10 ms·

How the Brain Uses Glucose to Fuel Self-Control

130 points by softdev12 12y ago

s_q_b 12y ago
This is well known by bars in many locations that pass out free lollipops and hard candies as closing time approaches. Anecdotally it causes violent altercations to plummet.
- atwebb 12y ago
  Where are you located? I've never seen that happen, is it commonplace?
- nutmeg 12y ago
  Perhaps you are also less likely to talk trash with a lollipop in your mouth. Clever hack.
  - Dewie 12y ago
    Pacifier
ada1981 12y ago
>> When you increase such “cognitive load” on someone’s frontal cortex, he or she exhibits less self-control on subsequent tasks—just like muscle that’s been exercising hard, then balks at having to move you one step more. << Everyone cites this as fact when in reality the science behind it is very shaky. See this study from Stanford: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/august/willpower-study-sugar-082713.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/august/willpower-study-su...
- maerF0x0 12y ago
  A similar misconception is "I need glucose therefore I should eat sugar" . The most stable way to supply blood glucose is by eating fat. If blood glucose is high and circulation is low, then exercise maybe in order, more than additional eating.
  - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
    Stable, maybe - but very slow for sure. Try doing a 100km bike ride on an up/down road circuit, with fat as the main fuel. EDIT: lol, downvotes. This is not about your metabolism while you're sitting on a chair at work, typing on a keyboard. This is about extreme endurance. I suggest you actually go ahead and try it, before thinking you've formed any sort of informed opinion on the subject.
    - maerF0x0 12y ago
      Several studies have shown that endurance is equal w/ fat as the fuel. You do have to spend 4 or so weeks adapting though. Here is a link to a summary, I couldn't find the actual research articles I was thinking of though. http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-nutrition-should-athletes-use-fat-or-carbohydrate-as-fuel-631# http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-nutrition-should-athl...
      - sekm 12y ago
        Yep - this guy does some great stuff on fat too: http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/05/low-carb-triathlon-training/ http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/05/low-carb-triathl...
      - justsomedood 12y ago
        That's a really interesting article. It is fair to point out (which the article does as well) that the athletes were running at 75% of V02 max, which is lower than when racing in cycling. I ride a lot, and anecdotally I had a cycling teammate that changed his diet to consist of primarily fats for 6 weeks. The first few weeks his body was adjusting and his endurance and power dropped dramatically as you would expect. After 4 weeks, though, he had come back and had a really strong season. The way I understand it is that as intensity increases it becomes more difficult for the body to convert fat for a large source of fuel, and glycogen becomes the largest contributor to energy. I know the feeling of a "bonk", when glycogen depletes, is a really strange one and all fuel is coming from fat at that point and intensity has to drop by quite a bit in order to continue. Our bodies are pretty amazing
- siglesias 12y ago
  One could argue that this study is showcasing a strategy for people of a certain mindset to improve their willpower; what it doesn't offer is proof that the many other studies that have supported depletion theory use "very shaky" science.
  - pdpi 12y ago
    > One could argue that this study is showcasing a strategy for people of a certain mindset to improve their willpower; You mean the "certain mindset" specifically selected for by the people running the experiment? There's nothing in there about the results being limited to "people of a certain mindset".
    - siglesias 12y ago
      The article literally states: the results highlight the critical role of beliefs about willpower in self-control performance I don't know how generalizable the results are, and I'm not making claims about its generalizability. I'm simply refuting the notion that it's wholly incompatible with depletion theory. Speaking personally, I would have appreciated some notion of how common any belief whatsoever is for people.
- b_emery 12y ago
  My instinct is that these articles are both right. Yes, your emotions and impulses are more difficult to control when you're tired and hungry (WSJ article) and yes, with effort you can still control them (stanford article). Much of psychology is "shaky" science - the underlying subject is just so damn complex.
- coldtea 12y ago
  What you quoted and what the study talks about are entitely different things -- the article focuses on the effects (or lack thereof) of sugar on willpower. Not about whether increased cognitive load means less self-control on subsequent tasks.
- iQuercus 12y ago
  You mistakenly interpret Dweck's Stanford study as somehow undermining Baumeister's research into self-control, when in fact Baumeister's body of research actually tackles this very phenomenon. Baumeister's research showed that under less exaggerated levels of depletion, you could mentally overcome the self-control issues. But after a certain point, when depletion gets severe, the mentality described by Dweck actually starts causing you to do worse and worse. The reality is that science behind it is actually some of the most compelling and thoroughly thought out from the field of behavioral psychology.
