Recent research suggests that willpower by itself is inherently limited. However most of us believe self control is largely a character issue. The area of the brain in charge of willpower, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), can become easily overtaxed; when it is overtaxed, willpower can decrease dramatically especially when you try to do too much too soon. Studies show that the PFC can be improved by focusing on 1 behavior change at a time which in turn can lead to other positive changes. One such study asked college students to improve their posture and over the course of two weeks noticed other improvements of self control happened as a consequence. The key take away here is that the PFC cannot process multiple requests to change at the same time. Some of my patients who attempted to do too many health goals at once were not successful.
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It can take a long time to quit smoking. Some people can do it in a few weeks or months, while other needs several years. But no matter what your timeframe is, you need to figure out how to keep your urge to smoke as low as possible.
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