Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain

Any self-reflective person understands that attention and concentration are limited resources. It's as if some chemical is metabolized when we engage in focused concentration and eventually this chemcial gets used up requiring a break--or sleep--before we can continue. But according to this fascinating Scientific American article, research suggests that making choices also appears to deplete executive resources.

These experimental insights suggest that the brain works like a muscle: when depleted, it becomes less effective. Furthermore, we should take this knowledge into account when making decisions. If we've just spent lots of time focusing on a particular task, exercising self-control or even if we've just made lots of seemingly minor choices, then we probably shouldn't try to make a major decision. These deleterious carryover effects from a tired brain may have a strong shaping effect on our lives.

Helps explain why shopping for clothes can leave you feeling so mentally drained, why longer meetings accomplish less, and what leads us to procrastinate imporatant work by indulging in frivolous entertainment.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=tough-choices-how-making