Willpower And Self-control Can Change Your Life According To Science

Working on willpower and self-control could change our lives in many facets. Following that healthy diet, reading more, exercising, or working toward a long-term goal wouldn’t be so difficult. The benefits of willpower seem to extend throughout life.

Along these lines, Terrie Moffit of Duke University and a group of colleagues studied self-control in a group of 1,000 individuals.

They were followed from birth to 32 years of age as part of a long-term health study in Dunedin, New Zealand. Along with his colleagues, Moffitt found that individuals with greater self-control during their childhood became physically and mentally healthier adults.

With these results, it is evident that willpower and self-control mark the steps that we are taking along the way. Recent studies suggest that there are ways that willpower and self-control can be strengthened with practice throughout life.

Facts about willpower and self-control

Researchers studying self-control often describe it as a muscle that becomes fatigued from heavy work. However, they also say that there is another aspect of the muscle analogy. While muscles are fatigued by exercise in the short term, exercise strengthens them in the long term.

By consistently applying willpower to one area, others improve

Australian scientists, Megan Oaten, and Ken Cheng, from Macquarie University in Sydney, assigned an exercise program, that is, an activity that requires willpower, to a group of volunteers for two months.

Participants who performed better on self-monitoring tests reported that they smoked and drank less alcohol, ate healthier, controlled their spending, and improved their study habits.

Applying your willpower consistently in physical exercise apparently generalized and strengthened it in other vital areas.

Delayed satisfaction

More than 40 years ago, Walter Mischel, a psychologist at Columbia University, explored children’s self-control with a simple, but effective test. In front of the study volunteers, in this case children, a very tempting candy was left.

Before leaving them alone with him, they were announced that the investigator would go out and that, if they held on during his absence without touching the candy, on their return he would give them another and they would have two. Otherwise, they would not enjoy that second candy. We are talking about a classic experiment, which has been replicated many times, analyzing the influence of different variables.

In general, the children who were less successful in resisting the candy in the test conducted also had less success in the self-control tests as adults. An individual’s sensitivity to immediate stimuli appears to persist throughout the person’s life.

Willpower and glucose

Eating frequently to maintain brain sugar levels can also help recharge your reserves of willpower. But we must not let the word “sugar” fool us.

According to experts, healthy foods without refined sugar are better than sweets in keeping sugar levels balanced.

The goals, better one at a time

Findings from studies of willpower depletion also suggest that making a list of New Year’s resolutions is not a good initiative if we really want to achieve what we write on that list.

Taking on goals one by one makes more sense. Once we’ve gotten into a good habit, Baumeister says, using willpower to maintain the behavior is no longer necessary. Over time, healthy habits become routine, and you can follow them with much less effort.

Avoid temptation

Avoiding temptation is an effective tactic for maintaining self-control. In Walter Mischel’s study of candy, children who turned their attention to candy gave up earlier or resisted less. Those who closed their eyes, looked the other way, or were distracted in some other way, managed to resist the temptation.

The “implementation intention”

Another useful tactic for improving self-control is the “deployment intent” technique. For example, someone trying to control their alcohol consumption may decide before a party that, ” If someone offers me a drink, then I will order Coke .”

Deployment intentions improve self-control. Having a plan in place in advance can allow you to make decisions on the spot without having to apply willpower.

Motivation is the key

Mark Muraven found that individuals whose willpower had been depleted persisted in their self-control tasks when told that they would be paid for their efforts or that their efforts would benefit others.

High motivation, he concludes, can help overcome a weakened willpower, at least to some extent.

Neuroscientific findings

Researchers have found that the prefrontal cortex (a region that controls executive functions, such as decision-making) shows greater activity in subjects with greater self-control. Likewise, the ventral striatum (a region that is believed to drive the processes of desire and reward) shows increases in its activity in those with less self-control.

The truth is that there are many questions yet to be answered regarding the nature of self-control. However, it seems that, with clear goals, self-vigilance, and a little practice, we can train the willpower to remain strong in the face of the temptation to follow paths with fewer demands or impositions.