The Tenacious Brain

Lately I have been interested in the concept of tenacity, or willpower. I have started to read and learn from figures in history who have exhibited great strength over adversity in order to learn what they have in common and how they have built a tenacious brain over time. I recently read two biographies on the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. Here are some key takeaways I have gleaned from his impressive life story. These are some of the characteristics I noticed have perhaps built up his tenacity or likely were the origin of them:

• A propensity toward immense physical activity and challenge
• Studies do not come easily; school struggles or academic challenges
• Physical handicap or challenge
• Revel in roughing it outdoors
• A commitment to life-long learning and improvement

It also has become clear to me that resilience, tenacity, grit, willpower, or whatever you want to name it, is developed by doing repetitions of things that require you to be tougher. This is much like how you would train your muscles with free weights in the gym. But since there is much more to say in context, let’s start with his story.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) came from feeble genes. His father died at forty-six from cancer, and his mother followed from typhoid at age forty-eight. His older sister Anna was partially disabled from congenital bone disease. His younger sister Corinne had asthma. His younger brother Elliott, suffered from epilepsy and emotional illness. Theodore, however, was the frailest of all his siblings. Throughout his young life, from infancy, he endured headaches, toothaches, fevers, stomach and intestinal pains, but worst of all was asthma, which left him debilitated, days and even weeks without air and nearly suffocating. Asthma gave him many restless nights. These attacks terrified him, left him gasping for air, wheezing, and choking.

Despite these physical challenges, “Teedie,” as he was called by his family, lived a relatively cushioned life. His family, hailing from New York, were decidedly upper class. The family of six spent elaborate vacations abroad for many months out of the year while the children were homeschooled. Young Teedie was therefore given the opportunity to explore the physical boundaries of the world. On one of these vacations when Theordore was eleven, his family hiked through the Swiss and Austrian Alps. It was there on those high mountains that he discovered, although a frail child, that if he tried, he could almost keep up with his father.

This idea was extraordinary to him, and Theodore became hooked on challenges which tested his physical endurance. Something his father said to him one day sealed his fate as someone who would make testing his body and endurance a lifelong practice. After summoning Teedie, Theodore Sr. said to him: “Theodore, you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body.” Teedie, who adored his father, responded: “I’ll make my body.”

A course of exercise ensued that Teedie kept up for the rest of his life. He lifted weights, practiced gymnastics, wrestled, rode horseback, played tennis, hiked, climbed, swam, rowed, whether rain or shine, day or night. He asked his father for boxing lessons in order to fight off bullies and remained a practicing boxer well into his Presidency. He found that fresh air improved his asthma, and for once he felt he could control what was, for so long, familiarly uncontrollable.

Between his sophomore and junior years at Harvard University, Roosevelt traveled to Maine for a hunting expedition with William Sewall, a lumberman who guided hunters. Accustomed to guiding mostly vacationers who wanted to enjoy the comforts of a roof, sheets, and dry blankets, Theodore, who he knew suffered from youthful illnesses, took Sewall by surprise. Theodore was often underestimated, as he typically, until his late 30s, cut a rather unassuming and unremarkable figure, and appeared weak and fragile to those who did not know him. Together, they went canoeing, shooting, fishing, climbing, swimming, lived off the land, bivouacked in the bush, swam in the rivers, and respectively got soaked and frozen. Theodore would return to Sewall time and again to get tired out, wet, and cold. He would duplicate these excursions on his own at his family’s home in Oyster Bay, sometimes going twelve hours hunting and hiking without food or rest. Theodore once mused in his diary during those years: “My life is such absurd contrasts. At one time I live in the height of luxury; and then for a month will undergo really severe toil and hardship–and I enjoy both extremes almost equally.” These excursions made him feel strong.

Once back at Harvard, Theodore’s physician told him he had an irregular heartbeat and banned him from any strenuous exercise. As Roosevelt recounted his response to his doctor nearly forty years later, he responded: “Doctor, I am going to do all the things you tell me not to do. If I’ve got to live the sort of life you have described, I don’t care how short it is.” He summited the Matterhorn soon after, on his honeymoon with his first wife who died later in childbirth. This feat had not been accomplished by anyone for sixteen years since, with many who died along the way in the conquest. Theodore likened the feat to crawling up a staircase on his hands and knees for nine hours.

