#121: Habit Stacking

I want to talk to you about a simple hack to help you stay on track with your dry eye treatment. It's called habit stacking.  If you haven't heard of habit stacking, I'm going to explain it here.  And, I'll even tell you why it's the best way, I think, to incorporate your dry eye treatment into your daily life.

First, let me tell you a little story.  Many years ago, when I was pregnant with my second child, I had something called "Gingivitis of Pregnancy". It was awful. Every time I brushed my teeth, my gums would bleed.  Just the lightest scrub, and I would have a bloody mouth. It was so awful.

I went to dentist to ask what to do.  I was distraught.  My gums were bleeding all the time.  I could just touch them, and they would start bleeding.  My dentist said, I had to start flossing.  I looked at her like she had three heads.  I told her that I didn't have time.  I worked full time.  I had a toddler.  I'm tired and pregnant.   

And now the dentist wanted me to floss?  Everyday?  I felt like one of my patients.  My patients say the same thing to me when I ask them to do four simple steps to treat their dry eyes.  They tell me it's going to be like a full time job.  And, they tell me it will take all day. 

4-Simple Steps

Let's review.  What are these four steps?

1. Hydrate: Use artificial tears to moisturize your eyes.  Optase Dry Eye Intense it's a preservative-free drop that comes in a bottle multi-dose bottle.
2. Harmonize: Clean your eyes with a lid and lash cleanser.  I like a hypochlorous acid spray.  The spray is gentle and easy to use.  Just spray it on your clean (free of makeup and lotions) eyelids.  Spray it on and leave it.  Do not rinse away.
3. Heat:  Heat your eyelids with a warm compress. This melts the oils trapped inside the glands that line the edge of the lids.  This compress is electric.  It plugs in it's the UNclog Mask.  When you plug it in, it starts heating up.  Lay it over your eyelids for 10 minutes.  Use it twice a day.
4. Heal: Give your body the building blocks it needs to produce healthy tears by taking a dry eyes supplement.  I like HydroEye.

What is Habit Stacking?

Habit stacking is when you stack a new habit on top of an old habit.  You marry two habits together so that it is easy to remember the new one. Let's look at the flossing example:

I knew that in order to stop my gums from bleeding, I needed to start flossing.  I didn't have the energy to floss at the end of the day, when it was time to sleep.  I decided instead that whenever I had my toddler in the bathtub, I would floss my teeth.  She would be joyfully occupied in the bathtub.  I was already in the bathroom where the floss lives anyway.  So, I would just take those extra 2 minutes to floss my teeth while I watched her play in the tub.  Problem solved.  It didn't take any extra time out of my day this way.

So, what do you have to do with your dry eye treatment to make it easy to remember?  You need to stack the habit of the dry eye treatment with something that we're already doing.  Let's try out some examples. 

• Artificial tears: You could use these first thing in the morning when you're drinking a cup of coffee, you could place them in your eyes every time you eat a meal, or you could do it every time you sit down at your computer.  Find something that you're doing two or three times a day and put your artificial tears right next to that thing.
• Lid Cleanser: This one is so easy to stack with washing your face or taking a shower.  After your face is clean, spritz the Hypochlorous spay on your eyes, and you're ready to go.
• Heating the lids:   Warm compress can be stacked listening to the news or meditating.  Or, you could do the warm compress mask right before you go to sleep at night.  Lay it over your eyes when you're getting ready to fall asleep.  There are probably several places in your life that you could put the warm compress into your daily schedule without taking up any excess time.
• Heal your eyes: Taking a dry eye supplement could be combined with taking any other medication you take with food. I like to add mine into my pill case.  So all the pills are together.  When I take my vitamins, I also take my HydroEye supplement. 

CONCLUSION:

To consistently keep up with your dry eye treatment, try pairing it with something that you're already doing.  Make it simple and easy to remember.  It will just add seconds to what you're already doing.  When you're already brushing your teeth, cleanse your eyes with your lid and lash cleanser.  You're already sitting down at the computer, use your artificial tears.  It's simple if you stack these new habits on to something else that you're already doing.  It takes almost no time at all.  And, it's easy to incorporate into your lifestyle.