Fight off temptation

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.

High HQ

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. Neuro-
scientist 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.

Psychology

While there may well be differences in the brain that predispose us to good or poor self-control, some researchers believe exercising willpower 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 an in-built advantage when it comes to resisting temptation.

Everyone’s inner resolve is occasionally stretched to the limit. Roy Baumeister, a 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 back 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.

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.