You are here: DIME Home > Personal Development > Don't Tempt Me

Don't Tempt Me

Sticking to a diet or an exercise plan, resisting a mid-afternoon chocolate craving or giving up a bad habit (even when it's life-threatening, like smoking) is never easy, yet some people manage to do it more easily than others. Why are some of us better at exercising self-control?

Author: Sandra Prior
Date: May 12, 2010 - 11:33:02 AM

Printer friendly page

Sticking to a diet or an exercise plan, resisting a mid-afternoon chocolate craving or giving up a bad habit (even when it's life-threatening, like smoking) is never easy, yet some people manage to do it more easily than others. Why are some of us better at exercising self-control?

 

Although the subject has been studied scientifically for the last 40 years, and a range of reasons - from socio-economic to hormonal - have been posited, there doesn't seem to be one defining factor. But the good news is that we can train ourselves to be better at saying no.

 

What Science Says...

 

High IQ

 

Studies at universities in the US have shown that wealthier and more intelligent children, particularly those with a high verbal IQ, are slightly less impulsive on average, and that smarter children use deliberate tricks to keep immediate reward from their minds and thus avoid temptation. However, even then, some kids are better than others at deploying their attention.

 

Information Overload

 

Working memory - where we hold information from moment to moment - is another possible explanation. Neuroscientist Hugh Garavan from Dublin's Trinity College ( Ireland) says taxing our working memory makes self-control harder, suggesting that the two processes are somehow linked.

 

Ageing

 

The frontal lobes are the last parts of the brain to mature, and are still growing and changing well into our 20s. This could explain why teens tend to be less well-disciplined and more prone to thrill-seeking than other age groups. Teenagers experience pleasure and reward in the same way as adults, says Garavan, but their ability to control their basic urges is different.

 

The elderly also have a reputation for being uninhibited, though it's more a tendency to express uncensored opinions than a return to the recklessness of youth. Brain imaging studies show that as we age, the impulse-control network recruits more areas of the brain for the task, suggesting that it becomes less efficient.

 

Gender

 

In general, males seem to be less able to control their impulses than females. This could be due to social expectations, which may make young girls more obedient and eager to please than boys. However, research has shown that males are more likely to suffer from impulse control problems such as rage, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), drug use and antisocial personality disorders, suggesting they may be naturally less able to hold back. The differences could be partly due to the effects of sex hormones on the brain, Garavan suggests. A woman’s impulse control can certainly change with her menstrual cycle.

 

Physiology

 

While there may well be differences in the brain that pre dispose us to good or poor self-control, some researchers believe exercising will power not only has a neurological basis but a physiological one too. Suzanne Segerstrom, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington (US), says that we undergo subtle physiological changes as we use our willpower. In experiments she found that people who were most able to resist temptation had a temporary increase in heart rate variability (HRV). She believes this is an indicator of a physiological ‘pause-and-plan’ response as we try to ignore what we want and focus on what we know is good for us. Since people with a naturally high HRV were more able to resist temptation than others, this is further evidence that some people have in-built advantages when it comes to resisting temptation.

 

Everyone's inner resolve is occasionally stretched to the limit. Roy Baumeister, social psychologist at Florida State University (US), believes this is because willpower is more than just a metaphor. Self-control requires inner strength and effort, he says and that means you can use it up. Every time we make the effort to hold or do something we don't want to do, we use up willpower resources. Exercising willpower is like exercising a muscle, he says. It takes time for the resources to be replenished. Making difficult decisions and coping with stress may deplete the same resources, and also sap willpower.

 

Blood Sugar

 

Baumeister has also suggested that blood glucose levels are crucial to keeping your willpower strong. He gave people a sugary drink before they did a willpower exercise, and found that their self-control wasn't as depleted as in the case of those who had no drink, or an artificially sweetened drink. ‘Conscious, effortful control uses energy,’ he concludes. This could explain why all-encompassing health drives often fail. Quitting smoking may use all your willpower, leaving little in the tank to fuel a new exercise regime and healthy-eating plan.

 

The Good News Is...

 

Given all this evidence that our ability to control ourselves is determined by biology, there may seem little point trying to change our ways. However, there are a few tricks that can help us improve.

 

Brain imaging experiments by Garavan have shown that practice can boost self-control in tests. This training seems to have the opposite effect on the ageing process. The areas of the brain involved seem to become more efficient with use, and less of the brain is called into action.

 

Baumeister also found that working on your self-control in one area can have a positive impact elsewhere. When he ask people to concentrate on correcting their posture every time they thought of it for a period of two weeks, he found that persistence in puzzle-solving and other tests of self-control improved. Similar effects were seen when he asked people to stick to an exercise regimen, suggesting that it doesn't matter what routine you stick to, just sticking to it can improve self-control.

 

Clearly, improving your willpower the Baumeister way requires a certain amount of self-control to stick to the program in the first place. Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, from New York University and the University of Konstanz in Germany, believes there's another way to stay on track. He's come up with a method that will help even the worst procrastinator to achieve a higher level of self-control: pre-planning. Gollwitzer found that people who go to the trouble of making ‘when-where-and-how’ plans were about three times more likely to actually act on their goals.

 

He studied the effects of planning on all kinds of intentions, and found that it works in almost every domain - from initiating actions and activities where there's an initial reluctance to get started, to altering emotional responses, controlling violence and overcoming stereotypes and phobias. His methods have even improved impulse control in children with ADHD, and he plans to try them on drug addicts and people with other impulse control problems too.

 

According to Gollwitzer, planning works because it takes away some conscious mental effort. Even saying you'll go to the gym at 5pm on a specific day is a more successful strategy than intending to exercise once a week. Planning can turn a difficult conscious decision into an unconscious habit, making the process faster and more efficient, without depleting your energy.

 

So it seems that the ultimate healthy, happy and successful lifestyle is within reach. All you have to do is make a watertight plan, keep your blood sugar up and then - as the saying goes - just do it.

 

Sandra Prior runs her own bodybuilding website at http://bodybuild.rr.nu

View all articles by Sandra Prior

Link to this article:

Code to copy:

<a href="http://www.dime-co.com/personal-development/Don-t-Tempt-Me.shtml">Don't Tempt Me</a>

---

Search for articles: Advanced Search

Recommended Associates

Latest Articles in All Categories

Putting Up a Small Commercial Printing Business

So You Might Be Unemployed And Desire To Become A San Francisco Real Estate Investor Now

Meditation and Mindfulness: Dealing With Emotion

CPA Websites: Five Essential Ideas for Composing Convincing Articles

Set Goals In Order to Come Up With Your Action Plan

Is the Air in Your Home Safe to Breathe?

Coarse Fishing Tackle Review: The JW Young 13ft Trotter Rod

Section 1031 Exchanges For San Diego Real Estate Investors

Phoenix Real Estate Investing For Highest Possible Earnings

Legendary are the Volk Racing TE37 Wheels

Developing the Next Generation Wall Station (ChaseDesk™) for Healthcare - A Case Study

What are step down transformers?

Introducing Sharehype, the Revolutionary Tool for Online Marketers

Rewards To Shopping For Austin Real Estate On The Web

Hydroponics for Beginners

Do you write?

Would you like submit your articles and have them approved on a priority status? Find out more about how you can become a Priority author for pennies a day! Click here.

News Feed

Dime-co.com Home

Business (9328)

Computers & The Internet (5740)

Entertainment (1348)

Family (958)

Finance (1963)

Health (4246)

Home and Living (6670)

Marketing (6113)

Shopping & Product Reviews (2624)

Sports (694)

Travel and Vacations (1689)

Video Articles (1)

Editors Pick (1)