Why are New Year's resolutions hard to keep?

THAT'S THE WHY:How many times has it happened? On January 1st a switch flips: suddenly it's time to redress the overindulgence of Christmas and set out a template for the new, healthier you.

In your zeal you may decide to go all out and train the crosshairs on multiple targets: alcohol, cigarettes, the waistline, coffee, fitness. But by Valentine’s day (if you are lucky to have lasted that long) the pious resolutions will likely be gathering dust along with the exercise bike, juicer and nicotine patches.

Why do we find it so hard to stick to those ambitious lists? Maybe it’s because willpower is not the all-powerful force we assume it to be.

The prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in overcoming the urge to splurge on those hedonistic practices, is like a mental scratch pad. We use it to retain information in the short term and figure out how to react to real-time situations.

It can have a lot to deal with in our daily lives, so those pesky resolutions can slip down the importance ratings, and before you know it the old ways creep in again.

“Willpower, like a bicep, can only exert itself so long before it gives out; it’s an extremely limited mental resource,” wrote Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide, in the Wall Street Journal last year.

“Given its limitations, New Year’s resolutions are exactly the wrong way to change our behaviour. It makes no sense to try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, or to clean the apartment and give up wine in the same month. Instead, we should respect the feebleness of self-control, and spread our resolutions out over the entire year.”