Why your habits break when you move
When students moved universities, habits like exercising mostly survived only if the setting around them stayed the same.
Habits lean on the setting around them. When students changed universities, habits like exercising mostly carried over only if parts of the setting stayed the same.
The study
Researchers followed students transferring to a new university and looked at their exercising, newspaper reading, and TV watching. These habits survived the move only when aspects of the context did not change, such as reading the paper with other people as before. When the setting changed, behavior depended more on what people currently intended to do.
Starting small
A move, a new job, or a new schedule can shake loose even well-kept habits. Keeping one familiar piece, like the same time of day or the same companion, can help a habit make the trip.