  - ada1981 12y ago
    Perhaps I had low glucose when making the post and impulsively did so vs. better fact checking.
pkaler 12y ago
This is why I drink a "bulletproof" coffee in the morning at about 7am. Basically, coffee with butter and MCT oil. Then I have a breakfast of poached eggs and bacon at about 9am. My brain and focus is just way better running on fat than on glucose.
- mattieuga 12y ago
  > My brain and focus is just way better running on fat than on glucose. Your body runs on sugar not fat. Fat will be transformed into sugar to be used as energy in your body. With that said, it won't create a huge spike in your blood sugar like drinking a soda, and won't cause a giant release of insulin.
  - frou_dh 12y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies
  - billyum 12y ago
    Fat isn't transformed into sugar, it breaks down into fatty acids which are metabolized using a different pathway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_metabolism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_metabolism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_degradation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_degradation
    - nmjohn 12y ago
      Sometimes - but they ARE metabolized through the same pathway. Essentially: Glucose ->[0] pyruvate ->[1] acetyl-coa -> TCA cycle vs Fatty acids ->[2] acetyl-coa -> TCA cycle The TCA is cycle is the actual main energy generating step. Other times fat absolutely is converted to sugar. It all depends on the metabolic needs of the body and one building blocks are available, and what protein "workers" are able to use the ones that are available. For example, fatty acid synthase converts acetyl coa back to a fatty acid [3]. [0] Glycolysis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis [1] pyruvate dehydrogenase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyruvate_dehydrogenase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyruvate_dehydrogenase [2] beta oxidation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_oxidation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_oxidation [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_synthase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_synthase
facepalm 12y ago
"Each evening participants rated the level of any anger they were feeling toward their spouse." Depressing that this is a useful measurement, that is, the level of anger is > 0 on most evenings.
- drcomputer 12y ago
  Emotions can do a math kind of thing (additive, subtractive, multiplicative and such) from our personal histories and day to day, unrelated tasks. Lots of people project or distort their emotions in various ways, or they rationalize away emotions using psychological analysis terms like projection / and an observation of state changes based on input/output. Having it perfectly under control feels like being a computer sometimes. I don't like feeling angry. It's weird.
  - kaybe 12y ago
    I can count the amount of times I've actually gotten angry on one hand. I either get sad or irritated instead. Hm. Maybe I'm misinterpreting feelings?
    - drcomputer 12y ago
      People learn and create different ways to handle emotions. People experience differences and similarities in life experience. People resolve and analyze their histories, present and future evaluations differently, similarly, if at all. People have different temperaments, or similar. People can track their data independently to attempt to control their reactions internally to the external world, but life does things that make handling response not always controllable. I can't say anything about your state anymore than I both simultaneously understand and do not understand my own.
    - Retric 12y ago
      IMO, the angry / irritated line is completly subjective. To the point where I would call them different intensity's of the same emotion.
    - gimboland 12y ago
slg 12y ago
Isn't this common knowledge? Snickers has a whole advertising campaign based on this idea.
- mattieuga 12y ago
  Maybe never actually studied? I mean vitamin water has a whole advertising campaign about being healthy, but that's clearly nonsense.
- nanodeath 12y ago
  I agree that this is common knowledge, but it's good to see it studied. My friends and I use the word `hangry` in these situations: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hangry http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hangry
oooccc 12y ago
it is good to eat honey or fruit fro your sugar, not table sugar, as table sugar(white death) gets in your blood very quick causing insulin spike, which is bad and bad only, unless you completely deprived of energy like in long distance race. this stupid sensationalist articles designed to glorify consumption of junk food are just pathetic and should not be on top of hacker news...
- mattieuga 12y ago
  Honey has a very high glycemic index as well. Almost the same as table sugar.
  - oooccc 12y ago
    no, honey is fructose and glucose separate. sugar is sucrose - glucose and fructose in a very high energy bond. apart that honey has a lot of other stuff(bee saliva, pollen) which make the SPEED of absorbtion wayyyyyyyyyyyy different
- imanaccount247 12y ago
  >table sugar(white death) Why post garbage like that? >gets in your blood very quick causing insulin spike Just like honey and fruit and candy do. >which is bad and bad only There is no evidence to support that claim. The demonization of "insulin spikes" is for selling a fad diet. It is not based on science.
  - oooccc 12y ago
