Read Online Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister - Free Book Online

attorneys actually did argue, with limited success, that their clients’ blood-sugar problems should be taken into account. Whatever the legal or moral merits of that argument, there certainly was scientific data showing a correlation between blood sugar and criminal behavior. One study found below-average glucose levels in 90 percent of the juvenile delinquents recently taken into custody. Other studies reported that people with hypoglycemia were more likely to be convicted of a wide variety of offenses: traffic violations, public profanity, shoplifting, destruction of property, exhibitionism, public masturbation, embezzlement, arson, spouse abuse, and child abuse.
    In one remarkable study, researchers in Finland went into a prison to measure the glucose tolerance of convicts who were about to be released. Then the scientists kept track of which ones went on to commit new crimes. Obviously there are many factors that can influence whether an ex-con goes straight: peer pressure, marriage, employment prospects, drug use. Yet just by looking at the response to the glucose test, the researchers were able to predict with greater than 80 percent accuracy which convicts would go on to commit violent crimes. These men apparently had less self-control because of their impaired glucose tolerance, a condition in which the body has trouble converting food into usable energy. The food gets converted into glucose, but the glucose in the bloodstream doesn’t get absorbed as it circulates. The result is often a surplus of glucose in the bloodstream, which might sound beneficial, but it’s like having plenty of firewood and no matches. The glucose remains there uselessly, rather than being converted into brain and muscle activity. If the excess glucose reaches a sufficiently high level, the condition is labeled diabetes.
    Most diabetics aren’t criminals, obviously. Most keep themselves and their glucose levels under control by monitoring themselves and using insulin when necessary. Like Jim Turner, one of the rare actors to make a good living in Hollywood, they can succeed in the most difficult endeavors. But they do face above-average challenges, particularly if they don’t monitor themselves carefully. Researchers testing personality have found that diabetics tend to be more impulsive and have more explosive temperaments than other people their age. They’re more likely to get distracted while working on a time-consuming task. They have more problems with alcohol abuse, anxiety, and depression. In hospitals and other institutions, diabetics throw more tantrums than other patients. In everyday life, stressful conditions seem to be harder on diabetics. Coping with stress typically takes self-control, and that’s difficult if your body isn’t providing your brain with enough fuel.
    Jim Turner deals with his self-control problems directly—and hilariously—in a one-man show titled “Diabetes: My Struggles with Jim Turner.” He recalls moments like the argument with his teenage son that ended with him, ostensibly the adult, getting so mad that he went outside and kicked a permanent dent into the family car. “There are many times,” Turner says, “when my son can see that I am not in control, when he has to force me to drink some juice, when he is afraid that I am just not there.”
    Turner doesn’t use any version of the Twinkie defense to excuse the dent, and he doesn’t feel sorry for himself, either. On the whole, he keeps his diabetes under control, and says the disease hasn’t stopped him from being happy and fulfilling his dreams (except for that one about teleportation). But he also recognizes the emotional consequences of glucose. “There are so many little moments of connection that I have missed,” he says, “that I wasn’t available to my son because I was busy dealing with a low-blood-sugar episode and too overwhelmed trying to figure out what was going on. It’s the single biggest heartbreak of this