On doing what we don't want to do and vice versa: the biology of temptation

I've always reckoned that the real trick to resisting temptation is actually recognising it in the first place. Perhaps help is at hand.

The funny thing about being vulnerable to saying, eating, or doing the wrong thing is that humans are typically unaware that they are in a moment of weakness, unlike the strain and fatigue we feel in our muscles after a workout. Fortunately, new research conducted by University of Kentucky psychologists Suzanne Segerstrom and Lise Solberg Nes suggest that there may be a biological indicator to tell us when we are working hard at resisting temptation and consequently when we are vulnerable to doing things contrary to our intentions.

I suspect wearing a heart monitor isn't really going to help most of us. There'd be too many other issues and false positives. So I think we're just going to have to keep working on self-conscientisation. Still it's good to know that spotting temptation is really a difficult task.