URGE SURFING

There is quite a lot of research to suggest that trying to suppress a thought or urge ultimately increases it.

What does this mean for cravings when trying to manage body fat or weight?

It means that practising a technique like ‘urge surfing’ might help you better manage these cravings, ultimately leading to a reduction in intensity and frequency of them.

It takes practice but it can be an effective technique.

Instead of fighting an urge or trying not to think about it (which can be a losing battle) urge surfing encourages you to accept the existence of an urge and ride it out until it passes.

This helps because it is using mindfulness techniques which can make the urges less important and able to exist without urgently feeling like you need to act on them.

Like an ocean wave, urges will keep coming but the less you give in to them, the calmer and less frequent those waves should get.

Urges do not have to be acted upon.

Of course, the urges come back again but over a period of time, each time you get through a period of cravings they become less intense and less frequent and your mindfulness technique of urge surfing improves.

If we slip and give in to the impulse, you will have increased urges for a while. However, you can still apply urge surfing all over again.

This analogy comes from mindfulness.org;

Giving in to urges can be compared with feeding a stray cat. In the beginning, you may want to feed the cat because it cries for food and attention. You may find that it is a nice thing to do and you feel good for being kind. However, your act of feeding the cat encourages it to repeat its cries and attention seeking. You find yourself giving in each time. Over a period of time, the cat grows bolder and other cats join it in crying for food and attention.

You may begin to regret your actions, as a large number of strays are now contributing to noise and other problems. But you cannot resist their cries. You may believe that their survival now depends on you, and that your actions are more important than ever. They have you trapped in a cycle of problem behaviours.

If you make a decision to resist feeding the “cat army,” there will be loud and pitiful cries for a few days. In fact, they will be at their strongest when you have decided not to reinforce their behaviour. Soon, however, they will come to realise that they are no longer being reinforced and will gradually diminish and disappear. Your decision to stick with the action you know is best for you will “undo” the problem that you unknowingly built up in the first place.

Urges do go away in time, but they may be very strong for a short while immediately after quitting. Knowing that they will weaken can help you to continue to surf the impulses that you feel, especially in response to your personal triggers.

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TAKE HOME

Remember that urges will pass by themselves.

Imagine that urges are like ocean waves, they are small when they start, will grow in size, and then will break up and disperse.

Prepare to ride these waves without giving in to the urge by using mindfulness.

Instead of trying to distract from or argue with the unpleasant thoughts, feelings or urges, mindfulness simply makes the thoughts, feelings or urges less important.

Your brain will then be able to build the right feedback loop that makes this process more manageable.

IN PRACTICE;

Stop and think about the situation, where you are, what you are doing etc.

Take a breath and think about what was going through your mind.

Observe what you were feeling at the time and rate the intensity of your craving.

Pull back with an alternative, more balanced thought.

Practice doing something else instead.

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