Some evidence , discussed in Willpower and Reward Myopia, shows that exercising  our short-term memories might help with our frequent short-sightedness.

The researchers call the problem “delay discounting,” that is, devaluing future rewards and punishments. The research was conducted with adults addicted to stimulants. The result was an improvement of 50% in reducing this problem, simply through neurocognitive training, that is, memory exercises.

Watching it made me look at my header above. The title for my blog is “She’s on the Way Back,” and I had imagined my journey as linear. Now, as I look at the car, I’m noticing that the tunnel is circular.  Hmmm.

In a recent study at the University of Amsterdam patients engaged in “video-game-like ‘approach-avoidance tasks’; pushing or pulling a joystick in response to images on a screen.” After 4 short sessions the patients were assessed for their craving for alcohol. The participants “approach bias for alcohol had changed to an avoidance bias,” while the control group showed no changes. Three months of cognitive behavior therapy followed.

A year later 59% of the control group had relapsed, compared to 46% of the joystick players. It isn’t an amazing success rate, but the method shows promise.

Maybe someone creative will develop a version for avoidance strengthening at home.

“in addition to activating brain areas linked to addiction, watching movies in which people smoke activates brain areas that drive the body movements a smoker makes hundreds of times a day while puffing on a cigarette. The physical habit of reaching for a cigarette and moving it up for a drag is learned so well that watching people smoke in the movies makes brain areas responsible for those movements more active, which could contribute to relapse.” (via Huffington Post)

They found that smokers leaving movies where actors were shown smoking were more likely to crave a cigarette. “Smokers trying to quit are frequently advised to avoid other smokers and remove smoking paraphernalia from their homes, but they might not think to avoid a movie with smoking content.”

The American Lung Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have tried to prohibit smoking in movies for years. What about drinking?

A current pilot is testing the use of  ”intranasal oxytocin to help reduce addiction in alcoholics and heavy pot smokers.” The research is still in the very early stages, but it’s looking more hopeful all the time that a more successful cure than will-power is on the way.

Researchers found that distracted eaters, who were playing computer solitaire, “felt significantly less full just after lunch. . .  and at the taste-test session a half-hour later, they ate about twice as many cookies as those who had lunch without playing games.”

So, bringing this to our experience with drinking,  if your desire is to moderate your drinking, are you paying attention to each sip and truly savoring it? A wine appreciation site lists the characteristics to notice and enjoy. Here are just a few of them-

• Acidity-is it tart? or flat or flabby?
• Aroma or Bouquet
• Balance
• Body – The body of a wine is the size or heft of it in your mouth.
• Bouquet – The bouquet is another term for the aroma of a wine. It is usually used to describe the smell of a wine which is complex, offering many different types of aromas.
• Creamy or Chewy- How it feels in your mouth
• Complex – This describes a wine which has a myriad of aromas and flavors.
• Dry/Sweet/Earthy
• Spicy/Sweet/Silky/Velvety
• Finish – The finish is the aftertaste of a wine.
• Floral/Herbal/Complex/Jammy
• Musty/Oaky/Oxidized?

This is just the start of noticing the wines that are in our mouths. There are other unique characteristics to appreciate about beers and specialty drinks and liquors.

If we take the time to notice the loveliness of how each sip looks, tastes and feels to our tongues, we will feel deep enjoyment and drink much less.

No more drinking in front of the TV or computer and email!

Look at your drink! Smell your drink! Feel it in your mouth and your throat! Enjoy it!

. . . and, you may just find that you are drinking less while enjoying it more!

Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain’s pleasure pathway says that it is “the fudge vs. broccoli choice: Chocolate’s yum factor tends to beat out the knowledge that sticking with veggies brings an eventual reward of lost pounds.”

We alcoholics will still drink that last two or three drinks, totally forgetting for a few moments’ pleasure how we are going to feel in the morning.

“‘People tend to overestimate their ability to resist temptations around them, thus undermining attempts to shed bad habits,’ says experimental psychologist Loran Nordgren, who studies the constant struggle that addicts have between willpower and temptation.”

“People have this self-control hubris, this belief they can handle more than they can.”

Many of us are determined to keep testing ourselves.  I certainly have, experimenting on a weekly basis with various attempts at moderation.

Thank goodness, researchers are  coming up with some helpful suggestions to replace good habits with the ones we want to remove from our lives

Repeat, repeat, repeat the new behavior.

Exercise itself raises dopamine levels, so eventually your brain will get a feel-good hit even if your muscles protest.

Reward yourself with something you really desire.

Stress can reactivate the bad-habit circuitry. Learn ways to manage it.

And cut out the rituals linked to your bad habits.

“‘What you want to be thinking about is, `What is it in my environment that is triggering this behavior?’” says Nordgren. “You have to guard yourself against it.”‘

Go to Our Bad Habits Get Wired Into Our Brains for the full article with helpful tricks.

In one way it’s great that it is a familiar medication that has been used for years, so any side effects have had time to show up, and because it’s been around, it is now a cheap, generic medication, making it affordable.  The negative side to the situation is that because it’s already generic, “industry is not interested in funding research on (it). . , so support must come from the National Institutes of Health and from other foundations.”

Baclofen “is very safe to use in patients with liver disease because it is primarily metabolized through the kidneys, unlike alternative drugs for alcohol dependency that are metabolized in the liver and are contraindicated for patients with cirrhosis.”

For the complete article, go to Medscape Today.  You may have to register to read it, but registration is free.