What is ‘Wellness Stacking,’ and How Can it Benefit You?

Are you trying to develop more self-care routines but coming up short on time? Consider wellness stacking – the viral social media trend which helps you incorporate a few more healthy habits into your daily schedule without sacrificing your current responsibilities or goals.

Sounds a little too good to be true, doesn’t it? But there is actual research-based science behind the technique. Habit stacking is another word for it and the idea behind this, as Dr. Anthony Lim, MD, JD, Medical Director of the McDougall Health and Medical Center explains, “is to think of a habit that you already do each day and that is already built in to the rhythm of your day and then stacking on top of that current habit of yours a new habit that you’re trying to develop.”

Wellness stacking 101

So what does this look like in real life?

“An example of habit stacking is using the moment you finish dinner – that becomes the trigger for brushing your teeth and by using that now as a trigger for brushing your teeth, you are that much less likely to snack in the evening,” Lim elucidates, “So essentially your current habit serves as the trigger for a new one that hasn’t fully set in yet.”

Stacking wellness habits basically means sneaking new positive actions into routines you’ve already established. Its effective because it works through four stages – cue, craving, response and reward. The cue is the existing routine such as eating dinner. The craving equates to your motivation to be healthier (such as snacking less at night) and the response is the new habit that you’re attaching to a routine you’re already doing – such as brushing your teeth. Finally, the best part is the reward which manifests as the benefit you gain from the change in your routine, like feeling more energized because you’re eating less before bed.

The beauty of this trend is that you can stack any type of wellness habit you prefer. Are you trying to add more movement into your day, but you don’t have a long stretch of time available?

“As soon as you brush your teeth [in the morning] that’s when you put on your shoes and go for a 5 minute walk,” Lim suggests, “If you’re not currently doing any extra exercise in the morning – think of something you do every morning that you do without fail and then just start to link putting on your shoes to that current habit.”

How to form a new habit

Emerging evidence on health-related habit formation indicates that establishing a new habit can take about two months and success depends of whether or not you can follow a particular pattern such as the one below:

1. Decide to take action. Commitment starts out as a mental state of mind before the new habit is even introduced. Remember that repetition is more crucial than effort once you begin and you don’t need to do it perfectly every time.
2. Turn intention into behavior. Make sure to plan out the where, the why and the when. “The idea behind this is the more concrete you are about thinking about when and where you’re going to do a certain behavior,” says Lim, “The more likely it is to happen.”
3. Develop automaticity. Practice, practice, practice, as the adage goes and this is especially true when incorporating a new habit. It takes time to rewire neural pathways and moving the behavior from conscious effort to an automatic, second-nature action doesn’t happen overnight.

Stacking a new habit on top of one you’re already doing strengthens your success because you’re using an already establish cue (a specific time, location, or preceding action) to help trigger the new behavior.

Benefits of wellness stacking

Reduced decision fatigue

Adding more self-care steps to your routine can feel overwhelming. By attaching a new, healthy habit (like taking vitamins) to a fixed routine (like brushing your teeth), you reduce the mental energy required to make healthy choices.

Mental health boost

Stacking small wins releases dopamine, a crucial neurotransmitter that influences pleasure, memory and motor control. The release of this neurochemical increases your motivation to continue and, over time, helps to foster a stronger, more resilient, and healthier identity.

Sustainability

Research suggests that using existing cues to trigger new habits increases the likelihood of long-term adherence to a healthier lifestyle. It’s so much easier to pair healthy habits together – especially if one of them is already established.

Time saver

The most obvious pro of stacking your wellness habits is that you can get more of them done in less time, and you may also finally be able to address those habits that you are more inclined to forget or have difficulty finding the chance to incorporate.

Improved metabolic health and weight management

More self-care literally equates to a healthier you! By stacking small, consistent actions such as walking 3 minutes after every meal, studies confirm that you can improve your blood sugar levels, reduce body weight and lower systemic inflammation.

Stacking wellness habits for beginners

Start by identifying the habits in your life that are most neglected and that you’d like to see more often in your daily routine. This is not about going big or going home. Start small and tack on one activity at a time, slowly building up to doing multiple tasks at once. Do you want to start working out in the morning or drinking more water? Once you have that one habit built into your other regular activities, consider building onto it with something else you want to integrate into your routine.

And try not to make it a chore or it won’t be sustainable.

“I don’t particularly love push-ups or pull-ups or sit-ups but if I only have to do like 15 or 20 of them at a time, I don’t mind them,” confirms Lim, “So I will use going to the bathroom oftentimes as my trigger for doing a set of push-ups or burpees or something like that.”

Don’t get discouraged if you want to upgrade your skincare routine with exfoliating face masks but also have a lengthy list of mystery audiobooks you haven’t been able to catch up on. It may feel like you don’t have any room in your schedule for these luxuries when you hardly have enough time to work out or prep health meals. But what if you started listening to your audiobooks while you worked out or began wearing face masks while you prepared your meals? Stacking healthy habits enriches your life without added stress or long hours. That’s the magic of it! So don’t hesitate to take another look at your to-do list with wellness stacking in mind!