Craving means to want something that you want to have or like to have. It’s not a need of a person it’s something a person wants. A powerful and strong desire for something. Craving is very common in human beings, it’s a part of a person. It is also found in animals. A person who likes chocolates can crave more even after having a sufficient amount. A monkey craves a banana and every human can crave for something of his choice. There are many reasons why craving happens. There isn’t a single explanation for it, Consuming fats and glucose especially person who craves something chocolaty or sweet has fats compared to other food items. Chocolate rises serotonin from low to high which makes a person happy and rises its dopamine. Nowadays, addiction to drugs, food even screens are becoming more common day by day and increasing very fast.
He did his BS (Hon) in Psychology from Virtual University Lahore. After completing his education he worked as a Personality Grooming and Development Trainer in different institutes like Faiz-e Aam Public School, UFAQ Secondary School, Spectrum International (INTL), and other institutions and provided Training to Schools Students, Colleges Students, and Peoples from other disciplines of Professions to enhances their skills of exploring and refining their hidden talents, confidence building, positive thinking, developing positive habits and thinking, leadership, time management, mission-oriented thinking, communication skills, how to set a powerful mission and how to make it process, mental fitness, and physical discipline.
Editor: Sabtain Mustafa
A paper on addiction biology said that addiction has a definite time period. When a drug addict quits drugs and goes into recovery it doesn’t mean that he’s recovered. It means that he has to stay in recovery till his last breath and is taught to manage the lifestyle, habits, routines, and especially cravings. Craving for drugs stays with an addict even after he comes in recovery and becomes recovering addict. He can crave drugs even after 1 month or even after 20 years. He is taught to control and manage it. Drug addiction can not be cured but only be managed. It’s a progressive, fatal, primary, and chronic illness that stays for a lifetime.
A drug addict craves drugs a lot and learns skills to manage them. If a person does not manage it properly it can get out of control and entertain it instead of thinking something else then the chances of relapse are increased.
Paper research did some experiments on rats and as well as humans and other subject animals because almost all mammals are similar and have the same neural pathways. But, subject animals make the life of a human easy. The thing that triggers our craving is because of overthinking of the thing we desire and if we keep entertaining it we keep getting in trouble, especially recovering drug addicts.
Rats are mostly the most common subject animal for experimentation and the study shows that researchers make rats addicted to heroin, cocaine, or crystal meth and see how much they get excited when the drug comes and after some days they stop giving drugs to see how much it affected them, the rats start sitting in a corner and doesn’t even eat the food they are given when the drugs are cut off, It shows that they are craving for more drugs and after the withdrawal time is over they are given something linked with drugs something they have an association with and it is shown that they now eat food after drugs. Their craving does not decrease it only keeps increasing.
The study shows that craving always starts with a hint, after the hint is given it can be a sound or light or sight, it triggers the cravings which tells them to go for it.
Once a researcher performed an experiment on a dog. He used to ring a bell and bring food for the dog, he continued it for a few days, every time he rang the bell the dog knew that he’s bringing food and he used to start producing saliva, he got used to it, some days later the researcher rang the bell but didn’t bring the food, it was shown that the dog produced saliva even when he didn’t bring the food. It clearly shows that craving starts with a trigger and because of overthinking of some you desire.
The cravings stay there sometimes for a short time but, sometimes longer than we can think of, but it doesn’t stay for a lifetime sooner or later it goes and we learn to manage it. Cravings might arrive shortly after leaving something or as soon as you stop doing what you crave. For example, what makes a rat defenseless to cravings? The answer is the amygdala it is the main source because it notes and registers emotional understandings. No matter what the emotion is, it might be shame, fear, anger the amygdala increases its light. Then after some time nucleus accumbens plays its part. It is the unit of the brain which produces the compulsion to go after the target and gives you the feeling of actually wanting something.
Craving is a response that we’ve been well known and learned about. And, when you like something and you felt pleasure after having it and you know it’s available you’ll go after it surely. For example. Rats who have high sugar diet will surely give different behaviors if they stop getting it, so it’s not all about drugs it can be anything.
But, a human has a whole level of different issues, you might get to see different things which remind you of your cravings it can be an image on a TV, it can be emailed, it can be anything. And, when you stop having what you crave for, you start feeling an emptiness at the start of a day, thinking that nothing matches with the thing you are craving for. There are some points which we can do to stop it.
- Don’t ruminate about that thing, as soon as you get that thinking divert your mind and think of something else you like.
- Keep yourself busy in other things and activities so, you don’t get the time to ruminate about your cravings.