Should You Taper Off Bad Habits?

Talk to anyone about breaking bad habits, and you’ll have people who say it’s better to taper off the habit. Then, there are those at the opposite camp who believe cold turkey is the only way to go. It probably depends on the bad habit you have. But, in some cases, it’s best to consult with a professional such as your doctor.

Some habits are easier to break than others. Therefore, tapering off may not make sense with the easier ones. For example, are you looking to quit swearing?

 Consider doing it immediately. You may still revert to swearing on occasion. But, this habit is not going to hurt your health, unless you get punched by saying a swear word to the wrong person.

When people try to quit smoking, some doctors will prescribe patches. You wear these patches on the skin, and they release nicotine into the skin. Over time, the amount of nicotine reduces to the point of having little enter the smoker’s system. The nicotine patch system is obviously one that has you taper off your use of tobacco.

Sometimes, it’s dangerous to go cold turkey with bad habits. If you have a heavy drug or alcohol problem, it could kill you when you go cold turkey. Your system may go into shock, and you can die from that shock. For this reason, heavy addiction requires detox and rehab. Professionals can regulate when you are ready to lower your consumption of the drugs. They also offer counseling to help you try and stay away from those drugs.

The best advice is to find out from a professional how you should approach solving your bad habits. If you have a problem with eating the wrong foods, you should be able to stop immediately, i.e., cold turkey. But, you will need to replace the bad foods with good ones. Do you know what those good foods are? Most people don’t. In this instance, it’s best to consult with a dietician. 

Keep in mind that often your general practitioner doctor hasn’t received training for advising on food. They can offer advice that you need to change your eating habits. They can also give you general help such as cutting back on salt and sugar, etc. But, don’t expect them to structure a diet for you. That is not what doctors do.

 You can break bad habits, but you need to learn everything you can about how to do it.