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Uh-oh, the new year's just begun and already you're finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There's a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break – they get wired into our brains。
That's not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad。
"Why are bad habits stronger? You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain's pleasure pathway。
"We all as creatures are hard-wired that way, to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that's delayed," Volkow says。
Just how that bit of happiness turns into a habit involves a pleasure-sensing chemical named dopamine. It conditions the brain to want that reward again and again – reinforcing the connection each time – especially when it gets the right cue from your environment。
People tend to overestimate their ability to resist temptations around them, thus undermining attempts to shed bad habits, says experimental psychologist Loran Nordgren, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management。
Even scientists who recognize it can fall prey。
"I don't like popcorn. But every time I go to the cinema, I have to eat it," Volkow says. "It's fascinating."
A movement to pay people for behavior changes may exploit that connection, as some companies offer employees outright payments or insurance rebates for adopting better habits。
However paying for behavior plays out, researchers say there are some steps that may help counter your brain's hold on bad habits:
Repeat, repeat, repeat the new behavior – the same routine at the same time of day. Resolved to exercise? Doing it at the same time of the morning, rather than fitting it in haphazardly, makes the striatum recognize the habit so eventually, "if you don't do it, you feel awful," says Volkow the neuroscientist, who's also a passionate runner。
Exercise itself raises dopamine levels, so eventually your brain will get a feel-good hit even if your muscles protest。
Reward yourself with something you really desire, Volkow stresses. You exercised all week? Stuck to your diet? Buy a book, a great pair of jeans, or try a fancy restaurant - safer perhaps than a box of cookies because the price inhibits the quantity。
參考譯文：
噢喔，新的一年才剛剛開始，你就發(fā)現(xiàn)很難堅(jiān)持“告別垃圾食品、遠(yuǎn)離沙發(fā)、戒煙”這些新年決心了吧?我們很難改掉壞習(xí)慣是由于生物學(xué)的原因——這些壞習(xí)慣根植于我們的大腦中。
這并不是讓人放棄新年決心的借口。了解不健康的習(xí)慣怎樣變得根深蒂固可以啟發(fā)科學(xué)家研究出一些讓好習(xí)慣代替壞習(xí)慣的“技巧”。
諾拉•沃爾科夫博士說：“為什么壞習(xí)慣更加頑固?因?yàn)樗軒砑磿r(shí)的犒賞，而這種即時(shí)犒賞的力量很強(qiáng)大。”沃爾科夫博士是美國國家藥物濫用研究所主任，同時(shí)也是大腦快樂通道方面的權(quán)威。
沃爾科夫博士說，“我們的這種天性決定了我們會(huì)更看重眼前的好處，而不是遲來的好處。”
那么這一點(diǎn)快樂的感覺是怎樣轉(zhuǎn)化為一種習(xí)慣的呢?這與一種感知快樂的化學(xué)物質(zhì)多巴胺有關(guān)。多巴胺使大腦不斷期望得到這種犒賞，從而不斷加強(qiáng)快樂感與這種行為之間的聯(lián)系，特別是當(dāng)它能從周圍環(huán)境中得到正確的暗示時(shí)。
西北大學(xué)凱洛格管理學(xué)院副教授、實(shí)驗(yàn)心理學(xué)家羅蘭•諾德格倫說，人們往往高估自己抵抗身邊誘惑的能力，這使他們?yōu)閿[脫壞習(xí)慣而做出的努力毀于一旦。
即使是能意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)的科學(xué)家，也難以幸免。
沃爾科夫說：“我不喜歡吃爆米花，但每次去電影院我都會(huì)吃。它讓我很難抗拒。”
一項(xiàng)“為行為變化買單”的運(yùn)動(dòng)可能會(huì)對(duì)這種聯(lián)系加以利用，在這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)中，一些公司給雇員提供“即時(shí)報(bào)酬”或是“保險(xiǎn)回扣”，以激勵(lì)他們形成更好的習(xí)慣。
不管這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)結(jié)果如何，研究人員說我們的確可以采取某些行動(dòng)來對(duì)抗壞習(xí)慣對(duì)大腦的吸引力。
那就是，重復(fù)，重復(fù)，再重復(fù)你的新行為，使之成為每天固定時(shí)間的例行活動(dòng)。下決心鍛煉?那就每天早上固定時(shí)間鍛煉，而不要隨意找時(shí)間，這樣會(huì)使大腦紋狀體最終接受這個(gè)新習(xí)慣。神經(jīng)學(xué)家沃爾科夫也是一個(gè)熱愛跑步的人，他說：“如果你哪天沒鍛煉，就會(huì)感覺很糟糕。”
運(yùn)動(dòng)本身能提升多巴胺的水平，這樣盡管運(yùn)動(dòng)結(jié)束后你的肌肉感覺酸痛，但是你的大腦還是會(huì)感覺良好。
沃爾科夫強(qiáng)調(diào)說，要獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)自己一點(diǎn)你真正想要的東西。你堅(jiān)持鍛煉了一整周?嚴(yán)格遵循了你的節(jié)食食譜?那給你自己買本書，買一條漂亮的牛仔褲，或者去一家高檔的餐館吧!這應(yīng)該會(huì)比買一盒曲奇餅要安全，畢竟，餐廳的價(jià)格會(huì)提醒你別吃那么多東西。
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