Working with willpower and self-control can change our lives in many ways. Following a healthy diet, reading more, exercising, or working to achieve a long-term goal wouldn’t be as difficult if we could control our behavior. effect throughout life.
In the same line, Terrie Moffit of Duke University and a group of colleagues studied self-control in a group of 1000 people.
- These individuals were followed by birth at age 32.
- All as part of a long-term health survey in Dunedin.
- New Zealand.
- Along with his colleagues.
- Moffitt discovered that people with greater self-control during childhood became healthier adults.
- Physically and mentally.
With these results, it is clear that willpower and self-control mark the steps we take along the way. Recent studies suggest that it is possible to strengthen willpower and self-control with lifetime practice.
Researchers who study self-control often describe it as a muscle that eventually gets tired of hard work, however, they also say that there is another aspect in muscle analogy: although muscles get tired in the short term, exercise strengthens them in the long run. .
Australian scientists Megan Oaten and Ken Cheng of Sydney’s Macquarie University proposed an exercise program for a group of volunteers for two months, i. e. they assigned an activity that required willpower.
Participants who performed better on self-control tests reported smoking and drinking less, ate healthier, controlled their expenses, and improved their study habits.
It seems that the application of the will in physical exercise allows its generalization and also strengthens other areas of life.
More than 40 years ago, Walter Mischel, a psychologist at Columbia University, explored children’s self-control with a simple but effective test: He left a tempting marshmallow in front of the study volunteers, who in this case were children.
Before leaving them alone with the candy, he announced to them that he would leave the room and that if they could bear the temptation to touch the candy while they were away, would he give them another one when he came back?In the end, every child would, end up with two candy. Otherwise, they wouldn’t eat the second candy. We are talking about a classic experience, which has been reproduced many times analyzing the influence of various variables.
In general, children who were less successful in resisting marshmallow on the test were also less successful in self-control tests as adults. An individual’s sensitivity to immediate stimuli seems to persist throughout his or her life.
Eating frequently to maintain sugar levels in the brain can also help replenish your willpower reserves. However, shouldn’t you leave the word? Cheating on us.
According to experts, healthy foods without refined sugar are better than sweet foods to keep our sugar levels balanced.
The results of the research on will exhaustion also suggest that making a list of New Year’s purposes is not a good initiative if we really want to get what we write on this list.
Being exhausted in one area can lead to a reduction in willpower in other aspects of our lives, so it makes more sense to focus on one goal at a time.
Once we have developed a good habit, Baumeister says, it is no longer necessary to use willpower to maintain behavior. Over time, healthy habits become routine and can be achieved with much less effort.
Avoiding temptation is an effective tactic for maintaining self-control. In Walter Mischel’s study of sweets, children who focused their attention on marshmallows gave up earlier or resisted less. Temptation.
Another useful tactic to improve self-control is the technique known as “implementation intent”. For example, someone trying to control their alcohol consumption may decide before a party that “if someone offers me a drink, I’ll order a Coke. “
Deployment intents improve self-control. Having a plan in advance can allow us to make decisions at the moment without having to show willpower.
Mark Muraven found that people whose will had been exhausted persisted in their tasks of self-control when told that they would be paid for their efforts or that they would benefit others.
It concludes that strong motivation can help overcome a weakened will, at least to some extent.
Researchers found that the prefrontal cortex (a region that controls executive functions, such as decision-making) shows increased activity in people with greater self-control. Similarly, ventral striatum (a region that may be related to the processes of desire and reward). ) shows an increase in their activity in people with less self-control.
The truth is that many questions remain to be answered about the nature of self-control, however, it seems that with clear objectives, self-surveillance and a little practice, we can form a will to remain strong in the face of temptation. to follow paths with fewer demands or impositions.