed of eating, slowing down, that can actually make a real difference as well.

Scott Webb: Yeah. I'm always telling my kids to slow down. They just inhale their food and they don't really enjoy it. And they tease me because I'm always the last one at the table. And I'm like, "I'm savoring my food. I'm enjoying my food. I'm taking it all in, the full sensory experience. The smells, the tastes. And they're like, "Yeah. No, it's just about putting food in our stomachs and moving on." I'm like, "I get it." I was young once myself too. I don't recall really savoring my food as a kid either. And we touched on smoking earlier, and there's a, you know, kind of a fine line as we've discussed here between bad habits and addictions. But when it comes to those things like smoking, like the addictions, do we really just need treatment? Do we need a specialist? Do we need a plan? Do you really believe that those more serious addictions that we can really sort of solve those problems, solve those mysteries ourselves? Or do we really need help, Jim?

Jim Henceroth: Smoking's pretty tricky. Nicotine's a highly addictive chemical. And like here at Genesis, we have a smoking cessation program. In early November, I think on the first, you talked to Rob Williamson, I think it was on the podcast. And he offered some really good information and education about our program. So I would recommend that. I mean, that's a good program. Some people do manage to quit smoking on their own. And sometimes it takes several tries. But whatever the method you're following, whatever the plan is, I think it's. I spend some time getting yourself ready for it. I mean, really thinking about it, kind of getting yourself psyched up for it and have some kind of a value-laden goal in mind. So part of it, I think, is realizing that you're doing this out of love and respect for yourself, but something else, well, like for example, I have a new grandson. And if I were still a smoker, I might think, "Well, gee, I need to quit smoking. I want to be there for my grandson. I want to see him graduate. And I want to see things happen. You know, I want to be a part of his life." So the value associated with that, that's something that would be really important to me. Having something like that in mind can also give you that little extra edge.

But another thing that works for a lot of people is doing some visualization. So, for example, if I kind of kick back, get kind of in a relaxed state, close your eyes and picture yourself as you want to be as a non-smoker. So for example, I might say, "Oh, I can see myself. My eyes are bright. There's a smile on my face as a clean fresh air breather, as a non-smoker. And I'm filling my lungs with clean, fresh, pure, cleansing air," you know, there's a lot of positive about that. So, I'm picturing myself as a healthy person, you know, happy, things are going well. But by doing something like breathing in the clean, fresh air, there's a replacement for the cigarette. And when we give up something like smoking, we can absolutely have a grief reaction to that. I mean, we can say here's a million reasons why I shouldn't smoke, but it's been a part of our lives for a long time. And when that's taken away, there's an empty spot. So something as simple as replacing that with kind of savoring that idea of this clean, fresh, pure air filling my lungs with that, that feels so good. You know, that's something that really works well for a lot of people. They find themselves really taking those deep breaths in the morning when they go outside with their dog. Instead of smoking a cigarette, they're enjoying that fresh air. They're enjoying the aroma of the coffee they have outside with them. So I think that replacement kind of thing, as part of some kind of visualizing, or seeing yourself playing with your kids on the floor and not having to go outside in the freezing rain to sneak a cigarette. You know, "I'm there for my kids," and seeing that in our mind's eye can really help us drive that goal home and achieve a goal like that.

Scott Webb: Yeah. I see what you mean. And we'd kind of touched on earlier. It was hard for me to visualize what the replacement would be for smoking, but I sort of get what you're saying now, that the fresh air is the replacement for the smoky air, right? So I totally get that. And I never thought, Jim, that we'd be talking about people being addicted to their phones, but let's be honest, people are addicted to their phones everywhere you go. Even in your own home, even when you're having a family movie night, you look around the room and everyone's looking at their phones.

So let's talk about that. And then again, I don't know if this is a habit or it's actually become an addiction. But what suggestions do you have for folks who really are just so addicted? They just can't stop looking at that screen.

Jim Henceroth: Well, it is a problem. It's an interesting problem that we're seeing more and more, especially with younger generation. I mean, there has been some statistics that, you know, kind of get my attention. For kids that spend three hours a day on their phone, there's a 35% increased risk of suicide risk factors, you know, that's over somebody that doesn't spend that much time. And if a kid's spending five hours a day, that bumps up to 71% increase in suicide risk factors. The risk factors don't mean that somebody is going to die from suicide, but it's factors that correlate with suicide. So it's risky.

