Mindfulness and craving: effects and mechanisms

Journal: Clinical Psychology Review

The science of meditation may still be in its infancy, but we’re talking about a tradition that’s been around since the 6th to 5th centuries BCE. Needless to say, we might have a thing or two to learn from it.

THE STUDY
This paper reviews 26 publications, describing 30 studies--16 of which examined food-related cravings, 11 cravings for cigarettes, and three cravings for alcohol.

The goal? To decipher the effect of mindfulness on cravings.

Next, researchers separated any participant improvements into short, medium and long-term durations. And then tried to explain what on Earth could be going on that reduces cravings.

The assumption being that reducing craving, or at least changing a person's response to craving, will change the undesired behavior.

FIRST, WHAT’S MINDFULNESS
To me, scientist and meditation expert Jon Kabat-Zinn sums it up best with his catchy one-liner: “Wherever you go, there you are.” Simple enough, right? Kabat-Zinn also defined mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” Maybe a bit woo-woo, yet spot on in so many ways.

This study separates mindfulness into three, very sciency, components...

1. Present moment awareness: the self-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on present moment experience.
2. Acceptance: taking a non-judgmental attitude towards one’s thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations.
3. Decentering: decentering means viewing one’s thoughts and feelings as transient events that are separate to oneself

If nothing else, think about how those components can be beneficial to survive the daily barrage of distractions that we're exposed to.


WHY I CARE
A craving is one of the strongest human feelings, often supported by years of subconscious encouragement. You crave something and then do what it takes to get it. Human nature.

If there's a way to reduce something as gripping as a craving, then maybe the strategy can be applied to other reaction-based emotions, like stress or anger for example, which also tend to be expressed alongside undesireable behavior. There I go extrapolating again.

I also reinstated my morning meditation routine this month, in an attempt to counteract stress. I'm grateful for any research that explains the positive feelings I get from a few minutes of freedom from my wandering mind.


RESULTS
The results weren’t mind-blowing, but let's be real, we knew that eliminating addictive behavior wasn't going to be easy. That said, mindfulness was shown to reduce craving over the medium term, most likely due to an increased ability to refrain from the craving-related responses and behaviors.

Additionally, a smaller number of studies show promising results for people with mindfulness exercises that have been repeatedly practiced over a longer period of time. This is likely because mindfulness is a skill that allows you to interrupt thoughts/desires by loading your working memory--a part of our short-term memory that is concerned with immediate conscious percepion and linguistic processing.

Overall, the results suggest that while mindfulness strategies may bring about immediate reductions in craving, such effects are likely from working memory load, like any stimulating distraction might do.

SCIENTIST SAYS...
Dr Katy Tapper, author of the review and a psych professor at the University of London, had this to say:

"The research suggests that certain mindfulness-based strategies may help prevent or interrupt cravings by occupying a part of our mind that contributes to the development of cravings. Whether mindfulness strategies are more effective than alternative strategies, such as engaging in visual imagery, has yet to be established. However, there is also some evidence to suggest that engaging in regular mindfulness practice may reduce the extent to which people feel the need to react to their cravings, though further research is needed to confirm such an effect."


TAKEAWAY
Strategies that overload working memory (what you're capable of paying attention to in a given moment) bring about an immediate reduction in cravings. A mindfulness practice, like meditation, is one way to achieve that result.

As far as long term goes, the extinction process needed to eliminate cravings may result from an individual inhibiting the craving-related behavior, thus forgetting the reward associated with it.

Finally, using tools like present moment awareness and acceptance strategies (both key components of being mindful) may lead to a more rapid reduction in craving compared to other techniques. This type of discipline can be applied to cravings ranging from sweets to smokes.