Inside Health Weekly

 Welcome to the last Inside Health newsletter of the year.
Let’s end it strong.

This week’s topic? Habits.
The tiny, subconscious actions running your life on autopilot.

The way you think. The way you act. The way you grow.

If 2026 is going to be your year, it starts here.
We’re breaking down the science of how habits actually form, and how to build ones that stick.

Scroll on. Your future self will thank you 👇🚀

Breaking Bad (Habits)

You aren’t lazy or unmotivated if you're stuck in bad habits. Rather, your brain is just repeating behaviors to save energy.

Below are two simple, but powerful tips, backed by neuroscience, that are key to breaking bad habits:

Inside Health Recommends…

• 📘 BOOKS

• Atomic Habits by James Clear: The go-to playbook for building habits that actually stick. Simple systems and clear frameworks you can use today.

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg: Breaking down the habit loop (cue → routine → reward) with real-world stories and psychology.

• Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg: Behavior science from Stanford. A great read to focus on making habits so small that they are impossible to skip.

  

  Have you read any of our Weekly Picks?

• 📺 VIDEO

• Wendy Wood - The Power of Habits (Big Think)

  One of the top habit researchers. Explains why habits (not motivation) run most of your daily behavior.

• Judson Brewer - A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit (TED)

  Using neuroscience and mindfulness to explain craving loops in the brain. A great takeaway on why curiosity can weaken bad habits.

• Lisa Feldman Barrett - Interviews on the Predictive Brain (Dairy of a CEO)

  Explains how the brain predicts behavior on past patterns (aka habits on a neural level)

Inside Health x Habit-Tracking

Building habits your brain actually sticks to.

Habits don’t fail because you lack discipline; they fail because your brain wasn’t designed for willpower alone.

That’s why Inside Health is teaming up with Habitica, a habit-tracking app that turns behavior change into something your brain loves: progress, feedback, and reward.

Habitica gamifies habit-building using dopamine-based reinforcement, helping transform small, repeated actions into routines that stick… exactly how the brain learns best.

SCIENCE - The Neuroscience of Habits

The neuroscience behind habit formation falls under this complex interplay of neuroplasticity and neurochemicals. These two work in harmony to drive our behaviors, motivate our decisions, and influence our quality of life.

Although the neuroscience seems daunting, we’re here to flip that narrative so you can enter 2026 ready to crush those goals you’ve been putting on the back burner. 

→ Our environments, cognitive processes, behaviors, and neurochemicals form habits. The basal ganglia in the brain house each of these components and make goal-oriented actions, or habits, from these. It is responsible for performing those repetitive actions mindlessly, such as brushing your teeth.

→ The key chemical prevalent in the basal ganglia that drives habit formation is dopamine. Dopamine is powerful – it causes us to seek, to want, to desire, and therefore, drives our behavior. It is the tool behind your curiosity and motivations. 

→ So here’s the kicker – something called the dopamine loop is what fixates you on certain habits. The dopamine system is sensitive to “cues”. For instance, you hear the bells from the ice cream truck, and you perk up from the sound to go see that load of joy– that sound is a cue.

We are more sensitive to cues of a reward, NOT the reward itself. 

ON THE NEWS

ChatGPT & Habits:

New Research is exploring how AI Tools like ChatGPT influence learning habits, reflection, and consistency when acting as external accountability systems and cognitive helpers.

Early Findings Suggest:

• AI-guided reflection and reinforcement of positive routines

• Personalized prompts = higher follow-through

• Consistency improves when friction is removed

Bottom Line: The future of habit-building might be human + AI, not only willpower alone.

SCIENCE: Habit Loops, Explained.

Everything around us serves as a cue. They can be the premise of good or bad habits. 

→ What makes breaking habits hard to stop? That combination of a dopamine rush and a motor response (i.e., your thumb continuously scrolling on TikTok). 

Here’s the good news– because of something called neuroplasticity, or our brain’s insane ability to get rid of old connections and form new ones, it gives us the opportunity to break bad habits, regardless of how hard it may seem.

It’s what makes saying “New Year, New Me!” possible.

ON THE MARKET

Did you know that the neuroscience of habits is quietly moving the economy? Let’s break it down.

Market’s don’t run on logic alone. They run on human brains which are predicable, emotional and habit driven.

Habit Loops = Consumer Demand

• At a neural level, habits form through a cue → routine → reward loops (basal ganglia). Companies design products to fit into these loops.

Market Impact: 

• Daily use products (coffee, skincare, supplements) outperform one-off purchases

• Subscription models thrive because they reduce decision fatigue

• Brands that become “automatic” win long term-loyalty

💬From Cordelia:

Thank you for tuning in today! I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter!

That’s everything for now! Thanks for hanging out with Inside Health this week. Understanding how you function starts with education, and you’re already doing the work just by being here.

Until Next Year! —The Inside Health Team.