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Ralph ate donuts maybe once a year; he could easily drive right on by the Krispy Kreme donut shop without even giving it a thought. But then Ralph went on a diet to lower his cholesterol. He was hungry. A lot of the time. Like a lost episode of Twilight Zone, the vivid red, blinking Hot Donuts sign seemed to be calling his name, beaconing him toward sweet dough fried in hot fat. It was all too much to resist. He was led into temptation, taking home a dozen glazed. Well, actually eating three sinkers before he even got out of the parking lot.

What happened? Temptation got the best of this guy, but only when he had exhausted his “resisting temptation muscles” on staying away from his usual snacks.

Or maybe it was his heart. At least that’s one explanation put forth in Why We Give Into Temptation, a brief summary into some research focusing on temptation.

Well, not really the whole heart, just a measure called heart rate variability (HRV) that appears to be linked to self regulation. A couple of researchers at the University of Kentucky discovered an apparent tie between the variability and giving into temptation or giving up on doing a difficult task. Interesting.

But here’s what really interested me here:

So, will we be wearing a cardiac monitor in the near future to gauge whether we are vulnerable in our self regulating abilities? It’s doubtful, say the authors. However, when considering special populations with more serious consequences of self regulatory failure (say, alcoholics) HRV feedback could be helpful to determine when those critical relapses in regulation will happen.

Let’s say we buy the tie between HRV and giving into temptation. It might be useful to be able to self-monitor stuff like HRV. But the idea of monitoring “special populations?” The privacy issues alone surrounding that montoring could really open a legal and ethical can worms. But at this stage, it’s just academic research. Photo by thievingjoker

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