What to do when a craving hits: a one-minute pause and what the sources say

What the sources say

The 2009 trial by Bowen and Marlatt had 123 university students. In the group taught "urge surfing", craving scores did not differ from the control group, but they smoked less over seven days. The authors treat this as preliminary data.

The 2022 Cochrane review by Jackson and colleagues (21 studies, 8,186 people) found no clear benefit of mindfulness training on quit rates; the certainty is low to very low.

So we cannot back up the lines "a craving passes in a few minutes" or "breathing exercises reduce cravings", and we do not say them.

So what can you do?

• Stop and wait one minute. This is not homework, just a gap before the decision.
• Read your reasons. Having them written beforehand helps because thinking clearly in the moment is hard.
• Give your hands a small job: drink water, change rooms, message someone.
• After a minute, decide again. If the decision is still to drink or smoke, log it and carry on tomorrow.

Pause in Purrpose does exactly this: a minute of breathing, Penny's purr, a gentle haptic and your own written reasons read back to you. Pause is always free. It does not promise the craving will pass.