Brush your teeth - healthy habits and the pandemic

I confess. When I’m at home, I sometimes leave brushing my teeth until I’m about to leave the house.

‘What if you don’t leave the house?’, I hear you ask.

Well, thankfully my inner drive to brush my teeth in the morning is a habit that is as equally tied with finishing breakfast as it is with leaving the house, so it almost always gets done, one way or the other (my dentist will be pleased to know).

I know I’m not the only one. Many of us time our routine self care with certain activities or times of the day. We don’t even think about it. So what happens during a lockdown or extended social isolation, or any other life disruption for that matter?

When your lifestyle changes dramatically, whether it’s due to an illness, surgery, a new baby, or a pandemic, it can be easy to lose the thread of your usual routine, so it is little wonder that many people had difficulty maintaining a healthy lifestyle once Covid hit.

For some people, part of their healthy routine went hand-in-hand with their office working life, through commuting, lunch prep, or social exercise groups or even just taking a stretch and walking to the water cooler every hour or so.

With Covid, people were forced to work from home, either for a short period, or for extended lengths of time, and the usual routine often got thrown out the window. While most governments have encouraged outdoor exercise, those who normally went to the gym, dance classes, swimming, and so on, were forced to sharply reconsider their exercise routine.

And the problem with losing your routine is, it is really hard to get back on track with it again later.

But not all people actually lost their exercise habit during lockdowns. It turns out, some people were actually able to form new habits that have significantly improved their health.

(And, interestingly, this change is not just physical activity. Anecdotally I’ve been told that larger numbers of people are taking up mindfulness meditation as a way of managing the stress and anxiety of these major life changes. So there are a group of people out there who have actually thrived under these challenging conditions).

A study of several hundred people performed by the University of Otago in New Zealand has shown that for a certain group of people, their physical activity during a lockdown actually increased (38.5%) compared to pre-lockdown levels, while 25% maintained the same levels, and 36% of people did less.

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Researchers stated that it was likely that different types of motivation influenced whether people began, maintained, or reduced physical activity during a lockdown, and whether this continued post-lockdown.

When looking at motivation type, what’s important to understand is that there are different types of motivation and they can have varying influences on the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Two key motivation types are ‘autonomous’ motivation and ‘controlled’ motivation.

Autonomous motivation is perceived to be motivation which is self-determined, when the action aligns with intrinsic goals, and ties in with personal values of health and wellbeing. People who are autonomously motivated derive more enjoyment and satisfaction from a healthy routine than others.

Controlled motivation tends to come from external factors, such as rewards or being praised. While controlled motivation can bring some benefit, autonomous motivation is usually what gets someone through a major lifestyle change like a lockdown with a healthy habit that continues into ‘normal’ life.

Other factors to consider are ‘habit stacking’ and context. Being able to tie a new healthy habit with another habit, i.e. ‘stacking’ habits, can make it easier to continue the habit. Also, performing the behaviour in the same place and the same time each day can also assist in making it a habit. Both of these things have been much easier to do during this pandemic, as we’ve been spending a lot more time at home and have more flexible work hours.

So, if you are the kind of person who is more intrinsically motivated and can tie healthy habits in to context, there’s a good chance you can start and/or maintain a healthy routine during major life changes like a pandemic.

Ironically, these same factors can also make it easier for you to create unhealthy habits if you are not careful.

The lack of routine can actually become your routine - hello fuzzy teeth. The jokes of having wine in your coffee cup in a zoom meeting could sadly be true. The new habit of working through lunch time as there are no external cues like other colleagues to take you outside for a walk is uncomfortably familiar for some, especially those who are less autonomously motivated than others. In this way, unhealthy routines can easily be picked up and maintained.

So what can you do to turn the tables on this, especially now as we begin the shift back to some kind of normal life?

If you have found yourself less active, snacking on chocolates because you know exactly where they are hidden, or skipping lunch and a walk in favour of finishing a few emails, it’s still possible to shift the balance and I invite you to consider two key areas.

Firstly, review your values. You might have a different set of values and a different question to ask yourself, but the question I always ask myself is, ‘how long do I want to be here for and with my kids’? And what kind of state do I want to be in? Healthy, active, and participating? Or unhealthy, inactive, and on the sidelines? We get some choice in that. I do what I can to make sure I end up on the right side of that choice.

Reflecting on your values and having a conversation with a wellness coach, GP, or psychologist can help you with this.

The other thing to consider is context and habit stacking. Can you set up your environment to motivate you to choose healthier options? Can you tie a healthy routine with another activity? e.g. you might take a daily team meeting on the phone and go out for a walk, or add 15 squats before and after you hang up the washing. Try to make the routine as consistent as possible in time and place.

This is where you have to get strategic and again, the help of a coach is very valuable if you’re looking for longterm change.

Start small and build from there. We want you to not only develop your mind and muscles, but also your self efficacy so that you can integrate these habits into your routine and make them as natural as brushing your teeth after breakfast.

Taking a look right now at your health choices, have they changed at all since the pandemic started?


If you’d like to chat further about implementing healthy habits into your life or that of your work teams, I’m available for consultations, workshops and classes. Reach out for an obligation free chat now.