    sucrose is not same as fructose and glucose. fruit and honey have a lot of other stuff which slows THE SPEED OF ABSORPTION into blood and does not spike insulin in a wild way like sugar. try eating spoon of sugar and compare the feel with spoon of honey. it is obvious.
    - imanaccount247 12y ago
      Fruit has small amounts of fiber that slightly slow absorption. Honey does not. It has the exact same effect as any other sugar. Rather than "feeling" it, try measuring it.
Adaptive 12y ago
One of the researchers mentioned in the article, Roy Baumeister, wrote a book that I enjoyed (entitled "Willpower"). He gave a talk about willpower and glucose levels which you can see some of here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefDeoXCBbk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefDeoXCBbk It's not a completely pop-science book, more a translation of his research into an approachable lay-person format. I recommend it. (edit - link to book: http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength-ebook/dp/B0052REQCY http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human... )
stared 12y ago
It is interesting. Though, as far as I know [1] glucose consumption varies only a little with brain usage. So either this thing is wrong, or nervousness because of lack of glucose has different mechanism that some lobes being hungry. [1] http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/839/how-does-the-brains-energy-consumption-depend-on-mental-activity http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/839/how-does-the-...
septerr 12y ago
"Moreover, during a tough self-control task, circulating glucose levels plummet, consumed by hardworking frontal neurons. And, remarkably, self-control improves if subjects sip sugary drinks during the task (with control subjects consuming sugar-free drinks)." Then is controlling urge to sip sugary drinks a doomed enterprise?
afro88 12y ago
They should have had a control group that's completely off sugar. Sugar is an addictive substance and affects your psychology in a similar way to other addictive substances. You'd see similar results doing this experiment with smokers and cigarettes instead of sugar for example.
gwern 12y ago
There are pretty serious problems with the glucose theory right now: http://lesswrong.com/lw/jan/kurzban_et_al_on_opportunity_cost_models_of/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jan/kurzban_et_al_on_opportunity_cos...
dlwj 12y ago
If the results are saying "Self control when hungry is lowered." then I agree completely.
myth_buster 12y ago
I've personally noticed that I get more irritated/angry 4-5hrs after my meal. This is quite evident for me in the morning when I delay my breakfast. Hence I try to time my meals religiously. Though getting irritated/angry doesn't affect my "willpower" as I can still keep my emotions in check and prevent them from ebbing out. Coming back to the experiment, shouldn't the will power be benchmarked before testing for effects of glucose? Hypothetically, couldn't I get a study group of weak-willed people and enforce the WSJ article's premise as well as get a bunch of monks and refute it?
swamp40 12y ago
From the Comments: "Clearly explains why glucose turns into fat for certain people."
rodly 12y ago
> The largest lesson is that who we are and what we do must always be considered in the context of the biology occurring inside us. This is such a pointless ending sentiment. I realize the irony here too, my comment is pointless transitively but I don't care.
bcheung 12y ago
It's a little known fact that the brain can also be fueled by ketones by those following a ketogenic diet. Energy is more constant as the body is burning fat continuously instead of depending on constant feeding and the associated ups and downs in blood sugar. Those following a ketogenic diet report improved concentration and alertness. Also, anything that overstimulates the reward system (sugar) will result in weakened willpower.
- IndianAstronaut 12y ago
  How often before that kicks in? I tried keto for a few days and I could not bear the post lunch slump.
  - bcheung 12y ago
    Are you referring to the fatigue from eating too much or not having any glucose in your blood stream? People who eat keto meals generally don't feel any food comas. You might be experiencing low blood sugar because the body is not burning fat as it should though. The only real way to get into ketosis is to remove carbs. Personally, I find it easier to just bite the bullet and fast for several days. Trying to ease out of carbs didn't work for me. This is probably a good resource to get started: http://www.ketotic.org/2012/05/keto-adaptation-what-it-is-and-how-to.html http://www.ketotic.org/2012/05/keto-adaptation-what-it-is-an...
    - wavegeek 12y ago
      I toughed it out for six weeks and I was definitely in ketosis per ketostix testing. I felt as bad as I ever have. So it doesn't work for everyone.
    - IndianAstronaut 12y ago
      Thanks for the info. I think I will have to do this over the holidays when I am not trying to crank through work deadlines.
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
laichzeit0 12y ago
How do get your muscles to look "full" on a keto diet? I'm talking bodybuilding here. I see almost everyone "carbing up" before a show specifically because of this. It also means if you want to follow this sort of diet you'll end up looking flat most of the time unless you leave the keto state. Don't really see the point going low carb if you're lifting weights and calorie counting since you're replacing muscle glycogen all the time, there's not a lot of excess energy to be stored as fat unless you're eating way above maintenance.

