JOn the first day of January, many people make New Year’s resolutions: eat healthier, exercise more, save money, or stop bad luck. All of these actions can improve your well-being in the long run, but if sticking to your resolutions all January makes your brain feel like soup, you’re not alone.
Humans have long understood that long-term self-control is difficult. However, it was only in recent decades that scientists were able to delve deeper into the brain and explore the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon. These studies suggest that just as muscles weaken from overexertion, parts of the frontal cortex (the brain region responsible for executive functions such as attention, planning, problem-solving, self-control, and emotion regulation) also become fatigued with use . While it is easy to become discouraged after missteps in the pursuit of these new goals, it may be helpful to remember that vulnerability to cognitive fatigue is just a characteristic of the human brain that can be measured objectively through characteristic patterns of brain activity. help.
For example, in 2016, researchers at Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital asked one group of participants to perform tasks requiring executive control for six hours, while another group was allowed to read or play video games.1 Over the course of the day, participants who exercised self-control during cognitively demanding activities were increasingly likely to make impulsive choices that resulted in immediate rewards, while impulsivity remained unchanged in the casual group. Meanwhile, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed reduced activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex in cognitively fatigued participants.
In a recent study, researchers found that the frontal cortex not only becomes less active but may enter a sleep-like state after engaging in tasks that require self-control.2 “This phenomenon is called partial sleep,” explains study co-author Erica Ordali, a neuroscientist at the University of Florence. “This happens when parts of your brain get tired after completing certain tasks… They start to show brain waves that are typical of sleep, but it happens while we’re still awake.”
O’Daly and her colleagues wanted to know, “What happens to behavior if localized sleep effects occur in areas of the brain that are important for decision-making, self-control, or decision-making?” [regulating] Emotionally impulsive?
The researchers had participants perform a cognitively demanding task for 45 minutes, using high-density electroencephalography to measure brain activity before and after. After this period of intense mental activity, brain waves in the frontal cortex show increased delta wave power; these slow frequency waves typically indicate deep sleep. When this executive function area went to sleep, the participants’ self-control seemed to go to sleep as well: They behaved more impulsively and aggressively in games that simulated social cooperation and conflict.
Overall, this work shows that exercising self-control is a difficult task for the human brain. The more resources you use during the day, the less you have at the end of the day. So be patient as you develop new habits or break old ones. To avoid cognitive fatigue, O’Daly recommends taking breaks: “Get plenty of rest—it helps us restore our brain state.”
