Step one: Narrow your options down to two.
The science:
Decision-making can become paralyzing when the options seem endless, but a new study found that the faster you whittle your choices down to two, the smoother the process will go.
Expert insight:
Considering the vast number of decisions you’re faced with every day, it’s important to make them quickly and easily, says lead study author Sebastian Gluth, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
He and his team found that when people were given three food choices, the speed at which they made their final decisions depended primarily on how quickly they rejected the worst pick.
It may be that the more options you have, the more factors you have to take into account to determine which one is best. When you have only two choices, on the other hand, it’s easy for your brain to discern the better one from the worse one.
The bottom line:
Decision fatigue can have a real impact on your nutrition, well-being, and workouts. To minimize it and ease the stress of choice overload, aim to always narrow your options down to two and choose from there.
Test your knowledge with our Weekly crossword.