New study reveals women would rather give up sex than chocolate

20 per cent of women said chocolate would be the last thing they would give up

Women would rather give up sex than chocolate, a new survey by Cancer Research UK has found, with 20 per cent of 2,000 people surveyed saying they could not live without the sweet treat.

In comparison, just nine per cent of women said they would not be able to abstain from sex, while 22 per cent of men said they could not give this up.

The study on willpower, carried out to mark the launch of the charity's Dryathlon campaign, showed alcohol, chocolate and sex were the most difficult things to go without, closely followed by caffeine and swearing.

While 59 per cent of people thought women were more likely to be able to give up sex, only 5 per cent thought men could, which comes as no surprise as the results showed men were thought to have less willpower overall.

Half of those surveyed said their willpower changed over the year, with Christmas and New Year weakening willpower the most.

Robert West, professor of health psychology at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre, said: 'When you take exposure to temptation and strength of desire out of the equation you are left with this thing called "willpower": the force that our plans have in controlling our actions.

'Individuals with more willpower are probably more likely to achieve their objectives, whatever these might be.

'Some believe that willpower is like a muscle - it can get tired but it can also be strengthened with training.

'The idea is that getting people to practice doing something that requires self-control builds a general ability to do this.

'There are also studies showing that when people make their personal rules very clear with well-defined boundaries, they are more likely to stick to them.'

What do you think of the findings? What would be the last thing you would give up? Let us know in the comments below.

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