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February 22 - March 8, 2020
most people feel like willpower failures—in control one moment but overwhelmed and out of control the next.
Self-knowledge—especially of how we find ourselves in willpower trouble—is the foundation of self-control.
thanks to our biological instinct to crave sugar and fat, we all need to restrain the urge to single-handedly keep the local bakery in business.
People who have better control of their attention, emotions, and actions are better off almost any way you look at it.
Many temporary states—like being drunk, sleep-deprived, or even just distracted—inhibit the prefrontal cortex, mimicking the brain damage that Gage sustained.
Some people find it useful to give a name to the impulsive mind, like “the cookie monster” to the part of you that always wants instant gratification, “the critic” to the part of you that likes to complain about everyone and everything, or “the procrastinator” to the person who never wants to get started.
THE FIRST RULE OF WILLPOWER: KNOW THYSELF
one study asked people how many food-related decisions they made in one day. What would you say? On average, people guessed fourteen. In reality, when these same folks carefully tracked their decisions, the average was 227.
Baba Shiv, a professor of marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, has shown that people who are distracted are more likely to give in to temptations.
When your mind is preoccupied, your impulses—not your long-term goals—will guide your choices.
To have more self-control, you first need to develop more self-awareness.
Neuroscientists have discovered that when you ask the brain to meditate, it gets better not just at meditating, but at a wide range of self-control skills, including attention, focus, stress management, impulse control, and self-awareness. People who meditate regularly aren’t just better at these things. Over time, their brains become finely tuned willpower machines. Regular meditators have more gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, as well as regions of the brain that support self-awareness.
meditation increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, in much the same way that lifting weights increases blood flow to your muscles.
Willpower is actually three powers—I will, I won’t, and I want—that help us to be a better version of ourselves.
It’s a temporary state of both mind and body that gives you the strength and calm to override your impulses. Researchers are beginning to understand what that state looks like, and why the complexity of our modern world often interferes with it.
unlike the saber-toothed tiger, the cheesecake is not the real threat. Think about it: That cheesecake cannot do anything to you, your health, or your waistline unless you pick up the fork. That’s right: This time, the enemy is within.
Your instincts are pushing you toward a potentially bad decision. What’s needed, therefore, is protection of yourself by yourself. This is what self-control is all about.
To help the prefrontal cortex, the pause-and-plan response redirects energy from the body to the brain.
By keeping you from immediately following your impulses, the pause-and-plan response gives you the time for more flexible, thoughtful action.
Your heart speeds up a bit when you inhale: buh-dum buh-dum buh-dum. It slows down again when you exhale: buh-dum buh-dum buh-dum. This is good.
when people successfully exert self-control, the parasympathetic nervous system steps in to calm stress and control impulsive action. Heart rate goes down, but variability goes up.
Studies also show that people with higher heart rate variability are better at ignoring distractions, delaying gratification, and dealing with stressful situations. They are also less likely to give up on difficult tasks, even when they initially fail or receive critical feedback. These findings have led psychologists to call heart rate variability the body’s “reserve” of willpower—a physiological measure of your capacity for self-control.
Many factors influence your willpower reserve, from what you eat (plant-based, unprocessed foods help; junk food doesn’t) to where you live (poor air quality decreases heart rate variability—yes, L.A.’s smog may be contributing to the high percentage of movie stars in rehab).
Slowing the breath down activates the prefrontal cortex and increases heart rate variability, which helps shift the brain and body from a state of stress to self-control mode.
Exercise turns out to be the closest thing to a wonder drug that self-control scientists have discovered. For starters, the willpower benefits of exercise are immediate.
The long-term effects of exercise are even more impressive. It not only relieves ordinary, everyday stress, but it’s as powerful an antidepressant as Prozac.
Working out also enhances the biology of self-control by increasing baseline heart rate variability and training the brain.
Physical exercise—like meditation—makes your brain bigger and faster, and the prefrontal cortex shows the largest training effect.
“What kind of exercise is best?” To which I respond, “What kind will you actually do?”
Being mildly but chronically sleep deprived makes you more susceptible to stress, cravings, and temptation.
Your prefrontal cortex, that energy-hungry area of the brain, bears the brunt of this personal energy crisis. Sleep researchers even have a cute nickname for this state: “mild prefrontal dysfunction.” Shortchange your sleep, and you wake up with temporary Phineas Gage–like damage to your brain.
Just like some stress is necessary for a happy and productive life, some self-control is needed. But just like living under chronic stress is unhealthy, trying to control every aspect of your thoughts, emotions, and behavior is a toxic strategy. It is too big a burden for your biology.
Studies show that taking time for relaxation every day can protect your health while also increasing your willpower reserve.
We’re not talking about zoning out with television or “relaxing” with a glass of wine and a huge meal. The kind of relaxation that boosts willpower is true physical and mental rest that triggers what Harvard Medical School cardiologist Herbert Benson calls the physiological relaxation response. Your heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure drops, and your muscles release held tension. Your brain takes a break from planning the future or analyzing the past.
Stay here for five to ten minutes, enjoying the fact that there is nothing to do but breathe.
Relaxation will help your body recover from the physiological effects of chronic stress or heroic self-control.
Science also points us to a critical insight: Stress is the enemy of willpower.
in the long term, nothing drains willpower faster than stress.
Learning how to better manage your stress is one of the most important things you can do to improve your willpower.
A 2010 national survey by the American Psychological Association found that 75 percent of people in the United States experience high levels of stress.
American adults now get two hours less sleep per night than the average in 1960.
Some experts believe that the decrease in average sleep time is also one of the reasons obesity rates have soared over the same time period.
Tired, stressed-out people start from a tremendous disadvantage, and we are a tired, stressed-out nation.
When we’re in a state of chronic stress, it’s our most impulsive selves who face our willpower challenges.
The five-minute green willpower fill-up. Get active outdoors—even just a walk around the block—to reduce stress, improve your mood, and boost motivation.
Researchers have found that self-control is highest in the morning and steadily deteriorates over the course of the day.
because every act of willpower depletes willpower, using self-control can lead to losing control.
thanks to the near-constant self-control demands of our society, are we destined to be a nation of willpower-drained zombies, wandering the world seeking instant gratification?
The human brain has, at any given time, a very small supply of energy. It can store some energy in its cells, but it is mostly dependent on a steady stream of glucose circulating in the body’s bloodstream.
When the brain detects a drop in available energy, it gets a little nervous. What if it runs out of energy? Like the banks, it may decide to stop spending and save what resources it has. It will keep itself on a tight energy budget, unwilling to spend its full supply of energy. The first expense to be cut? Self-control, one of the most energy-expensive tasks the brain performs.
