The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

How should we harness behavioral economics for better health? As much as humans think their

objective beings whose every decision emerges from cold logical calculation for just irrational

emotional animals, that's why stories and anecdotes are more convincing than facts, why people

fear losing money twice as much as they enjoy making

it, and why the guy making $100,000 a year feels poor if his neighbors make twice that.

This kind of phenomenon is best explained by behavioral economics, a method of economic inquiry

that uses psychological, emotional, cognitive,

and social factors to explain why we make the often irrational financial choices we do,

and it has some interesting applications for health.

In a recent piece in the New York Times, a doctor discussed how health care professionals

are beginning to leverage

behavioral economics to make their patients healthier. He begins with a few examples of

behavioral economics in action. People are more likely to choose an option if it's the default

position. In one study, countries where people had to opt out of organ donation had organ donor rates of over 90%,

compared to donor rates of 4 to 27% in places where people had to opt in.

People are more likely to make a decision when given fewer options.

Too many options make decision-making harder, as anyone who spent two hours reading

hand blender reviews on Amazon before giving up and ordering nothing can tell you. While we wait

for the experts and authorities to fine-tune their benevolent social nudges, here are seven ways

to take advantage of behavioral economics for our own health.

Number one, penalties work better than rewards. People hate losing money. Future rewards are just

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