Glucose Mouth Rinse Really Does Enhance Self-Control
Pacific Standard:
Undoubtedly the oddest piece of research we’ve reported on in a while is an Australian study that found gargling with a glucose solution helps people renew their self-control. Even as I wrote the piece, I could hear the sarcastic voice of Paula Poundstone in my head, making fun of it on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.
Well, guess what? A group of American researchers has come to the same conclusion.
Writing in the journal Psychological Science, a research team led by University of Georgia psychologist Matthew Sanders describes an experiment featuring 51 students. They began by performing a tedious task that has been shown to deplete self-control, which involves “following a complex rule to cross out Es on a page from a statistics book.”
Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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