One way to preserve mental energy is by not agonising over needless decisions . The road to health is paved with good intentions. So why are we so easily diverted from the path of goodness by sugary snacks and lazy days on the sofa? The stark truth is that lack of willpower is often to blame. But new research shows why we shouldn't beat ourselves up about our backsliding. Willpower is a limited resource, the research reveals - there is only so much you have at any time. 'If we exert self-control and make a lot of willpower-related decisions, our self-control is lower and our capacity for making decisions drops,' explains Professor Roy Baumeister, the author of the bestselling book, Willpower, and a world expert on the subject. 'As you make decisions, you gradually deplete the energy you have available and your subsequent decisions are weaker.' So presented with just one too many temptations, and it really won't be your fault if you break your diet for that donught, it seems. Mercifully, there are simple ways to boost your willpower. The fragile state of human willpower was highlighted last month by researchers who found that men trying to give up tobacco smoked more  if shown photos of attractive females. Psychological tests revealed that not only were they significantly more distracted by sexual thoughts, but they also lit up twice as many cigarettes while completing surveys following the test. But why did pretty women make the volunteers' self-control go up in smoke? The researchers, from Taiwan's Kaohsiung Medical University, said the men had been put into a 'mating mindset' that distracted them from their long-term goal of abstinence. Scroll down for video . They were suffering from willpower depletion. This is that the theory that exercising self-control demands high levels of energy resources in the brain. We have finite resources at any one point, and if that energy is diverted, then restraint wilts. Some of the earliest evidence of this effect was discovered in 1998 by Professor Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He invited volunteers into a room containing plates of cookies and a bowl of radishes. Half the volunteers were invited to eat the cookies, while the others were told to resist the treat and eat radishes instead. The volunteers were then given 30 minutes in which to tackle a difficult puzzle. The volunteers who resisted the cookies gave up on the puzzle after about eight minutes. The cookie-eaters persevered for an average of nearly 19 minutes. Volunteers who had gone for a walk ate half as much chocolate as those who had simply rested . Lacking the self-control to avoid sweet treats, or to stop smoking, is dangerous enough. More disturbingly, lack of long-term willpower also contributes to the way in which millions of people in Britain fail to keep taking daily medicines prescribed to treat life-threatening illnesses such as arthritis, hypertension and breast cancer. A survey by led by the University of Manchester published in August reported that more than a quarter of rheumatoid arthritis patients prescribed anti-inflammatory medication failed to take it properly within six months of the treatment's start. Meanwhile an analysis of patients' urine samples by the University of Leicester revealed in April that least one in four people with high blood pressure has abandoned their medication or takes too little to combat their risk of heart problems. Researchers are now trying to fathom why so many patients fail to take medicines that can so powerfully enhance their health. Unwanted side-effects must play an important part. But Leila Collins, a chartered counselling psychologist who has worked with patients on their ability to stick to medication says that lack of lasting willpower is an important factor. One basic problem is that patients' willpower fades over time as their powers of resolve fade and they begin to feel better thanks to the medication. So their resolution to keep to the prescribed regimen disappears before they get to the end of the course of drugs,' says Collins, who practises in North London and Hertfordshire. 'Some doctors are very good at putting the fear of God into patients, saying things such as "Take your medicines or I won't be responsible for the what happens to you."' But psychological research has found a range of less draconian, and rather surprising, ways in which people can boost the strength of their willpower. According to Professor Baumeister, one simple way to preserve your banks of mental energy is by not wasting it agonising over needless decisions. He cites the case of president Obama, who generally only wears blue or grey suits so that deciding what to wear is one decision he doesn't have to make. 