Top 10 Bad Habits You Need To Quit Immediately

Every individual possesses both good and bad habits, but whether you accept it or not, bad habits are in the literal sense, BAD for you – physically, mentally as well as emotionally. Cutting out these bad habits will see a lot of positive changes come into your life, which include more energy, increased productivity, and overall, a healthier and happier life.

We at Read Scoops decided to then list down some of the worst habits we could think of, and how to get rid of them. These bad habits wreak havoc with our health so the earlier we quit them, the better. Cut out a majority of the following bad habits, and you will notice positive changes in your life:

1. Eating when not hungry

Some people have a habit of eating when they have nothing else to do. Like we have a sleep pattern, there is also an eating pattern that our body responds to. If we don’t maintain the usual ‘Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner‘ pattern, we aren’t sending the right signals to our body, thus leaving it now knowing when to feel hungry.

While a snack here and there is great, eating throughout the day should be avoided as it can cause serious health issues including obesity, heart problems, diabetes and more. Most of the food we snack on tends to be junk food or less nutritious food. I’m sure no one wants there to always be an extra amount of calories in their body, do they?

2. Being negative

No, positivity isn’t hyped; it is scientifically proven as to having good effects on your health. There are always two ways to look at any given situation:

You can crib and cry as to why something bad always happens to you and why things didn’t turn out to be the way you wanted it to.
You can zoom in to the problem, figure out why it happened and work positively to improve the condition; while, of course, celebrating the already existing good things in your life.

Maybe you haven’t ever had a girlfriend in your life but instead of saying you won’t ever get one, why not say there’s always a first. Instead of sobbing over a boss who doesn’t notice your good work, why not sit down and figure out how to keep going until he has no option but to notice you?

3. Eating too much junk food

McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, and more. Name the fast food joint, and we have it. However, while these joints are making god money out of us, we are seriously harming our own health. Of course, junk food is tastier and more convenient, but in the long run, we are the losers.

These items of junk food are said to have excessive proportions of sugar, preservatives, fats and spices, which are known to clog your arteries and increase plaque deposits in your body. While it’s not possible to immediately banish junk food from our lives, make a serious attempt next time, to:

Replace a pizza/burger with fruits.
Replace Coke/Sprite or other sodas with a fresh fruit juice.

4. Being a couch potato

What do we end up doing when it’s vacation time or a holiday? Sitting in front of our TV sets for hours together and making this a habit can have negative effects on your body, increasing the chances of heart and eye problems. Sitting for a long period of time increases your body’s fat and sugar levels, giving rise to problems such as obesity and diabetes as well.

If you think of a couch potato as one that is only sitting in front of a television set, you are wrong. Those who spend countless hours at work in front of their computers could also be termed as couch potatoes as there isn’t any physical activity happening. Why not take a break every 45 minutes and go for a walk for a minute or two?

5. Staying in an unhealthy relationship

If you aren’t getting the amount of love and happiness that you think you deserve in a relationship, it’s time to exit that particular relationship. Always get into something with someone who is supportive and respects all your career choices and decisions.

If you are in a harmful relationship where you end up being more stressed than happy or peaceful, then it’s time to make the tough decision to step out of it. You don’t want to end up having severe health issues such as high blood pressure, stress and reduced immunity because of a wrong relationship.

Here’s when you know it’s time to kick your relationship.

6. Procrastinating

Procrastination is basically the habit of delaying or postponing something. This is something we begin doing in school (delaying homework, studies, etc), take it to our jobs (not completing projects because there’s time for the deadline) and continue in various aspects of our lives. I have three words for you – DO IT NOW.

Do what you can as soon as possible and be ready for an opportunity when it comes your way. The last thing you want is to be weeping over a missed opportunity because you didn’t want to be ready on time. Procrastination also wastes a lot of our precious time, and ensures that our goals are never accomplished.

7. Biting your nails

Nail biting is something that people turn to, either when nervous, in tense situations or just out of habit. Either way, it’s not good. Biting nails leads to several problems, including dental problems, health problems, and let’s not forget that it is socially repelling, as people hate watching people bite their nails.

Those who bite their nails on a regular basis may have deformed growth of their nails in the long run. Also, the amount of germs, bacteria, and viruses that stick to our fingers as we touch different surfaces during the day is too damn high. Biting your nails will make you very prone to flus, colds and other illnesses. Stop this habit, immediately!

8. Binge drinking

We all love a drink every once in a way. Two, if not just one. However, like most things in life, you need to set a limit to drinking as well, as it can have grave consequences. Men and women who consume 2 or 3 drinks each day are said to be at a higher risk of liver damage, as well as a chance of liver and mouth cancer.

While social drinking every once in a while is found to be scientifically good for health, anything in excess can cause trouble. Short term side effects of binge drinking include quick gaining of weight as well as fatigue. What to do? Why not slowly reduce your weekly intake of alcohol, or even try to reserve alcohol for meals, where you tend to sip on your drink much slower than usual.

9. Choosing the wrong group of friends

The company you choose often reflects the kind of person you are, or the person that you will turn into – “You are what your friends are.” While sometimes you may end up influencing your friends, most of the times you end up being the one influenced.

Just like you need to choose the right relationships, you also need to choose the right friends – friends who are supportive, caring, helpful, respectful, and those who aren’t a constant distraction to you and your career. Good friends can help you increase your self-control, self-confidence and much more while choosing the wrong friends can easily have the opposite effect.

10. Smoking

The ‘Smoking Kills’ warning written on every cigarette box that you buy should be enough to let you know that smoking does literally kill. All you 420 people out there, relax; this refers to smoking cigarettes. We’re looking at the most dangerous of the bad habits mentioned on this list, with smoking causing 20-30% of heart disease deaths, 20-30% of cancer deaths and almost 90% of lung cancer deaths.

If you believe that you aren’t a chain smoker and that you only smoke a cigarette a day, you are still in danger as even passive smokers are in continuous danger. Smoking causes clots in your blood, and blockages in your arteries, not allowing a free flow of blood in your body. A stat says that smokers lose an average of 13-14 years of their overall life span. What to do? STOP SMOKING. The earlier in life you do so, the better.

Hope you liked my article on which habits need to be quit as soon as possible. This is the beginning of our Lifestyle section on Read Scoops and there will be quite a few to follow from here on. Don’t forget to leave your comments and you can also subscribe to our posts if you like 🙂