There’s a horror film directed by Takashi Miike called The Movie Trial in 1999. There’s a shocking scene in which the main character inserts needles into her boyfriend’s eyes and then cuts off his left foot with a saw. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Psychologist Matt Field used the film as an experiment. He showed his student volunteers this horrific scene. He told half of the students not to look away or show any emotion. The other half were allowed to react in their natural way.
The students, who were allowed to react as they wanted, vomited, many closing their eyes. One passed out.
Students who were told to control their emotions felt a strong need to drink after the experiment.
After completing a fictitious questionnaire, students in both groups were allowed to drink as much beer as they wanted, “as a reward for participating in the experiment. Students in the emotion-suppressing group drank 1.5 times as much as those who did not hide their feelings.
It also worked with not so emotional movies. The experiment was repeated with an ordinary melodrama – the result was the same. Non-movie experiments on self-control were also conducted. They all had the same result.
Matt Field, like many other addiction specialists, believes that self-control and willpower are key components in understanding why some of us give up on the urge to use cigarettes, alcohol and drugs after experiencing stress.
That is, willpower is not a figure of speech. Willpower is a finite resource. When it is depleted, you become more vulnerable to temptation.
It’s not just emotional movies that drain self-control, but many other things. For example, necessity:
- Tolerate unpleasant smells
- Trying to make a good impression
- To choose what goes against one’s natural inclinations
- The need to punish someone if it goes against our nature
- Reading and Reflecting on Death
- Concentration on a boring book
- Solving a complex puzzle
- and more
How to fight temptation
The nervous system consumes more glucose (sugar) than any other organ. Strenuous mental activity requires a lot of energy. When carrying out complex reasoning or performing tasks that require self-control, blood glucose levels, and therefore those in the brain, drop.
Experiments have shown that people who have consumed sweets during activities that require increased self-control do not show signs of decreased willpower and self-control.
Because of this we can give advice: If you feel that you can not cope with the desire to smoke / drink – eat sweets to increase your resistance to temptation.
Sweets are a quick source of glucose. It should be used only in critical moments, when you need to replenish the lack of glucose. Eating sweets on a regular basis is harmful, because high blood sugar levels lead to the development of many diseases.
Sufficient blood glucose levels can also be maintained with ordinary foods – rice, buckwheat, potatoes, bread, peas, pasta and many other foods contain starch molecules – essentially bunches of glucose. Glucose detaches slowly from starch, so there is no sudden increase in blood glucose. It is absorbed more slowly, but lasts longer, maintaining a constant glucose level for several hours.
So in normal life, in order to maintain a good level of self-control, it is necessary to eat well and most importantly regularly.
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