The 21-day myth: This is how long it really takes to establish a habit

Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Maxwell Maltz has extensively explored the topic of self-image and other psychological mechanisms in his work. In 1960, the US physician put forward the theory in his self-help classic "Psychocybernetics: Harness the Power of Your Unconscious Mind" that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. And in the more than 60 years since the book was published, this myth has become so pervasive that many consider it absolute truth. But according to neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf, it is just that: a myth.

Why 21 days are not enough for our brain

The brain researcher explains in the "mindybodygreen" podcast that the ideal duration for establishing a new routine isn't 21 days, but three times that. "Habits don't form in three weeks," she explains. "They form in nine weeks."

However, the three-week point isn't entirely irrelevant, because our brain needs about these 21 days to form thoughts in a new context. According to the scientist, we can imagine brain waves like gentle, small ripples on a beach—they're important for new connections to flow, but they also disappear quickly.

"For these waves to be strong enough to change our behavior, we need another 42 days," says Caroline Leaf. And the research results prove the neuroscientist right: A study she conducted on anxiety disorders was able to show how the brain changes.

"Some participants who were clinically depressed had a flat, blue brain—that is, no waves—at the start of the study," explains Dr. Leaf. "When they began to engage with their thoughts and work on their negative beliefs, their brains turned gray within three weeks, meaning the waves were flowing as they should." And after nine weeks, these waves were truly sustained.

Do you want to know how to better deal with stressful situations? Are you looking for routines that help you unwind? Do you want to finally fall asleep and sleep through the night? We answer these and other questions in our PDF dossier.

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The unconscious senses before our consciousness that something is working

"We may not notice changes immediately when we work with our thoughts and our mindset," says Leaf. "But research shows us that our subconscious and our bodies sense it before we do. So the changes in the brain are happening." We just need to trust the process for a while—nine weeks, to be exact.

So, the takeaway is that the old 21-day mark isn't completely irrelevant when it comes to developing new routines and firmly anchoring them in our brains. And it doesn't matter whether it's drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning after getting up, meditating daily, or working on positive thinking.

Ultimately, all of these things are about harnessing the way our brain works and working with it in a way that allows us to achieve lasting success. And for our brains to truly internalize such new habits, according to neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf, we should stick with them for nine weeks.

mbl Brigitte

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