With the start of new classes, extracurriculars and schedules comes the opportunity to build habits to maintain throughout the rest of the school year.

A long-lasting habit is a task one adds and performs in their routine regularly until it eventually becomes instinctive. Sustaining healthy habits is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in and outside of school.

One common long-lasting habit that is beneficial for people of all ages is going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time each morning. For students, another healthy habit would be meeting with teachers regularly or prioritizing finishing homework at the same time every day. When a student maintains a regular routine, they can find themselves feeling mentally and physically happier and stronger.

Researchers from University College London wrote in a 2012 publication about the effect of long-lasting habits versus short-lasting habits and concluded that sustaining a long-lasting habit to improve one’s wellbeing benefits health. “Forming one ‘small’ healthy habit may thereby increase self-confidence for working towards other health-promoting habits,” authors Benjamin Gardner, Phillippa Lally and Jane Wardle wrote. Psychologists call this habit-formation.

The goal of habit-formation is to create habits that strengthen over time until they become intuitive with very little deliberation. It is a skill that can be implemented into one’s lifestyle to negatively or positively affect one’s routine. Healthy habits in physical routines can look like eating specific food groups everyday or reaching a certain work out goal to maintain physical strength and wellness. However, not all habits are beneficial. Unhealthy long-lasting habits can look like constant attention to one’s phone to the point where it becomes hard to detach when needed.

Almost everyone has long-lasting habits built into their daily routine that keep them healthier, such as brushing their teeth every morning. By creating and maintaining a habit now and staying consistent, later it will be a natural instinct to make healthy choices. Habits aren’t necessarily easy nor will the beneficial effects be realized quickly; some might take more patience and work than others. Even though healthy habits won’t change overnight, they are still important for bettering one’s daily life and are still worth prioritizing.