The Science of Self-Help

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Day 173, Bacelona Food, &Thoughts on the Superman Sleep Cycle

Day 132 Record Keeping SRHI = 84
Day 141 Fixed Meditation SRHI = 82
Day 87 Bodyweight Exercise SRHI= 80 (30 sec 1-legged planks)
Day 14 Writing = 31
Day 187 Eating SRHI = 64
Great sleep, dragging today. 

Barcelona Food

Felt more automaticity start to return to my eating habit yesterday. I find it interesting that this is starting to feel like an upswing in this habit. I had, in my mind, pegged it for around a year. If that is the case, the halfway point where I should be experiencing an upswing in ease of automaticity would be about day 183, and I started experiencing it on day 185. Very interesting.

I was initially worried that the food here in Barcelona would be quite challenging. A friend described that every meal comes out with platters of bread - not exactly Primal.

But so far I’ve found it pretty easy. And I’ve started by saying no to the bread - either by asking them not to bring it out or by just ignoring it on the table. Starting out in a new place will hopefully underscore the habit. I do have to be careful about hidden ingredients - Gazpacho, though having the general appearance of a cold veggie soup can have bread blended in to add with thickness. As can some types of chorizo.

But generally things are much easier because there is variety and because it’s Europe and because it’s touristy. People speak English and and restaurants are used to picky customers. Things have labels - chorizo will say if it contains gluten - a big plus.

Superman Sleep Cycle
It’s interesting that habit seems to have some sort of correlation to days, cycles, and sleep. I don’t think of habits forming just because of repetition. If I execute a habit like…idunno…flossing 10 times in one day, I don’t see the habit as forming the same as if I had done the habit once per day for 10 days. There might be a correlation - it might form faster, but I don’t think it would form the same….though this definitely is a point in the whole habit formation subject that desperately needs experimentation.

I have to wonder if sleep plays a key role in habits. If that’s the case, would more cycles of sleep result in faster habituation? If a person were to go on the superman sleep cycle (6 20-minute naps every 4 hours) would he form habits faster? Would it correlate to 6 days of regular habit formation?