According this this article from the Boston Globe, it is possible to train the decision-making portion of your brain in an area called the prefrontal cortex:
"Those striving to complete a marathon, a diet or a doctoral dissertation can gain the willpower to help reach their goals by doing little self-control tasks throughout the day, like fixing their posture, avoiding curse words, or controlling their temper at home.... Neuroscientists believe these acts reinforce neural pathways in the brain’s prefrontal cortex that help us say “yes’’ to our goals and “no’’ to procrastination and temptation."
What?!? So you're saying that I can train myself and my brain to say "yes" when I need to say "yes" and "no" when I need to say "no?" Get me on that training program pronto! In my case, I need to be saying "no" to a lot of the bad food choices I make and "yes" to getting my butt to the gym first thing in the morning!
The article also goes on to say that your brain is more or less has a holding tank for will power. Exerting yourself with a morning workout and a long, decision-filled day at work could leave you depleted, exhausted and ornery by the time you get home at night. However, an extra dose of sweets can help you power through the rest of the day.
I find this fascinating and encourage all of you to check out that article. It also obviously makes me wonder what I can do to increase my will power. Since the article says that those who exert self-control in dieting and weight loss usually excel in other areas of life, I wonder if those who excel in other areas of life succeed in weight loss as a result...
But just like training your legs and lungs to run longer and be stronger, it's going to take one decision at a time to train your brain to aid you in making the decisions it needs to help get you where you want to be. So I'm going to try to focus on the self-control it takes to do the little things every day. Of course I'm going to continue striving to accomplish my health and fitness goals, but I'm going to pay more attention to the little, minute decisions that will train my prefrontal cortex.
What do you think about this article?
3 comments:
Hey! I just found your blog and I am really enjoying it! I agree with this article 100%. I think that once you get past a certain distance in running it's ALL mental. So, I can see how you can train your brain to help you out. I need to re-trian my brain for morning workouts, which is my plan for March! Wish me luck!
Thanks! Morning workouts are my vice too - once I turn on the computer instead of lacing up my running shoes it's over! An hour later I finally stumble out of the door ashamed. Good luck in March!
This article is really interesting! It's weird because i know my brain can be trained...My last year of grad school i was able to hyper focus in a way i never though possible. But i still psyche myself when i run. It seems impossible to switch my brain to "yes, you can run" but i suppose i haven't actively tried. I am going to try and force myself to get up and run tomorrow, we will see if i can force the brain to make it happen!!
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.