"People who can resist temptations are a minority": column by biologist Irina Yakutenko

What are temptations and what they are

All kinds of things can be tempted: alcohol, drugs, sweets, social networks, TV shows, computer games, or attractive people. Outwardly, they differ from each other, but at the level of the brain they start the same process: the emotional response “I want” and the desire to get the desired object as soon as possible.

This is due to the excitation of areas of the brain responsible for the anticipation of pleasure. It is the expectation that the possession of a certain object will bring us pleasant sensations that motivates us to do something: go to the refrigerator, invite a girl out on a date, uncork a bottle of champagne, light a cigarette, post another selfie on Instagram.

The very powerful emotional part, which is responsible for "want" / "don't want", does not understand that social networks are not so important and in some cases even harmful, and health will sooner or later collapse from the constant abuse of sweet or alcoholic drinks.

And here the paradox of the modern world arises: despite the fact that today we live better than in any other era, more and more people suffer from lack of motivation and do not achieve anything, constantly being distracted by nonsense.

What to do for those who find it difficult to give up momentary pleasures

It is impossible to force the brain to work otherwise, because the mechanisms inherent in it to respond to things that potentially give pleasure have become incredibly powerful over millions of years of evolution. You can't just change them. The secret is to bypass them by using strategies that prevent the harmful "want" reaction from developing.

1. Avoid being tempted

The brain sees an attractive object and realizes that it will bring a lot of pleasure, so it wants to get it as soon as possible. Unless you were born a champion by willpower, the easiest way is to deliberately avoid temptation. The advice seems trivial, but many neglect it in the hope that now they understand how important it is to lose weight, quit smoking and hang out on the Internet, and for the 101st time they will certainly cope. Why would it suddenly?

Every time you walk past a vending machine with chocolates, your head is tempted to buy a treat and eat it immediately. If you have a problem with sweets, the motivation is so strong that it is almost impossible to overcome. You can walk past chocolates right now, but most likely in the evening you will buy a cake or ice cream in the store to satisfy the desire that arose during the day and did not go anywhere.

If you go the other way, away from the machine, then there will be no motivation to buy a chocolate bar. This is a very simple strategy.

If your problem is sweets, you can study for a long time and persistently what sugar does to our body. At the same time, it is important that the information is as colorful as possible, provoking emotions, and not just a set of dry facts. Look at pictures of diabetic feet and amputated legs, read stories of people who got serious illnesses caused by improper diet. It is important that what you read and saw disgusts you.

Over time, this information will become part of your constant knowledge, and every time you want to eat dessert after dinner, horrible pictures will start to pop up by themselves. And although the first reaction, most likely, will still be “I want”, almost instantly (after all, this is also an emotion) it will be replaced by “I do not want”, and it will be much easier for you to give up the temptation.

The disadvantage of this strategy is that you are forever deprived of "pure" temptation: the pleasure from it will now always be mixed with disgust.