VOA健康报道2024--Use Habit Stacking to Help Get Healthy

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

A woman in Portland, Oregon started her daily exercise habit with one activity - walking her dog. Lindsay Kee then added movements to this daily activity. Before leaving on the walk, she did some standing¹ stretches. On her return, she did other exercises such as jumping jacks².

Over time, Kee added more exercises around the dog walk. She said adding exercises to an existing activity took the pressure off of creating a whole new daily exercise. And now more than a year later, she consistently⁴ exercises around the dog walk.

Kee said, "I've found it to be really effective in helping⁵ me be consistent³ with things that I really do want to do."

What Kee did is called habit stacking. Writer S.J. Scott created this term for his 2014 book of the same name. The idea behind habit stacking is to attach something you want to start doing to something you already do every day.

A common example is flossing your teeth after brushing them. However, you can use habit stacking in many areas of your daily life. Kee, for example, places her vitamins next to the coffee machine. This helps her remember to take them every morning.

Exercise experts say habit stacking is especially helpful if you are trying to increase exercise time.

Dana Santas is a movement expert who has trained more than 50 professional sports teams. She combines exercise habits with personal health care. For example, Santas does push-ups before every shower. And she does leg exercises while brushing her teeth. She says that her electric toothbrush makes a sound every 30 seconds to remind her to brush different teeth. But she uses the reminder⁶ to change her exercises. "It's perfect," she added.

Two minutes of exercise may not get you in shape. But, experts say every little bit helps. Experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest getting 150 minutes of moderate activity, like a fast walk, every week. Or you could also get 75 minutes of very energetic activity, like jogging, every week. The health experts also suggest two days a week of strength training.

Most people find keeping new habits difficult. And while habit stacking is not a perfect solution, it does help with one barrier -- decision-making.

Gretchen Rubin is the writer of Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives. She said habit stacking is one of the best ways to start and keep new habits. The technique helps to remove the barrier of deciding when or if to do something.

Rubin shared a story of her college days. To help her stay active, she would only shower if she had exercised that day.

She suggested combining the new, or what she calls "shaky," behavior with something you have to do or deeply want to do.

"So you have to do the shaky habit before you get to the strong habit," Rubin said. If she wants to listen to a podcast, her strong habit, she must do it while exercising on a running machine. For her, this will strengthen her shaky habit.

Words in This Story

habit - n. a usual manner of behavior or thinking

jumping jacks - n. a conditioning exercise performed from a standing position by jumping to a position with legs spread and arms raised and then to the original position

shower - v. a bath in which water is sprayed on a person; also - n. a device for providing such a bath

consistently - adv. being unchanging in behavior or beliefs

stack - n. an orderly pile of objects usually one on top of the other; also - v. to arrange in or form a stack

floss - v. to use dental floss on one's teeth : dental floss - n. a thread used to clean between the teeth

vitamin - n. any of various substances that are necessary in very small amounts to the nutrition of most animals and some plants, that are important to the control of growth and development by activating⁷ and assisting in the function of enzymes⁸, and that are present naturally in many foods or in some cases are produced within the body

push-up - n. a conditioning exercise performed in a prone⁹ position by raising and lowering the body with the straightening and bending of the arms while keeping the back straight and supporting the body on the hands and toes

moderate - adj. avoiding or lacking extremes (as in behavior or temperature)

shaky - adj. lacking in firmness (as of beliefs or principles)

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

3 consistent   

adj.坚持的，一贯的，一致的，符合的

参考例句：

• He has been a consistent friend to the Chinese people.他是中国人民始终如一的朋友。
• His action is always consistent with his words.他始终言行一致。

4 consistently   

ad.一贯地，一直

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。
• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law. 部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

7 activating   

活动的，活性的

参考例句：

• "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动！ 来自子夜部分
• Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响，氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。

8 enzymes   

n. 酶，酵素

参考例句：

• It was said that washing powders containing enzymes remove stains more efficiently. 据说加酶洗衣粉除污更有效。
• Among the enzymes which are particularly effective are pepsin, papain. 在酶当中特别有效的是胃朊酶、木瓜酶。

9 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。