'Likewise, you don't want to waste willpower making decisions about breakfast. Having a set morning routine is much better,' says he says. Another trick is to take short and simple exercise. A study performed at the University of Exeter, two years ago, set out to discover what might help people to resist the temptation of fattening foods. The investigators asked volunteers either to rest for 15 minutes or to spend the time going for a walk. They were then all asked to perform a series of dull but demanding computer tasks. Next to their keyboards was positioned a bowl of chocolates. At the end of the test, the researchers reported in the journal Appetite that the volunteers who had gone for a walk ate half as much chocolate as those who had simply rested. The researchers believe that light exercise energises people sufficiently to revive their brains' flagging resources and thus bolster their will power. Another scientifically backed way to boost willpower is to replenish your brain with fuel and rest. Glucose can help with this, according to a study in the journal Psychological Science in 2008. The Florida State University research showed that drinking sugar-sweetened lemonade restored flagging resolve in people whose willpower had been depleted by having to complete intelligence tests. Sugar-free lemonade did not bring the same benefit. You make decisions, deplete energy, and subsequent decisions are weaker . The research also indicates why crash-dieters are almost doomed to fail - their brains lack the fuel to keep their resolve going. Keeping up your glucose might help when you need willpower for quitting smoking, for example, but is obviously of little help if you are trying to stick to a diet. However, other research has shown that getting a full night's sleep significantly helps people to resist temptation the following day. This is because sleep plays an important role in regenerating levels of glucose in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with self-control, according to a study published in the journal, Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes. But perhaps the most important way to boost your willpower is to convince yourself that you can be strong. This appears to work as a self-fulfilling belief. Several recent studies have demonstrated that volunteers who believe their reserves of self-control are inexhaustible perform much better in tests of willpower than people who think theirs can be worn out. Indeed, a study of 148 volunteers last year by Swiss and American psychologists in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that people who are convinced of the strength of their willpower can exercise far greater self-control while their brains are sugar-depleted than those who believe their resolve is prone to wavering. The research team, led by Dr Veronika Job, a psychologist at Zurich University, concluded that, 'People have far greater capacity to exert self-control than they may believe.' It's what our Edwardian forebears would have called developing one's 'moral backbone'. Indeed, when it comes to exercising willpower, one might do best to quote the carmaker Henry Ford, who famously once declared: 'Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're right.
Prof Roy Baumeister, author of book Willpower, is expert on the subject .
You make decisions, deplete energy, and subsequent decisions are weaker .
'You don’t want to waste willpower making decisions about breakfast'
One way to preserve mental energy is by not agonising over needless decisions . The road to health is paved with good intentions. So why are we so easily diverted from the path of goodness by sugary snacks and lazy days on the sofa? The stark truth is that lack of willpower is often to blame. But new research shows why we shouldn't beat ourselves up about our backsliding. Willpower is a limited resource, the research reveals - there is only so much you have at any time. 'If we exert self-control and make a lot of willpower-related decisions, our self-control is lower and our capacity for making decisions drops,' explains Professor Roy Baumeister, the author of the bestselling book, Willpower, and a world expert on the subject. 'As you make decisions, you gradually deplete the energy you have available and your subsequent decisions are weaker.' So presented with just one too many temptations, and it really won't be your fault if you break your diet for that donught, it seems. Mercifully, there are simple ways to boost your willpower. The fragile state of human willpower was highlighted last month by researchers who found that men trying to give up tobacco smoked more  if shown photos of attractive females. Psychological tests revealed that not only were they significantly more distracted by sexual thoughts, but they also lit up twice as many cigarettes while completing surveys following the test. But why did pretty women make the volunteers' self-control go up in smoke? The researchers, from Taiwan's Kaohsiung Medical University, said the men had been put into a 'mating mindset' that distracted them from their long-term goal of abstinence. Scroll down for video . They were suffering from willpower depletion. This is that the theory that exercising self-control demands high levels of energy resources in the brain. We have finite resources at any one point, and if that energy is diverted, then restraint wilts. Some of the earliest evidence of this effect was discovered in 1998 by Professor Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He invited volunteers into a room containing plates of cookies and a bowl of radishes. Half the volunteers were invited to eat the cookies, while the others were told to resist the treat and eat radishes instead. The volunteers were then given 30 minutes in which to tackle a difficult puzzle. The volunteers who resisted the cookies gave up on the puzzle after about eight minutes. The cookie-eaters persevered for an average of nearly 19 minutes. Volunteers who had gone for a walk ate half as much chocolate as those who had simply rested . Lacking the self-control to avoid sweet treats, or to stop smoking, is dangerous enough. More disturbingly, lack of long-term willpower also contributes to the way in which millions of