Willpower Capacity

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Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind

By SANDRA AAMODT and SAM WANG

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

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.

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. "

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Carruthers

Wakefield, UK