A 2023 study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) revealed no set timeframe for forming a habit.
“You may have heard that it takes about 21 days to form a habit, but that estimate was not based on any science,” Colin Camerer, Ph.D., said in a news release, according to Health.
The study collected information on over 30,000 people who went to the gym and 3,000 hospital workers who washed their hands during hospital shifts. The research team discovered that, on average, it could take up to six full months to establish a new exercise routine. For hospital workers, it only took weeks to develop the new habit. The results from the research proved there is no single day it takes to form a habit.
The results showed that the time it takes to build a habit depends on the individual, the habit they’re trying to develop, and their environment. Some people may be able to develop a new habit in under a month, while it may take three to six months for others to develop the same habit. Think of school and how long it took certain classmates to grasp curriculum concepts.
Some factors of how long it might take include how difficult the new habit is or how rewarding it may be.