130 points by softdev12 12y ago

s_q_b 12y ago

This is well known by bars in many locations that pass out free lollipops and hard candies as closing time approaches. Anecdotally it causes violent altercations to plummet.

atwebb 12y ago
Where are you located? I've never seen that happen, is it commonplace?
nutmeg 12y ago
Perhaps you are also less likely to talk trash with a lollipop in your mouth. Clever hack.
- Dewie 12y ago
  Pacifier

ada1981 12y ago

>> When you increase such “cognitive load” on someone’s frontal cortex, he or she exhibits less self-control on subsequent tasks—just like muscle that’s been exercising hard, then balks at having to move you one step more. << Everyone cites this as fact when in reality the science behind it is very shaky. See this study from Stanford: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/august/willpower-study-sugar-082713.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/august/willpower-study-su...

maerF0x0 12y ago
A similar misconception is "I need glucose therefore I should eat sugar" . The most stable way to supply blood glucose is by eating fat. If blood glucose is high and circulation is low, then exercise maybe in order, more than additional eating.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  Stable, maybe - but very slow for sure. Try doing a 100km bike ride on an up/down road circuit, with fat as the main fuel. EDIT: lol, downvotes. This is not about your metabolism while you're sitting on a chair at work, typing on a keyboard. This is about extreme endurance. I suggest you actually go ahead and try it, before thinking you've formed any sort of informed opinion on the subject.
  - maerF0x0 12y ago
    Several studies have shown that endurance is equal w/ fat as the fuel. You do have to spend 4 or so weeks adapting though. Here is a link to a summary, I couldn't find the actual research articles I was thinking of though. http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-nutrition-should-athletes-use-fat-or-carbohydrate-as-fuel-631# http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-nutrition-should-athl...
    - sekm 12y ago
      Yep - this guy does some great stuff on fat too: http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/05/low-carb-triathlon-training/ http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/05/low-carb-triathl...
    - justsomedood 12y ago
      That's a really interesting article. It is fair to point out (which the article does as well) that the athletes were running at 75% of V02 max, which is lower than when racing in cycling. I ride a lot, and anecdotally I had a cycling teammate that changed his diet to consist of primarily fats for 6 weeks. The first few weeks his body was adjusting and his endurance and power dropped dramatically as you would expect. After 4 weeks, though, he had come back and had a really strong season. The way I understand it is that as intensity increases it becomes more difficult for the body to convert fat for a large source of fuel, and glycogen becomes the largest contributor to energy. I know the feeling of a "bonk", when glycogen depletes, is a really strange one and all fuel is coming from fat at that point and intensity has to drop by quite a bit in order to continue. Our bodies are pretty amazing
siglesias 12y ago
One could argue that this study is showcasing a strategy for people of a certain mindset to improve their willpower; what it doesn't offer is proof that the many other studies that have supported depletion theory use "very shaky" science.
- pdpi 12y ago
  > One could argue that this study is showcasing a strategy for people of a certain mindset to improve their willpower; You mean the "certain mindset" specifically selected for by the people running the experiment? There's nothing in there about the results being limited to "people of a certain mindset".
  - siglesias 12y ago
    The article literally states: the results highlight the critical role of beliefs about willpower in self-control performance I don't know how generalizable the results are, and I'm not making claims about its generalizability. I'm simply refuting the notion that it's wholly incompatible with depletion theory. Speaking personally, I would have appreciated some notion of how common any belief whatsoever is for people.
b_emery 12y ago
My instinct is that these articles are both right. Yes, your emotions and impulses are more difficult to control when you're tired and hungry (WSJ article) and yes, with effort you can still control them (stanford article). Much of psychology is "shaky" science - the underlying subject is just so damn complex.
coldtea 12y ago
What you quoted and what the study talks about are entitely different things -- the article focuses on the effects (or lack thereof) of sugar on willpower. Not about whether increased cognitive load means less self-control on subsequent tasks.
iQuercus 12y ago
You mistakenly interpret Dweck's Stanford study as somehow undermining Baumeister's research into self-control, when in fact Baumeister's body of research actually tackles this very phenomenon. Baumeister's research showed that under less exaggerated levels of depletion, you could mentally overcome the self-control issues. But after a certain point, when depletion gets severe, the mentality described by Dweck actually starts causing you to do worse and worse. The reality is that science behind it is actually some of the most compelling and thoroughly thought out from the field of behavioral psychology.
- ada1981 12y ago
  Perhaps I had low glucose when making the post and impulsively did so vs. better fact checking.