people in Britain fail to keep taking daily medicines prescribed to treat life-threatening illnesses such as arthritis, hypertension and breast cancer. A survey by led by the University of Manchester published in August reported that more than a quarter of rheumatoid arthritis patients prescribed anti-inflammatory medication failed to take it properly within six months of the treatment's start. Meanwhile an analysis of patients' urine samples by the University of Leicester revealed in April that least one in four people with high blood pressure has abandoned their medication or takes too little to combat their risk of heart problems. Researchers are now trying to fathom why so many patients fail to take medicines that can so powerfully enhance their health. Unwanted side-effects must play an important part. But Leila Collins, a chartered counselling psychologist who has worked with patients on their ability to stick to medication says that lack of lasting willpower is an important factor. One basic problem is that patients' willpower fades over time as their powers of resolve fade and they begin to feel better thanks to the medication. So their resolution to keep to the prescribed regimen disappears before they get to the end of the course of drugs,' says Collins, who practises in North London and Hertfordshire. 'Some doctors are very good at putting the fear of God into patients, saying things such as "Take your medicines or I won't be responsible for the what happens to you."' But psychological research has found a range of less draconian, and rather surprising, ways in which people can boost the strength of their willpower. According to Professor Baumeister, one simple way to preserve your banks of mental energy is by not wasting it agonising over needless decisions. He cites the case of president Obama, who generally only wears blue or grey suits so that deciding what to wear is one decision he doesn't have to make. 'Likewise, you don't want to waste willpower making decisions about breakfast. Having a set morning routine is much better,' says he says. Another trick is to take short and simple exercise. A study performed at the University of Exeter, two years ago, set out to discover what might help people to resist the temptation of fattening foods. The investigators asked volunteers either to rest for 15 minutes or to spend the time going for a walk. They were then all asked to perform a series of dull but demanding computer tasks. Next to their keyboards was positioned a bowl of chocolates. At the end of the test, the researchers reported in the journal Appetite that the volunteers who had gone for a walk ate half as much chocolate as those who had simply rested. The researchers believe that light exercise energises people sufficiently to revive their brains' flagging resources and thus bolster their will power. Another scientifically backed way to boost willpower is to replenish your brain with fuel and rest. Glucose can help with this, according to a study in the journal Psychological Science in 2008. The Florida State University research showed that drinking sugar-sweetened lemonade restored flagging resolve in people whose willpower had been depleted by having to complete intelligence tests. Sugar-free lemonade did not bring the same benefit. You make decisions, deplete energy, and subsequent decisions are weaker . The research also indicates why crash-dieters are almost doomed to fail - their brains lack the fuel to keep their resolve going. Keeping up your glucose might help when you need willpower for quitting smoking, for example, but is obviously of little help if you are trying to stick to a diet. However, other research has shown that getting a full night's sleep significantly helps people to resist temptation the following day. This is because sleep plays an important role in regenerating levels of glucose in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that is associated with self-control, according to a study published in the journal, Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes. But perhaps the most important way to boost your willpower is to convince yourself that you can be strong. This appears to work as a self-fulfilling belief. Several recent studies have demonstrated that volunteers who believe their reserves of self-control are inexhaustible perform much better in tests of willpower than people who think theirs can be worn out. Indeed, a study of 148 volunteers last year by Swiss and American psychologists in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that people who are convinced of the strength of their willpower can exercise far greater self-control while their brains are sugar-depleted than those who believe their resolve is prone to wavering. The research team, led by Dr Veronika Job, a psychologist at Zurich University, concluded that, 'People have far greater capacity to exert self-control than they may believe.' It's what our Edwardian forebears would have called developing one's 'moral backbone'. Indeed, when it comes to exercising willpower, one might do best to quote the carmaker Henry Ford, who famously once declared: 'Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're right.
author of the bestselling book, Willpower, and a world expert on the subject. 'As you make 'Likewise, you don't want to waste willpower making decisions about breakfast. Having a set benefit. You make decisions, deplete energy, and subsequent decisions are weaker . The research