Health habits felt more automatic by the end, but no one was compared
- No comparison
Across 12 studies, people's health habits felt more automatic at the end of the programmes than at the start.
Pooled analysis of 12 studies · no comparison group · they rated themselves · ⚠ most studies had serious flaws; the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited
The review
Who took part
The review pooled 12 studies of people building health habits such as eating, exercise and flossing. It did not report how many people took part in total.
What they did
People took part in different programmes to build a health habit. The review compared how automatic the habit felt at the start and at the end. There was no other group to compare with.
What happened
On average, the habit felt clearly more automatic at the end than at the start. The studies' results varied a lot, and most studies had a high risk of bias. The review did not check for unpublished studies, and the authors did not rate how sure they were.
Source
Time to Form a Habit: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Health Behaviour Habit Formation and Its Determinants (2024)
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12232488 (opens in a new tab)
