USC researchers have shown that when we're tired or stressed, we're just as likely tohit the gym or turn to other positive habits as we are to pop open a coke or commit someother acts of self-sabotage.
    Led by USC Professor Wendy Wood and David Neal, a former assistant psychologyprofessor at USC, the research shows that lack of control doesn't automatically meanindulgence or hedonism ( 享乐 ) --it's the underlying routine that matters, for better orworse. "When we try to change our behavior, we strategize about our motivation andself-control. But what we should be thinking about instead is how to set up new habits.
    Habits persist even when we're tired and don't have the energy to exert self-control," saidWood. Wood is one of the world's leading experts on habit, the automatic behaviors thatmake it possible for us to function every day. Learned habits also play a big role in ourhealth; research has shown that lack of exercise, overeating and smoking are significantrisk factors for major diseases. Indeed, obesity and smoking are the two primary reasonsAmericans die before people in other high-income countries, according to a recentNational Academy of Sciences report led by Professor Eileen Crimmins, holder of theAARP Chair in Gerontology.
    But while most disease prevention efforts focus on self-control, the latest researchfrom Wood shows that the best way to prevent diseases might be knowing how to letgo. In one experiment Wood and her co-investigators followed students for a semester,including during exams. They found that during testing periods, when students werestressed and sleep-deprived, they were even more likely to stick to old habits. It was as ifthey didn't have the energy to do something new, Wood explained.
    Students who ate unhealthy breakfasts during the semester, such as pastries ordoughnuts (甜甜圈), ate even more of the junk food during exams. But the same wastrue of oatmeal ( 燕麦) eaters: Those in the habit of eating a healthy breakfast were alsomore likely to stick to routine and ate especially well in the morning when under pressure.
    "You might expect that when students were stressed and had little time, they wouldn'tread the paper at all, but instead they fell back on their reading habits," Wood said. "Habitsdon't require much willpower and thought and deliberation."
    Wood continued: "So, the central question for behavior change efforts should be,how can you form healthy, productive habits? What we know about habit formation isthat you want to make the behavior easy to perform, so that people repeat it often and itbecomes part of their daily routine."