Observing a craving without acting on it — and what actually changes when you do.
What the evidence says
- Urge surfing is a mindfulness technique developed by Marlatt; the trial’s abstract names it (”Marlatt’s ‘urge surfing’ technique (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985)”) without describing it[1]
- In the trial that tested it directly — 123 undergraduate smokers, randomly assigned, cue-exposure design — the groups ”did not differ significantly on measures of urges”. A non-significant difference is not a demonstration that urges were equal, and the abstract claims no more than the null[1]
- But the mindfulness group smoked significantly fewer cigarettes over the 7-day follow-up than the control group[1]
- The mechanism is the authors’ suggestion, and they name it as untested: the findings ”suggest that the mindfulness techniques may not initially reduce urges to smoke but may change the response to urges”, and the study ”provides preliminary data for future studies examining both mechanisms and effectiveness”.[1]
- Scope caveat: the direct evidence is in smokers. Application to food cravings is an extension of the principle, not a finding demonstrated in eating behaviour[1]