Years later, Theodore, who was then Vice President of the United States, was with his second wife and family on a challenging camping and hiking trip near Mount Marcy in New York state when he learned from an aid who had tracked him down in the woods that Roosevelt would become the 26th President of the United States. The current Chief Commander William McKinley had been shot, and the outlook was grim. He later lamented to have won the highest seat in the country by default.

After college, Theodore invested in a cattle ranch in the Dakota territory in 1883. At the time, the raw American west was an attractive frontier, especially for Theodore who relished in the outdoors. Ranch work is hard, stressful, long, and dangerous work. Although he only frequented his ranch a few weeks out of the year and relied on hired ranch hands to man the property and cattle, when he was there he worked as hard as anyone. Storms and stampedes kept him outside and in his saddle for thirty to forty hours at a time and never shied from his night post. Although no real cowboy, those of the like came to respect him.

Indeed the Dakota territory was and still is a rough frontier, but perhaps this characteristic was part of the appeal for Theodore. To him, weak character was a cardinal sin, and any weakness in himself was humiliating. We can likely understand why. Growing up frail, weak, fragile, and slight likely gave him something he felt he needed to prove, and the Wild West was a catalyst to prove it to himself, and likely to others, that he was made of something.

On one occasion, a party of men came to Roosevelt’s ranch while he was out hunting grizzlies. The leader of the group, Paddock, a known murderer, told Roosevelt’s ranch hands that their boss’s cattle was grazing too far on to other territory, and that he must clear them out, or else. Paddock had been bragging about shooting Roosevelt as soon as he could. So, revolver in hand, Roosevelt later paid Paddock a visit and told him he was ready to start the gunplay. Surprised by his audacity, Paddock capitulated to Roosevelt and said there was simply a misunderstanding. He did not bother him after that.

In another incident, Roosevelt punched square in the jaw a man in a saloon who had called him “four-eyes.” To many who knew or heard of him, Roosevelt and fear never seemed to mix. There was also a sense of self-reliance, especially on the plains that were lawless. The closest sheriff at the time had a jurisdiction the size of Connecticut, so frontier justice was in the hands of the residents, lest they lose their dignity and their territory.

Roosevelt’s lifelong quest for tests of courage and strength are what caused him to enlist, at 39 years old, in the Spanish-American War in 1898. An aging, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the time, many tried to talk him out of it. Theodore became Second Commander and formed the group known popularly today as the Rough Riders, the first United States volunteer cavalry with volunteers from Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, a call back to the rugged and tough motley crew of his ranch days. The Rough Riders became a strong second force in the Battle of San Juan Hill, a deciding battle in the fate of the U.S. Army’s campaign in Cuba and the site of victory. Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Cuba and remains to this day the only president awarded that honor. The glow of satisfaction Theodore had for his hand in that battle would follow him for the rest of his days. Only months before he died, he declared San Juan as the greatest day of his life.

It was perhaps this physical challenge of his body that built young Theodore up into the man with political fortitude and policy he came to be known for. In his early political career, he was often unleashed as an attack dog or flame-thrower in the lower legislation, rattling cages and giving adversaries a run for their money.

Theodore was one such proponent of what he called “The Strenuous Life” in a speech in 1899:

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

To Theodore, an unstrenuous life was a meaningless one.

Even as president, Roosevelt kept up his strict exercise schedule. He often took visitors on what he called “scrambles;” hikes, climbs, and swims up Rock Creek, northwest of the White House. He used these jaunts to test the fortitude of his visitors, so the worse the weather and footing, the more uncomfortable the guest, and the better it was for Roosevelt’s amusement. On off days, he would box with younger military officers. In one such hand-to-hand combat, he broke a blood vessel in his left eye and eventually lost sight in it, although that news was private to many. His physical prowess was intertwined with his self-esteem since age eleven, and so getting up in his years came hard for him. After his Presidency, Roosevelt continued to amuse himself by taking the entire general staff of the Army-some fifty or so men-on his famous scrambles.

