tighten your belt, strengthen your mind new york times
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8/7/08 6:56 AMTighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind - New York Times
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Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your MindBy SANDRA AAMODT and SAM WANGPublished: April 2, 2008
DECLINING house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs
and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to its
lowest point in five years. With a relatively long recession looking
increasingly likely, many American families may be planning to
tighten their belts.
Interestingly, restraining our consumer
spending, in the short term, may cause
us to actually loosen the belts around
our waists. What’s the connection? The brain has a
limited capacity for self-regulation, so exerting willpower
in one area often leads to backsliding in others. The good
news, however, is that practice increases willpower
capacity, so that in the long run, buying less now may
improve our ability to achieve future goals — like losing
those 10 pounds we gained when we weren’t out shopping.
The brain’s store of willpower is depleted when people
control their thoughts, feelings or impulses, or when they
modify their behavior in pursuit of goals. Psychologist Roy
Baumeister and others have found that people who
successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are
less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.
In one pioneering study, some people were asked to eat
radishes while others received freshly baked chocolate chip
cookies before trying to solve an impossible puzzle. The
radish-eaters abandoned the puzzle in eight minutes on
average, working less than half as long as people who got cookies or those who were
excused from eating radishes. Similarly, people who were asked to circle every “e” on a
page of text then showed less persistence in watching a video of an unchanging table and
wall.
Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink, suppressing
emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses, taking exams and trying
to impress someone. Task persistence is also reduced when people are stressed or tired
from exertion or lack of sleep.
What limits willpower? Some have suggested that it is blood sugar, which brain cells use
as their main energy source and cannot do without for even a few minutes. Most
cognitive functions are unaffected by minor blood sugar fluctuations over the course of a
day, but planning and self-control are sensitive to such small changes. Exerting self-
control lowers blood sugar, which reduces the capacity for further self-control. People
who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and
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8/7/08 6:56 AMTighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind - New York Times
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who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and
beginning a second one perform equally well on both tasks, while people who drink
sugarless diet lemonade make more errors on the second task than on the first. Foods
that persistently elevate blood sugar, like those containing protein or complex
carbohydrates, might enhance willpower for longer periods.
In the short term, you should spend your limited willpower budget wisely. For example,
if you do not want to drink too much at a party, then on the way to the festivities, you
should not deplete your willpower by window shopping for items you cannot afford.
Taking an alternative route to avoid passing the store would be a better strategy.
On the other hand, if you need to study for a big exam, it might be smart to let the
housecleaning slide to conserve your willpower for the more important job. Similarly, it
can be counterproductive to work toward multiple goals at the same time if your
willpower cannot cover all the efforts that are required. Concentrating your effort on one
or at most a few goals at a time increases the odds of success.
Focusing on success is important because willpower can grow in the long term. Like a
muscle, willpower seems to become stronger with use. The idea of exercising willpower is
seen in military boot camp, where recruits are trained to overcome one challenge after
another.
In psychological studies, even something as simple as using your nondominant hand to
brush your teeth for two weeks can increase willpower capacity. People who stick to an
exercise program for two months report reducing their impulsive spending, junk food
intake, alcohol use and smoking. They also study more, watch less television and do
more housework. Other forms of willpower training, like money-management classes,
work as well.
No one knows why willpower can grow with practice but it must reflect some biological
change in the brain. Perhaps neurons in the frontal cortex, which is responsible for
planning behavior, or in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with cognitive
control, use blood sugar more efficiently after repeated challenges. Or maybe one of the
chemical messengers that neurons use to communicate with one another is produced in
larger quantities after it has been used up repeatedly, thereby improving the brain’s
willpower capacity.
Whatever the explanation, consistently doing any activity that requires self-control
seems to increase willpower — and the ability to resist impulses and delay gratification is
highly associated with success in life.
Sandra Aamodt, the editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, and Sam Wang, an
associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton, are the authors
of “Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to
Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life.”
TipsTo find reference information about the words used in this article, double-click on any word, phrase or name. Anew window will open with a dictionary definition or encyclopedia entry.
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