Imagine this: You’re a participant in a scientific study, and you’ve just been put through a challenging mental test designed to stress you out. The researcher then walks in with your favorite instant stress reliever: chocolate. The researcher offers you a variety of chocolate bars, asks you to choose your favorite and instructs you to unwrap it. But before you can savor the first creamy mouthful, she tells you not to eat it.
Researchers at the University of Exeter, England, put 25 chocolate lovers through this mini stress test as part of a study on exercise and self-control. We tend to think of exercise as something that requires self-control, but psychologists are now considering the possibility that it also increases self-control. For this study, the researchers wanted to know: Could a 15-minute walk before the mental stress test help people resist the temptation to soothe their stress with chocolate?
All participants were asked to abstain from chocolate for 3 days, which previous research has shown increases cravings. When the participants arrived at the laboratory, half of them were asked to walk briskly on a treadmill. These participants showed smaller blood pressure increases during both the stressful mental task and the self-control test, suggesting that exercise helped them cope better with both challenges. Exercise also reduced these participants’ chocolate cravings and urges to eat the candy bar.
This is just one study demonstrating that short doses of exercise can strengthen self-control. The same research team has shown that a 15-minute treadmill walk reduces cravings for cigarettes among smokers and improves concentration in the face of distractions. One study looked at brain activation among smokers presented with images of cigarettes. After exercise, the brain’s reward system—which is responsible for feelings of desire and craving—was less reactive to the images. Another study tracked the eye gaze of smokers and found that those who had just exercised spent less time looking at smoking-related images.
Kate Janse Van Rensburg, MSc, lead author of these studies, says, “A single session of exercise can reduce the attention-grabbing power of temptations. Daily sessions of brief exercise could be integrated into any behavior change attempt to help reduce cravings and handle withdrawal.”
Research also shows that as little as 5 minutes of outdoor physical activity improves mood and self-esteem. What can you do in 5 minutes?
Get out of the office and head for the closest greenery or open sky.
Cue up a favorite song on your MP3 player and walk or jog around the block.
Take your dog outside to play (and chase the toy yourself).
Do a bit of work in your yard or garden.
Step outside for some fresh air and do a few simple stretches.
Challenge your kids to a race or game in the backyard or local park.
Happy Moving!
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