Here’s a proverb everyone knows: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We can trace it back almost a thousand years, but Benjamin Franklin made it famous by using it to encourage his fellow Philadelphians to cultivate fire-safety habits. The image of a spreading fire really brings home his point: it takes such small steps to prevent a fire, but what a project to stop it once it’s ablaze!

When it comes to health, the connection between the sparks and the eventual illness may not be quite as direct as with a fire, but we have plenty of data to convince us that healthy habits are well worth cultivating. Daily exercise, for example, can hold off a host of ills, from cardiac problems to diabetes. Even easier to cultivate are habits we’ve all built into your daily routine, like brushing your teeth before you go to bed. Once the habit’s established, it takes very little energy to keep with it.