Self-Improvement Report: What Habits Americans Tried to Quit, Fix, and Start in 2025 and What They’re Aiming For in 2026
ST: Insights into the habits Americans hid, the attempts that didn’t stick, the money they spent, and the services they still don’t realize are covered.
Every January, millions of Americans promise themselves that this will be the year they finally quit sugar, delete the apps, or cut back on late-night drinking. Yet, by springtime, many find themselves right back where they started—frustrated, overwhelmed, and unsure why change didn’t stick. As health, wellness, and financial stress continue to dominate headlines, understanding how people actually approach self-improvement has never been more relevant.
To learn more about how Americans are quitting, or struggling to quit, their most persistent habits, we surveyed 1000 U.S. adults about their New Year’s Resolutions. We explored what people attempted to give up in 2025, why they did it, how much those habits cost them, and what stood in the way of real progress. In an uncertain economy, Americans are finding ways to save their money and mental health at the same time.
Key Takeaways
- Top habits Americans tried to quit in 2025 were sugar (46%), fast food (41%), and alcohol (34%). One in three tried to quit social media, rising to 52% among Gen Z.
- Top motivations for quitting or starting new habits were physical health (56%), mental health (38%), anxiety or stress (31%), and financial reasons (29%). Among Gen Z, mental health led at 61%.
- More than 1 in 3 Americans (35%) didn’t tell anyone they were trying to quit a habit in 2025. That rose to 40% among baby boomers, compared to 25% of Gen Z. Among men trying to quit adult content, 20% kept it a secret.
- Seventy-one percent were unsuccessful in quitting their habit(s), despite 41% starting off strong; however, Millennials (32%) had the highest success rate compared to Gen Z (23%), who had the lowest.
- 57% spent more than $100 on bad habits last year, with nearly 1 in 3 (30%) exceeding $500. Thirty percent of Gen Zers turned to Buy Now Pay Later services to cover these costs.
- One in five avoid professional help for their habits due to out-of-pocket costs or copays, while 15% say they are unsure what their insurance actually covers. Half would seek treatment if they knew it was fully covered, with 75% of Gen Zers expressing interest.
The Habits We Tried To Quit
We’ve all made a New Year’s Resolution only to completely forget about it by President’s Day. Whether it’s giving up sugar or cutting back on late-night scrolling, people can get a bit ambitious with their lifestyle goals. Here’s what people tried to give up in 2025 (and how honest they were about their habits).
Some of our hardest habits to break are also the most tempting. In 2025, 46% of Americans tried to cut sugar, followed by 41% giving up fast food and 34% quitting drinking. Over half of millennials (51%) tried to give up sugar in 2025, and they were also the generation with the most people trying to quit vaping or smoking (39%).
While all the other generations had sugar as their top answer, 52% of Gen Z tried to quit social media this year (compared to 33% of Americans overall). Sugar was not the runner-up for this generation either. 46% of Gen Z tried to cut back on fast food, while 45% tried to give up sugar, putting eating habits just behind social media. These trends may point to growing digital fatigue among young adults who grew up online, alongside a rising awareness of how habit-forming social platforms have become.
Beyond what Americans tried to change, the data also shows how private those efforts were. Baby boomers stood out, with 40% saying they hadn’t told anyone about their new habits, compared to just 25% of Gen Z. Privacy was most pronounced among men trying to quit adult content, as 20% said they hid both their consumption and their attempts to quit. For many, personal change touches on sensitive ground, and some prefer to navigate it entirely on their own.
Motivations for Quitting or Cutting Back
Everyone wants to improve themselves, but we’re all focused on different areas. Across generations, physical health was the most common goal overall, though it wasn’t the top priority for every age group.
Overall, 56% of Americans are making changes to improve their physical health, whether that means losing weight, lowering cholesterol, or preventing conditions linked to habits like smoking or drinking. This focus is consistent across most generations: 61% of millennials, 60% of Gen X, and 46% of baby boomers cited physical health as their primary motivator. As people age, maintaining health and longevity increasingly becomes their top priority.
But once again, Gen Z is the outlier. The majority of Gen Z (61%) said they were cutting out old habits to improve their mental health (as opposed to 38% overall). Over half of the generation (52%) is trying to quit social media, and for good reason. Social media usage has been linked to worsening mental health in multiple studies, and can even lead to addiction.
External pressure led many to try to change as well. Financial needs (29%), health scares (14%), and pressure from friends and family (13%) were other common reasons to quit. Meanwhile, 19% said none of the listed reasons were why they attempted to quit, pointing to the personalized nature of any self-improvement journey.
Tightening The Budget: The Financial Burden of Our Bad Habits
Though less than a third cited financial strain as their primary motivation for quitting, many admitted their bad habits still took a significant toll on their finances. Some found themselves spending thousands of dollars on these vices, catalyzing a need for change. We found, though, that the spending differed greatly not only between generations but also between genders.
While 43% of adults spent less than $100 on habits they later tried to quit, the remaining 57% of people spent over $100. Millennials were the most likely to spend: 31% spent between $100 and $499, and 23% spent between $500 and $999. While only 5% of baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Z spent more than $2,500 on their vices, 8% of millennials spent that much or more. Once seen as a financially strapped generation, millennials now account for 28% of overall U.S. spending—a trend that’s reflected in how they fund their habits.
That said, Gen Z were more likely to get creative with how they covered their expenses. Nearly a third (30%) of Gen Z utilized Buy Now, Pay Later apps like Klarna and Affirm, and 1 in 5 (20%) used cash to prevent leaving digital proof of their spending. This could speak to underdeveloped financial literacy among young adults.