In 1912, while arriving to give a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roosevelt was shot from seven feet away, the bullet passing through his speech manuscript before lodging in his chest cavity. Since he was not coughing blood, Roosevelt figured the wound was not fatal, and went on inside to give a 90-minute speech while blood stained through his shirt. He told the stunned crowd “it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” Later, doctors thought it more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet, so Roosevelt carried it with him the rest of his life.

The Science of the Tenacious Brain

Physical challenge is an opportunity to build immense willpower along with physical and mental strength. If you think of some of the top athletes in the world; the gold medalists and those who set seemingly impossible records for human ability, you can know that they worked hard to get there. For many who favor endurance or strength training, it takes years, and perhaps decades, of hard work to make inches, perhaps centimeters or seconds, of progress in running, swimming, jumping, cycling, lifting, skiing and become a world champion. Most people, reasonably so, do not want to and will not be willing to work that hard. The process is laborious, and attention spans can be short. Quick results are often a sought-after silver bullet, but the fact is, a silver bullet is not a real possibility

But are these top athletes born with a predisposition toward athletic greatness? Do they possess something we never can, a propensity to dig their heels in and work hard? Do they just secretly enjoy it and there is no hope for the rest of us who don’t? Or is something else afoot?

As it turns out, there is both an anatomical and a physiological component to tenacity. A part of our brain called the anterior division of the mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) was first discovered and described in 1907, and since that time, our understanding of the aMCC has greatly improved. While there have been many theories and studies pointed to its function, a 2020 study by Touroutoglou, et al., proposed that the aMCC acts as a hub for energy regulation, integrating information to anticipate physiological demands, and efficiently allocate resources. The researchers go on to propose that the aMCC is involved in predicting outcomes, assessing costs and benefits, and recalibrating responses accordingly. Additionally, it monitors internal body states and modulates arousal levels to support adaptive behaviors.

Their research goes on to suggest that the aMCC not only evaluates the value of a reward but also gauges the effort needed to attain it. This effort often involves heightened cognitive control, which can feel unpleasant. The activity of the aMCC during challenging tasks correlates with feelings of frustration and a desire to avoid the task. Moreover, evidence indicates that the aMCC monitors the physiological costs of actions by tracking the body’s internal state. This monitoring function has led some researchers to describe the aMCC as a ‘neural alarm,’ directing attention to potential conflicts with survival goals. When expectations regarding costs and benefits are disrupted, efficient energy regulation requires quick recalibration of resource allocation. The aMCC is thought to play a role in adjusting to prediction errors, preparing control systems for future demands. For instance, its activity is influenced by previous task experiences and beliefs about pain control, suggesting a role in anticipating and responding to changing circumstances.

The researchers of the 2020 study suggest that the primary purpose of effort assessment is to calibrate the significance of factors such as available resources and proximity to energy balance. The perceived value of potential rewards and the anticipated costs of exertion are influenced, in part, by an individual’s current and predicted energy levels.

This perspective implies that variations in effort assessments among individuals could determine whether they persist or withdraw during challenging tasks. For example, one person might continue to invest effort in a demanding task because they perceive the expected reward as higher than others do, perceive the action’s cost as lower, or perceive their available resources as more abundant. While high levels of effort are typically unpleasant, individuals may vary in how aversive they find it.

Touroutoglou, et al., suggest that persistence can be viewed as a bias in aMCC computations, involving a tendency to uphold expectations of rewards, underestimate effort costs, and perceive one’s physiological resources as sufficient despite negative feelings. Evidence supporting the involvement of the aMCC in persistence comes from lesion studies, neuroimaging studies, and stimulation studies.