pkaler 12y ago

This is why I drink a "bulletproof" coffee in the morning at about 7am. Basically, coffee with butter and MCT oil. Then I have a breakfast of poached eggs and bacon at about 9am. My brain and focus is just way better running on fat than on glucose.

mattieuga 12y ago
> My brain and focus is just way better running on fat than on glucose. Your body runs on sugar not fat. Fat will be transformed into sugar to be used as energy in your body. With that said, it won't create a huge spike in your blood sugar like drinking a soda, and won't cause a giant release of insulin.
- frou_dh 12y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies
- billyum 12y ago
  Fat isn't transformed into sugar, it breaks down into fatty acids which are metabolized using a different pathway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_metabolism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_metabolism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_degradation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_degradation
  - nmjohn 12y ago
    Sometimes - but they ARE metabolized through the same pathway. Essentially: Glucose ->[0] pyruvate ->[1] acetyl-coa -> TCA cycle vs Fatty acids ->[2] acetyl-coa -> TCA cycle The TCA is cycle is the actual main energy generating step. Other times fat absolutely is converted to sugar. It all depends on the metabolic needs of the body and one building blocks are available, and what protein "workers" are able to use the ones that are available. For example, fatty acid synthase converts acetyl coa back to a fatty acid [3]. [0] Glycolysis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis [1] pyruvate dehydrogenase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyruvate_dehydrogenase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyruvate_dehydrogenase [2] beta oxidation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_oxidation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_oxidation [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_synthase http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid_synthase

facepalm 12y ago

"Each evening participants rated the level of any anger they were feeling toward their spouse." Depressing that this is a useful measurement, that is, the level of anger is > 0 on most evenings.

drcomputer 12y ago
Emotions can do a math kind of thing (additive, subtractive, multiplicative and such) from our personal histories and day to day, unrelated tasks. Lots of people project or distort their emotions in various ways, or they rationalize away emotions using psychological analysis terms like projection / and an observation of state changes based on input/output. Having it perfectly under control feels like being a computer sometimes. I don't like feeling angry. It's weird.
- kaybe 12y ago
  I can count the amount of times I've actually gotten angry on one hand. I either get sad or irritated instead. Hm. Maybe I'm misinterpreting feelings?
  - drcomputer 12y ago
    People learn and create different ways to handle emotions. People experience differences and similarities in life experience. People resolve and analyze their histories, present and future evaluations differently, similarly, if at all. People have different temperaments, or similar. People can track their data independently to attempt to control their reactions internally to the external world, but life does things that make handling response not always controllable. I can't say anything about your state anymore than I both simultaneously understand and do not understand my own.
  - Retric 12y ago
    IMO, the angry / irritated line is completly subjective. To the point where I would call them different intensity's of the same emotion.
  - gimboland 12y ago

slg 12y ago

Isn't this common knowledge? Snickers has a whole advertising campaign based on this idea.

mattieuga 12y ago
Maybe never actually studied? I mean vitamin water has a whole advertising campaign about being healthy, but that's clearly nonsense.
nanodeath 12y ago
I agree that this is common knowledge, but it's good to see it studied. My friends and I use the word `hangry` in these situations: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hangry http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hangry

oooccc 12y ago

it is good to eat honey or fruit fro your sugar, not table sugar, as table sugar(white death) gets in your blood very quick causing insulin spike, which is bad and bad only, unless you completely deprived of energy like in long distance race. this stupid sensationalist articles designed to glorify consumption of junk food are just pathetic and should not be on top of hacker news...

mattieuga 12y ago
Honey has a very high glycemic index as well. Almost the same as table sugar.
- oooccc 12y ago
  no, honey is fructose and glucose separate. sugar is sucrose - glucose and fructose in a very high energy bond. apart that honey has a lot of other stuff(bee saliva, pollen) which make the SPEED of absorbtion wayyyyyyyyyyyy different
imanaccount247 12y ago
>table sugar(white death) Why post garbage like that? >gets in your blood very quick causing insulin spike Just like honey and fruit and candy do. >which is bad and bad only There is no evidence to support that claim. The demonization of "insulin spikes" is for selling a fad diet. It is not based on science.
- oooccc 12y ago
  sucrose is not same as fructose and glucose. fruit and honey have a lot of other stuff which slows THE SPEED OF ABSORPTION into blood and does not spike insulin in a wild way like sugar. try eating spoon of sugar and compare the feel with spoon of honey. it is obvious.
  - imanaccount247 12y ago
    Fruit has small amounts of fiber that slightly slow absorption. Honey does not. It has the exact same effect as any other sugar. Rather than "feeling" it, try measuring it.

