Self-control wearies brain

If you have a hard time suppressing all your unhealthy habits, new research suggests you can blame it on your brain.
Giving into temptation -- whether to cheesecake, cigarettes or drugs -- is a common human failing, and now the new findings tie this weakness to a limit in the brain's capacity for resisting temptation. Too much self-control, the researchers say, may weary the brain.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, included 40 college students who had their brain activity recorded as their capacity for self-control was tested.

For the rest of this Health24 article, go here.

NVDL: I am bearing the brunt of this mental malaise, in a way. I've cut Coke and chocolates out of my diet, sometimes do eat crisps, and am scaling down the fast food (Steers for example) as much as possible. I do find I have cravings, but it seems the trick is to replace crap food that you like with healthy stuff that is maybe not so lekker, but still reasonably fun to eat. For example replacing crisps with nuts, substituting ice cream for yogburt (or a fresh, chilled fruit salad).

I also think the focus should be not so much on WHAT TO AVOID, on WHAT TO RESIST, on WHAT NOT TO DO, but instead on what you SHOULD DO, and you can be DOING. Stuff like exercising, getting enough sleep, finding a balance, preparing and planning meals for a day (this includes shopping), and having a fairly disciplined approach. If you starve and then eat spontaneously or impusively, and you're still trying to avoid/resist cravings, the stress will be even worse.

I've experienced this and it can actually lead to lowered immunity (which rears it's ugly head as irritability, fatigue, mouth sores) and sometimes, often, even to illness. The discipline in doing must obviously spill over into resisting some of the nastier temptations, but your focus should not be entirely on resistance. Good luck!-)