A little exercise can go a long way when it comes to resisting damaging behavior.
Take this study performed at the University of Exeter, England: 25 chocolate lovers were asked to avoid chocolate for three days prior to the mini stress test performed. (I really hope they got paid for their participation!)
When the participants arrived at the lab, half of them were asked to walk briskly on a treadmill for 15 minutes while the other half simply waited for the tests to begin.
If abstaining from chocolate weren’t enough, the researchers then put all of the participants through a challenging mental test designed to stress them out. (Sounds mean!) As if that weren’t enough, at
the end of the test another researcher walked into the room and lets you choose your favorite chocolate bar from the samples he carries. Then you are asked to unwrap the chocolate BUT NOT EAT IT.
Yow. How difficult do you imagine that was for the participants?!
The exercising participants showed a smaller increase in blood pressure during the mental tests and had a smaller increase in blood pressure when asked to unwrap but not eat the chocolate.
Researchers concluded that the 15 minutes of exercise helped the participants cope better with both challenges.
(And it isn’t only chocolate: the same researchers have performed similar tests with smokers and on the subject of basic concentration in the face of distractions.)
It looks like the advice of “if you feel hungry, take a walk around the block” or “do 20 pushups” first before you reach for an unhealthy snack has some research to back it up!
If you are dealing with any number of temptations, use exercise to help you resist temptation and improve your self control! Use your physiology to your advantage, and start to see exercise as a source of mental and physical strength!