The strongest evidence for the role of the aMCC in tenacity emerges from studies involving experimental stimulation of this brain region. In a recent study by Caruana et al. (2018), researchers examined the effects of electrical stimulation applied to various cingulate sites across 329 patients. They found that stimulating the aMCC led to different goal-oriented behaviors, indicating its role in motivating actions. The findings suggest that the aMCC might provide the push needed to carry out actions, either by exciting or inhibiting the circuits responsible for movement. Notably, the researchers also discovered that different parts of the aMCC triggered specific types of movements. For instance, stimulating the upper part of the aMCC caused movements towards the body, while stimulating the middle part prompted actions in the space around the body, and stimulating the lower part induced movements away from the body. This suggests that the aMCC’s role in motivation may be closely linked to how we perceive our space and body.

Another study by Zenon et al. (2015) used a task to assess how people perceive effort. They found that stimulating a brain area connected to the aMCC reduced the perceived difficulty of physically demanding tasks. This made people more willing to put in effort, even if the reward was smaller. However, because this brain area is very close to the aMCC, it’s hard to tell how much of this effect was due specifically to the aMCC.

A more telling example comes from Parvizi et al. (2013), who directly stimulated the aMCC in their study. They found that this stimulation made people more determined to keep going, even when faced with challenges. People described feeling like they were gearing up for a tough task, as if they were preparing to face a storm. This suggests that the aMCC plays a crucial role in motivating us to persist in the face of difficulties.

It is also important to point out that apathy, marked by a lack of motivation and emotional responsiveness, is common in depression, and studies have shown that individuals with depression show reduced willingness to exert effort for rewards, likely due to dysfunction in the aMCC (Chen et al., 2007 Steele et al., 2007, Crossley et al., 2007). This dysfunction also contributes to motivational issues in depression, such as apathy, by disrupting reward processing and the ability to adjust to prediction errors. Similarly, apathy is observed in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s, where abnormalities in the aMCC and its connected regions impair reward processing and cognitive control (LeHeron et al., 2017).

Emerging research also suggests that certain elderly individuals, termed ‘superagers’, maintain cognitive abilities comparable to middle-aged and young adults despite aging-related declines in memory function and neurobiological changes. Specifically, superagers show preserved cortical thickness and enhanced intrinsic connectivity in the aMCC compared to typical older adults, with these differences predicting successful memory performance (Sun et al., 2016). Given the known association between aMCC activity and cognitive effort, the preserved aMCC function in superagers raises questions about whether their tenacity in facing cognitive challenges contributes to their exceptional cognitive abilities during aging.

Understanding the neural basis of tenacity holds significant implications for public health, particularly in the realms of exercise adherence and weight management. Studies suggest that the aMCC plays a key role in maintaining exercise regimens, with greater aMCC metabolism observed in individuals with higher exercise capacity (Kemppainen, et al., 2005). Regular exercise may even lead to increased aMCC volume, suggesting a potential for physical training to enhance aMCC function and, consequently, tenacity (Colcombe, et al., 2006).

Moreover, aMCC function appears crucial in weight loss efforts, influencing food choice and appetite regulation. Greater aMCC activation is associated with choosing healthier foods and successful weight maintenance, while interventions targeting aMCC activity show promise in reducing appetite (Harding et al., 2017). Understanding and augmenting aMCC processing could thus improve strategies for managing cravings and promoting healthier behaviors.

So there is in fact something that changes in your brain when you ignore all discomfort and zone in on a goal. The aMCC is built through years of challenge that no pill, powder, machine, or gadget can duplicate. Each time you resist a temptation, study for a test and pass, or climb a challenging mountain, you build new neural pathways that tell your brain you can do it. You learn that discomfort can be turned from a shriek to a dull and faint nag, and you improve your body and your mind simultaneously. This is perhaps why so many tenacious people are also physically disciplined and keep to a fierce, challenging exercise and training schedule. They have tested and challenged their bodies time and again, and in doing so they have taught themselves what they are capable of, never settling or waning in their efforts. Mental and physical toughness seem to be symbiotic. This also suggests that greatness and tenacity is not necessarily born, it is made.

The mental and physical toughness are what can foster a lifetime pursuit of personal and physical achievement. Physical exercise is associated with resilience later in life, and setting and achieving goals contributes to the ability of an individual to persist and persevere when faced with a challenge. The immediate cost of the effort is devalued, or in other words it is viewed as inconsequential, for the pursuit of the long-term reward.

