How to do it
- Pick one small thing you have most days. The study used chocolate.
- Skip it for seven days. One week is what was tested.
- Then have it again, slowly, and notice it. Savouring more is what changed.
- One thing at a time. Rotating your lifts swaps between several; this pauses one and brings it back.
How a break resets it
- Every dayit stops registering
Students who kept eating chocolate savoured a piece less a week later than the first time. One food, one week.
- The breakone week without
55 students were randomly told to skip chocolate for a week, eat lots of it, or given no instruction.
- Coming backyou savour it
Back in the lab, the ones who'd gone without savoured a piece more and were in a better mood after it. They held steady; the others dropped.
- Youmore from the same thing
That this works for anything bigger than a small food hasn't been tested. One food, one week.
Why it works
Something you have all the time stops feeling like much. In the study below, people who kept eating chocolate savoured a piece less a week later. Evidence: decent Take it away for a week and it keeps its edge.
In an experiment with 55 students, people told to give up chocolate for a week savoured it more when they ate it again, and were in a better mood after it, than people who'd eaten lots of it or been given no instruction. Evidence: decent That was one food for one week. Anything bigger is untested. Evidence: worth trying
The long readEvery step of the chain, each study with its numbers, and what's still unproven. 2 min read.
What happens in your brain
This chain is behaviour, not brain areas. Nobody has scanned it.
Every day, it stops registering. The study started from the idea that a pleasure you have all the time gives less each time. In the two groups who kept eating chocolate, savouring a piece did drop over the week. Evidence: decent Rotate your lift covers the same wearing-off from the other side.
The break. 55 students were randomly split three ways: give up chocolate for a week (16), eat as much as they comfortably could from about 900 grams handed to them (18), or no instruction (21). Evidence: decent
Coming back, you savour it. At the second lab session, a week later, people ate a piece again. The ones who'd gone without savoured it more and reported a better mood after eating it. Their scores held steady from the week before; the other two groups' fell. Evidence: decent
More from the same thing. That's the finding for chocolate. For coffee, the pub, a series or a holiday, it's an inference. Evidence: worth trying
The proof
- One randomised experiment over one week, three groups: abstain, eat lots, or no instruction. The abstainers savoured the chocolate more and felt better after eating it at the second session. Evidence: decent The savouring difference was clear; the mood one was borderline. Evidence: decent
- 55 undergraduates, 80% women, average age 19. Nine more dropped out, seven of them from the give-it-up group. Evidence: decent
- One food, one week. Nobody has tested bigger pleasures or longer breaks. Evidence: worth trying
How to do it
- Pick one small treat you have most days. Chocolate is what was tested. Evidence: decent
- Skip it for seven days. Evidence: decent
- Then have it again, slowly, and pay attention to it. Savouring is what changed. Evidence: decent
- One thing at a time. This is different from rotating your lifts: that one swaps between several things so none wears out; this pauses one thing and brings it back. Evidence: worth trying
Watch out
One study, 55 students, one food, one week. Evidence: decent Seven of the 23 told to give it up dropped out; the authors think it may take some self-control, and the ones who stayed may be the keen ones. Evidence: worth trying Holidays, the phone, sex, drink: none of it has been tested this way. Evidence: worth trying If it's something you're trying to cut down on, this is the wrong tool. Enjoying it more isn't the point there.
Flat for a few weeks, with sleep or appetite off and no interest in things you used to like: that's not a happiness gap, it's a doctor visit.