how long does it take you to break a habit?

[babypeppie]

how long does it take someone to break a habit? how long till he doesn't feel the need to do it again?

[Clanad]

It's often been said that if you repeat an action or stop an undesired action for 21 straight days you will have formed a new habit or broken one...

[rojash]

It's easier to replace a bad habit with a good one (or vice versa) than to simply break a habit.

Years ago,I read that giving up taking sugar in tea (or coffee) was one of the easiest habits to break, because each time you had a cup of tea without sugar, you were reinforcing the new habit. I decided to try it, purely out of curiosity, and it took me about 3 days to come to terms with it.

On the other hand, I smoke 40 cigs a day, I've spent thousands on every "cure" known to mankind, and I can't break that habit.

The first is a positive (I've had 5 cups of sugarless tea today), the second is a negative (I've not had x cigarettes to day).

[ACtheTROLL]

another ingredient is wanting to do it....

I don't drink coffee because I just have to have so much sugar in it - I've tried ... I can't drink it at all without sugar ...

I had my last fag in the carpark of A&E before finding it was a heart attack .... never missed them.
3 days to break an addiction - 3 weeks to break a habit

[tamborine]

Depends of the habit you want to break? If its too much food - change diets. If its smoking - have ever increasing gaps between cigs. If its a bloke - find another.

Which?

[SeaJayPea]

Depends on the person, depends on the habit. I packed up fags over six years ago and, although it's no longer a constant craving, I still have moments where I could do with one.