Your brain runs on autopilot most of the time. Here’s how to take back control

Conscious choice accounts for only a fraction of what you do each day. The vast majority of your actions are dictated by habit, according to new research published in Psychology & Health. The study found that around two-thirds of our daily behaviours are set in motion automatically, triggered by familiar environments, timings or routines. In other words, we live much of life on autopilot. “Psychologists define habits as cue–behaviour associations,” Prof Benjamin Gardner, co-author of the study, told BBC Science Focus.