Mindfulness practice has been shown to decouple cues and behaviors
Research by Dr. Judson Brewer and his team has shown that mindfulness decouples the link between cues and and behaviors set up by operant conditioning. They looked specifically at the relationship between craving and smoking because craving had been clearly linked as part of the habit loop (trigger, behavior, reward). Without a craving, people were much less likely to smoke. They found that, indeed, before mindfulness training, craving predicted smoking. If people craved a cigarette, they were very likely to smoke one. Yet by the end of the four weeks of training, this relationship had been severed. Interestingly, people who quit reported craving cigarettes at the same level as those that didn’t quit. They just didn’t smoke when they craved.
References
- Brewer, Judson. (2017). The Craving Mind Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits Chapter 2. Addiction, Straight Up (p. 65). Yale University Press. New Haven, CT.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Yoga Status:☀️