So there is a higher rate of depression and anxiety associated with excessive cellphone use. And one thing that can help with that , and this is for our kids, this is for ourselves if we're having a problem with kind of checking the phone too often, before bedtime, put the phone in the kitchen or the living room an hour before we go to bed. It's so easy to get in that compulsive loop of checking this and going down a rabbit hole here, and doing this and texting. The phone's not there, you wind down without that. A lot of kids are really sleep-deprived. They're texting all night long, off and on, sending pictures to one another. I mean, when you wake up in the morning, if the a phone is not by your bedside, if it's not under your pillow, which a lot of kids do, it's not the first thing you look at when you get up. You know, you get up, you brush your teeth, you go to the bathroom, you make your coffee. Then, you get around to getting to the phone. An hour is really good to wait in the morning. But even if you don't wait that long, if it's in another room, it's not the first thing you're doing. And if you look at it as the first thing you do, that really reinforces that kind of compulsive loop. Any time you can kind of extend that, put that off a little bit, you're building a little bit more resilience, tolerance towards that.

And other thing to keep in mind, I mean, phones are easy to get caught up in. And really there's colors, there's sounds, there's things that really reinforce that behavior. I mean, the same kind of design work that goes into creating slot machines and making people want to stick with them goes into our cell phones. So, one thing that helps a lot of people, you can go into your settings and you can find a gray scale and you can just make your phone go to black and white, and that makes it a lot less desirable. It's still perfectly functional. Everything you need is there, but the gray tones makes it a lot less stimulating and that makes it less likely that we're going to kind of be attracted to it and keep up with it. And then sometimes too I've seen some people have a little bit of luck by maybe putting a rubber band or two around the phone. I mean, you can still use your phone, but it's a little bit of an annoyance to work around that. So that's one of those things that makes it a little bit easier to avoid dealing with it.

Scott Webb: Yeah, and I think you're so right, and great suggestions there. You're so right that it's often the first thing we do in the morning, the last thing we do before bed. Some of us fall asleep with our phones in our hands. I'm sure that's true of our kids. And then you start talking about blue light and all of that.

Jim Henceroth: Absolutely.

Scott Webb: So yeah, we could probably do an entire podcast just on the psychology of phones, the addiction to our phones and so on, but some good suggestions there. And I do see like, yeah, if there were a few rubber bands around my phone, that would be annoying and might get me to stop or maybe I just take the rubber bands off, let's be honest. Right, Jim?

Jim Henceroth: Yup. Hey, but even if you do that, that's still something you have to do to use your phone that makes it a little bit less easy to just automatically jump into it.

Scott Webb: Absolutely. Yeah. And we've talked today, and as we wrap up here, just about things that we can do, right? When we think about behavior, lifestyle, ways to trick our brains, just, you know, anything to sort of break ourselves of bad habits and addictions. What other resources and tools can you offer folks, the services, things that are available to them at Genesis and so on?

Jim Henceroth: We mentioned the smoking cessation program of Genesis, I highly recommend that. Programs for weight management like WeightWatchers. I mean, there's good evidence-based support behind that program. As far as addiction goes, whether it's to alcohol or other addictive drugs, Genesis offers the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program. And that's the program that I work at and I've been here 25 years and I plan to keep working here hopefully for years yet. It's a great program. I'm not saying that just because I work here, I wanted to work here and I was happy to get on here. It's a great program. So just, you know, call Genesis, ask for any of those services. They'll patch you to the right place. Also, EAP programs or employee assistance programs, a lot of employers offer that kind of service, Genesis offers that. You know, you get three visits for free to talk to somebody for an employee or a family member. And sometimes those three visits can go a long way to really resolving an issue. It may lead to identifying, "Gee, I guess I do need some help with this" and you know, here's a referral, so you can get the kind of help you need with that. So I'd encourage anybody if you're not sure, that's a good place to start with a EAP-type program.

Scott Webb: Well, Jim, this has been really helpful today. I think you've given me and listeners, you know, some really good suggestions on how we can help ourselves, whether they're habits, bad habits, addictions, and so on, the various services and resources available at Genesis, the ways in which you can help them. And thanks, Jim. I appreciate it.

Jim Henceroth: WelI, appreciate that, Scott. It's a pleasure to be on here.

Scott Webb: And for more information, visit genesishcs.org. And thanks for listening to Sounds of Good Health with Genesis, brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. If you found this podcast to be helpful, please be sure to tell a friend and subscribe, rate and review this podcast and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well.