A glass of wine after a stressful day can turn into most of a bottle very easily. But those of us who find it hard to resist a tipple in the evening can now turn to the strategy of mindfulness.
Scientist have found that just 11 minutes of brain-training can cut peoples drinking by the equivalent of almost a bottle of wine a week. Mindfulness can teach people to pay attention to their feelings and bodily sensations – including that urge to open a bottle after dinner.
Researchers at University College London found 68 frequent drinkers scored highly for cravings, including wanting a drink so badly they could ‘almost taste it’ and using alcohol to make them feel happier; less tense and irritable. But an 11-minute mindfulness recording encouraged them to see these urges as ‘temporary events’ which they accepted but no longer felt the need to act upon. Study participants, who initially drank on average two-and half bottle of wine or one and a half pints a day slashed their weekly alcohol consumption by more than a third.
Dr Sunjeev Kamboj, of UCL’s clinical psychopharmacology unit and lead author of the study, published in the journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, said ‘We found that a very brief, simple exercise in mindfulness can help drinkers cut back, and the benefits can be seen quite quickly.
Article by Victoria Allen, Science correspondent
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