Men were far more likely to overspend on a bad habit than women. While 63% of men reported spending more than $100 on a vice, less than half (48%) of women did the same. Several factors could explain this difference. Men may be more likely to spend money on costly habits, such as gambling or adult content, while women reported higher rates of trying to quit social media, a largely free behavior. It may also reflect differences in spending power: with many women managing household and childcare responsibilities, they may have less disposable income to spend on personal vices.
The Setup vs. The Follow-Through
If breaking a bad habit were easy, there would be no self-help books and no diet industry. We asked our respondents how their sugar fasts and “Dry Januaries” went, and found that breaking bad habits can be tougher than it looks. While many were able to quit for a few weeks or months, consistent change was difficult to achieve.
Two in five adults (41%) started strong with their new habit, but weren’t able to follow through. Only 29% successfully changed their habit, and 30% never started, either due to being overwhelmed, confused, or just forgetfulness. Millennials were most likely to stick with a habit at 32%, and Gen Z was most likely to start strong but fall off, at 46%.
What makes vices hard to quit is the fact that, for many Americans, they meet a real and pressing need. Almost one-quarter (24%) said their bad habit provides stress relief that’s missing when they try to quit, and the same number of people say that the habit is part of their routine or social life. Finding substitutions for habits like vaping, drinking, and eating sugary treats is difficult: a healthy carob-and-oat ball just doesn’t hit the same way as a pint of ice cream after a long day. This emotional aspect leads many back to their same vices.
Americans Don’t Always Know What’s Covered By Insurance
One reason sticking to a resolution can be so difficult is that many people try to go it alone, either by keeping their goals private or not seeking the resources available to them. For instance, someone trying to improve their mental health or quit a substance might not realize that their insurance can cover services like therapy or rehab. While coverage varies by plan, many Americans have some access to these services. Yet misconceptions about what insurance will pay for lead many to go without the help they need.
Over half (52%) of Americans did not think most insurance plans covered therapy. However, individual therapy is covered under mental health benefits by most private plans, and ACA/Marketplace plans must cover behavioral health treatment. Only 35% of respondents believed that rehab or detox care was covered by insurance, and 31% believed it covered outpatient stress or anxiety care. However, rehab is usually covered when utilized for substance use disorder, and outpatient mental health care is usually covered when tied to a diagnosed condition. Baby boomers were generally more accurate in their answers, possibly due to more time spent navigating the American healthcare system.
These misconceptions directly lead to people avoiding help. Nearly 30% of respondents believed that none of the listed services were covered by insurance, and 1 in 5 said they’d actively avoided care because of their co-pay. Even though 75% of Gen Z would seek treatment if they knew it was covered, 1 in 5 of them doesn’t know what their insurance actually covers. This gap in insurance literacy means that more young adults than ever need resources to understand their insurance coverage.
What Americans Hope to Improve in 2026
Even if our 2025 resolutions fell off by February, fresh starts are possible in 2026. With a “K-shaped economy” and a looming potential recession, Americans are looking to clear their stress away. While the classic resolutions like eating better and exercising more still lead the pack, our findings show that Americans want to feel better just as much as they want to look better.
Predictably, exercising more is the most popular resolution for 2026 so far, with 41% of adults revamping their fitness routines. Right behind is the resolution to cook more at home at 40%, with people wanting to cut down their spending and their caloric intake at once. Over a third (37%) want to fix their sleep patterns, and just under a third (27%) are going to start taking their budget more seriously. Over half (51%) of Gen Z are resolving to fix their sleep habits, higher than any other generation, highlighting the link between increased phone usage and disturbed sleep.
Quite a few popular resolutions are wellness and mental health-focused: limiting screen time (26%), practicing mindfulness (26%), journaling (18%), and going to therapy (17%). Gen Z (36%) and millennials (25%) were the most likely to vow to start therapy; meanwhile, only 14% of Gen X and 5% of boomers said the same. The younger generations are famously more open to therapy, more comfortable seeking mental health care, and are ready to use 2026 to prove it.
Quitting For Good: The New American Dream
Without the right structures in place, it can be incredibly difficult to kick unhelpful habits, but not impossible. In 2025, people weren’t just fighting sugar cravings or the urge to check their phones; they were battling stress, financial pressure, and the fear of admitting they needed help. The data shows that lasting change doesn’t hinge on willpower alone; it depends on whether people feel supported, informed, and equipped to tackle the root causes behind their habits.
As we move into 2026, Americans are hoping for more than quick fixes. They’re looking for better guidance, accessible care, and the confidence that the support they need is actually within reach. With clearer information about insurance coverage and a stronger safety net, many of the habits that once felt unshakeable may finally be ready to fall away.
About Check My Insurance
Check My Insurance helps Americans understand what their health insurance actually covers — clearly, simply, and in seconds. By analyzing plans across major providers, the platform makes it easier to learn whether services like therapy, rehab, or outpatient care are eligible for coverage. For anyone trying to break old habits or build healthier ones, Check My Insurance offers the clarity needed to take the next step with confidence.
Methodology
Check My Insurance surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults about the habits they are trying to quit, what motivates them to change, the financial impact of these habits, and how confident they feel using insurance to seek support. The survey sample was balanced across age, gender, and parental status. Respondents answered questions about their behaviors over the past 12 months, the challenges they faced, and the changes they hope to make in 2026. All findings reflect self-reported behaviors and perceptions.
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