Adaptive 12y ago

One of the researchers mentioned in the article, Roy Baumeister, wrote a book that I enjoyed (entitled "Willpower"). He gave a talk about willpower and glucose levels which you can see some of here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefDeoXCBbk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefDeoXCBbk It's not a completely pop-science book, more a translation of his research into an approachable lay-person format. I recommend it. (edit - link to book: http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength-ebook/dp/B0052REQCY http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human... )

stared 12y ago

It is interesting. Though, as far as I know [1] glucose consumption varies only a little with brain usage. So either this thing is wrong, or nervousness because of lack of glucose has different mechanism that some lobes being hungry. [1] http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/839/how-does-the-brains-energy-consumption-depend-on-mental-activity http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/839/how-does-the-...

septerr 12y ago

"Moreover, during a tough self-control task, circulating glucose levels plummet, consumed by hardworking frontal neurons. And, remarkably, self-control improves if subjects sip sugary drinks during the task (with control subjects consuming sugar-free drinks)." Then is controlling urge to sip sugary drinks a doomed enterprise?

afro88 12y ago

They should have had a control group that's completely off sugar. Sugar is an addictive substance and affects your psychology in a similar way to other addictive substances. You'd see similar results doing this experiment with smokers and cigarettes instead of sugar for example.

gwern 12y ago

There are pretty serious problems with the glucose theory right now: http://lesswrong.com/lw/jan/kurzban_et_al_on_opportunity_cost_models_of/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jan/kurzban_et_al_on_opportunity_cos...

dlwj 12y ago

If the results are saying "Self control when hungry is lowered." then I agree completely.

myth_buster 12y ago

I've personally noticed that I get more irritated/angry 4-5hrs after my meal. This is quite evident for me in the morning when I delay my breakfast. Hence I try to time my meals religiously. Though getting irritated/angry doesn't affect my "willpower" as I can still keep my emotions in check and prevent them from ebbing out. Coming back to the experiment, shouldn't the will power be benchmarked before testing for effects of glucose? Hypothetically, couldn't I get a study group of weak-willed people and enforce the WSJ article's premise as well as get a bunch of monks and refute it?

swamp40 12y ago

From the Comments: "Clearly explains why glucose turns into fat for certain people."

rodly 12y ago

> The largest lesson is that who we are and what we do must always be considered in the context of the biology occurring inside us. This is such a pointless ending sentiment. I realize the irony here too, my comment is pointless transitively but I don't care.

bcheung 12y ago

It's a little known fact that the brain can also be fueled by ketones by those following a ketogenic diet. Energy is more constant as the body is burning fat continuously instead of depending on constant feeding and the associated ups and downs in blood sugar. Those following a ketogenic diet report improved concentration and alertness. Also, anything that overstimulates the reward system (sugar) will result in weakened willpower.

IndianAstronaut 12y ago
How often before that kicks in? I tried keto for a few days and I could not bear the post lunch slump.
- bcheung 12y ago
  Are you referring to the fatigue from eating too much or not having any glucose in your blood stream? People who eat keto meals generally don't feel any food comas. You might be experiencing low blood sugar because the body is not burning fat as it should though. The only real way to get into ketosis is to remove carbs. Personally, I find it easier to just bite the bullet and fast for several days. Trying to ease out of carbs didn't work for me. This is probably a good resource to get started: http://www.ketotic.org/2012/05/keto-adaptation-what-it-is-and-how-to.html http://www.ketotic.org/2012/05/keto-adaptation-what-it-is-an...
  - wavegeek 12y ago
    I toughed it out for six weeks and I was definitely in ketosis per ketostix testing. I felt as bad as I ever have. So it doesn't work for everyone.
  - IndianAstronaut 12y ago
    Thanks for the info. I think I will have to do this over the holidays when I am not trying to crank through work deadlines.
- dredmorbius 12y ago

laichzeit0 12y ago

How do get your muscles to look "full" on a keto diet? I'm talking bodybuilding here. I see almost everyone "carbing up" before a show specifically because of this. It also means if you want to follow this sort of diet you'll end up looking flat most of the time unless you leave the keto state. Don't really see the point going low carb if you're lifting weights and calorie counting since you're replacing muscle glycogen all the time, there's not a lot of excess energy to be stored as fat unless you're eating way above maintenance.