For decades, parents were told to help children build willpower like a muscle, to resist things like junk food and too much time on their screens. But new research suggests a better strategy.

For decades, psychologists believed willpower was the ticket to a good life. "It was thought that people with better willpower would be more successful," says psychologist Marina Milyavskaya at ...

Ask a Therapist is a new series of columns offering insights and advice about common psychological concerns. It is not a substitute for seeking professional psychological or medical care. For years, I ...

I read with interest about the passing of Jim Markalunas. I was particularly taken with the final paragraph of his obituary in which his daughter Lisa is quoted: “I think both my mother and father ...

Neighborhood walkability is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem: Does living in a walkable city make you walk more, or do active people choose to live where it’s easier to walk? To investigate, ...

An old definition of the word fate is “the will of the gods.” We might say that it is a fitting metaphor, as it suggests that fate comes from a source much larger than ourselves. Its immensity will ...

You’ve probably heard it said that self-control – or what some people think of as willpower – is like a muscle. Use it too much and it gets fatigued, potentially to the point of exhaustion. The idea ...

At the start of every new year, many of us think about how to make our lives better going forward. Perhaps we want to lose weight or stop drinking or stay off of our cell phones. If only we had more ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For the last 30 or so years ...

For many, a new year brings a determination to break old habits or start new, positive ones. At this time of year “holiday treats and year-end sales confront us at every turn”, so we indulge because ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Getty Images It’s a ...