The immediate cost of the effort is typically time, physical discomfort, gratification, and often boredom, such as sitting to study for an exam for three hours. The person often makes sacrifices in order to achieve this goal in exchange, which typically means he or she will curb comfort, such as not sleeping in in favor of going for a run, passing up a slice of cake in order to stay on track with a new eating habit, or not hanging out with friends to study for an exam. The person who is able to shirk their immediate desires for a long-term reward enjoys more positive life outcomes, such as better health, academic achievement and success in his or her career.

This so-called “grit” as most of us know it, is obviously linked closely with self-control and the ability to not self-sabotage or self-destruct. But what else would be some protocols for building inner strength?

Tenacious Brain Protocols

Physical Fitness/Exercise

It seems building and sticking to an exercise regimen and working out even on days when you don’t feel 100% (but listening to your body) is a key to building mental toughness. It teaches you to push through discomfort and challenges, emphasizing the importance of perseverance.

Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Improvement

Remaining curious, inquisitive, and focused on improvement is also a way to remain resilient, as it seems to instill a proactive approach to challenges. This dedication to personal growth encourages you to view setbacks as opportunities for learning and development rather than insurmountable obstacles.

Overcoming Fear

By acknowledging and accepting fear, you can dismantle its power over you, enabling you to approach daunting situations with courage, determination, a sense of empowerment, and confidence in your ability to navigate adversity. Through this process, you learn to embrace discomfort and uncertainty, recognizing them as catalysts for growth rather than impediments to success.

Accepting Rejection and/or Failure

Instead of viewing rejection and failure as definitive outcomes, you can perceive them as valuable learning experiences. Understand that setbacks are not indicative of personal inadequacy but rather serve as stepping stones towards future achievements. Embracing rejection and failure with grace and resilience ultimately strengthens your resolve and mindset of perseverance and determination.

What Does the Tenacious Brain Have to Do with Chinese Medicine?

Conclusion

Theodore Roosevelt’s journey is packed with lessons on perseverance, courage, and determination. In his story we can see not just a historical figure, but a spirit that would not quit, and a reminder that with earnest and mindful grit, we can forge ahead with unwavering resolve.

It is also a helpful lesson that tenacity can be made inside every one of us if we so wish, and this important characteristic is not only absolutely free, it improves our mindset and can make for a more meaningful and positive life, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

References

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Colcombe SJ, Erickson KI, Scalf PE, Kim JS, Prakash R, McAuley E, Elavsky S, Marquez DX, Hu L, Kramer AF (2006) Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 61:1166–1170.

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Harding IH, Andrews ZB, Mata F, Orlandea S, Martinez-Zalacain I, Soriano-Mas C, Stice E, Verdejo-Garcia A (2017) Brain substrates of unhealthy versus healthy food choices: influence of homeostatic status and body mass index. Int J Obes (Lond).

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Le Heron C, Apps MAJ, Husain M (2017) The anatomy of apathy: A neurocognitive framework for amotivated behaviour. Neuropsychologia.

Parvizi J, Rangarajan V, Shirer WR, Desai N, Greicius Michael D (2013) The Will to Persevere Induced by Electrical Stimulation of the Human Cingulate Gyrus. Neuron 80:1359–1367.

Steele JD, Kumar P, Ebmeier KP (2007) Blunted response to feedback information in depressive illness. Brain 130:2367–2374.

Sun FW, Stepanovic MR, Andreano J, Barrett LF, Touroutoglou A, Dickerson BC (2016) Youthful Brains in Older Adults: Preserved Neuroanatomy in the Default Mode and Salience Networks Contributes to Youthful Memory in Superaging. J Neurosci 36:9659–9668.

Touroutoglou A, Andreano J, Dickerson BC, Barrett LF. The tenacious brain: How the anterior mid-cingulate contributes to achieving goals. Cortex. 2020 Feb;123:12-29. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.011. Epub 2019 Oct 9. PMID: 31733343; PMCID: PMC7381101.

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