The Body Behind Our Decisions

The recent heatwaves

One thing I found quite interesting with the recent heatwaves in the UK is not only how uncomfortable they are, but how much they affect the way people are thinking and their behaviour.

A few days ago, I was on a train whose air conditioning had broken down. The carriage had become surprisingly warm and by the end of the journey you could see people slowly dozing off, staring blankly out of the window, or simply lacking the energy to do very much.

I remember looking around and thinking that nobody in that carriage was really in a state to do deep work, solve complex problems, or make particularly important decisions.

And yet, this is really just an extreme example of something that is happening all the time.

The illusion of the body and mind separation

I think many of us still carry, often without realising it, a way of seeing ourselves that goes back at least to Descartes. The idea that the mind and body are somehow separate, with the mind doing the thinking and the body acting more like a vehicle that carries it around.

While few people would describe themselves this way explicitly today, I think traces of that perspective still show up in how we think. We often imagine ourselves evaluating situations objectively, weighing up the evidence, and arriving at conclusions through pure cognitive reasoning.

In some ways, it is almost as if we see the brain as a highly sophisticated computer, processing information independently from everything else happening in the body.

But the more I learn about psychology, the more artificial that separation seems.

Our thinking is constantly influenced by what is happening physically. The quality of our sleep, how much we have moved during the day, whether we are hungry, dehydrated, ill, or simply too warm can all subtly shape our attention, motivation, patience, and judgement.

Which means that we are often not evaluating life from some neutral and objective standpoint. We are evaluating it through the state our body happens to be in at that particular moment.

The recent heatwaves simply made that reality much harder to ignore.

What this means in our daily life

A project that feels exciting and meaningful one week can suddenly feel frustrating after several days of poor sleep, high stress, or simply spending too much time indoors.

What fascinates me is that we rarely notice this shift happening. When we are tired, we do not usually think: "I am tired, therefore my judgement might be affected."

Instead, we often assume that the conclusions we are reaching are accurate.

The role really is frustrating. The project really is a bad idea. The situation really is hopeless.

The interpretation feels objective, even though part of it may simply reflect the condition we happen to be in.

I have certainly noticed this myself. There have been moments where a problem felt significant at the end of a long day, only to look surprisingly manageable after a good night's sleep, a run, a swim, or simply some time away from the screen.

Nothing external had changed. But the body state along with the mind evaluating the situation had.

The state for important decisions

This also made me realise that when we think about important decisions, we usually focus on the decision itself.

We might spend a lot of time analysing the options, the risks, the trade-offs, and the possible outcomes. Much less attention is given to the state of the person when evaluating the different options.

And yet that state matters enormously.

The same person can look at the same situation very differently depending on whether they are rested or exhausted, energised or depleted, physically active or sedentary.

Which means that before asking whether a conclusion is correct, there may sometimes be value in asking a simpler question:

"What state am I bringing to this decision?"

Final words

As we all know, hydration, sleep, nutrition, and movement matter for health and longevity.

But one dimension often forgotten is that they also influence the quality of the lens through which we experience the world.

Some of the most important decisions we make about our careers, relationships, and lives are ultimately being made by a mind that exists within a body, not separately from it.

And sometimes, before trying to solve the problem, make the big decision, or figure out the next step, it might be worth taking care of the decision-maker first.

A glass of water, a walk, a swim, a good night's sleep, or simply stepping away from the laptop for a while may not solve the issue directly. But they might leave us in a much better position to see it clearly, and also enable us to cope better with the heat!

Thank you for reading, and please remember to take care of yourself.