Does urge surfing work?

That sounds like a failure and it is not. Urge surfing was never a method for making an urge smaller. It is a method for not acting on one. Measured on intensity, it looks like it did nothing. Measured on behaviour, it did something.

Below is the trial in full, what it does not show, and what the rest of the evidence says.

The trial

123 student smokers, one week

Bowen and Marlatt randomised 123 undergraduate smokers, all interested in changing but none enrolled in a cessation programme. One group was given brief instruction in urge surfing. The other was given no instruction.

Urge intensity did not differ between the groups. Over the following week, the group that had learned the technique smoked significantly fewer cigarettes.

Bowen and Marlatt, 2009, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

A specific percentage for that reduction circulates widely. It comes from a secondary source and we have not checked it against the paper, so we do not print it. When someone here has read the full text, it goes on the page with the citation next to it.

What the trial does not show

This is one modest study. It is the load-bearing evidence for the technique and it carries real weaknesses, all of which are worth knowing before you decide what to make of it.

The comparison group was given nothing. Not a different technique, not a placebo task, nothing. So the trial cannot separate urge surfing from the effect of being handed something to do.
Undergraduates who smoked, wanting to cut down. Not people in treatment for a substance use disorder.
Cigarettes were self-reported, over seven days.
One trial. There is no replication here, and no meta-analysis to fall back on.
Same research lineage. The group behind this study is the group behind much of the related work, so it is not independent confirmation.

Compare that to the evidence behind slow breathing, which is a pooled review of twenty studies. The two are not in the same weight class, and anyone telling you urge surfing is clinically proven is overstating what exists.

Where urge surfing comes from

Alan Marlatt named the technique in 1985, in the relapse-prevention literature. It has been taught in clinics ever since, and the instruction is short enough to fit on a page: notice where the urge sits in the body, watch it without arguing with it, and let it do what it is going to do.

It is not a secret and it is not ours. The clinical training summary is free to read. Several large recovery communities recommend it in their own wikis, at no cost, today.

One thing that summary says is worth repeating, because it cuts against the technique: it states plainly that the skill is hard to understand without practice, and recommends practising on ordinary urges first. Learning it cold, at the worst moment, is the condition under which its own source says it works least well.

How to practise urge surfing

The technique is free and known. What is not free is having it paced, in your hand, at 9pm. Nobody reads a wiki page mid-urge.

That is the whole of what an app adds here, and it is worth being precise about it. Not the knowledge. The pacing, the sequence, and the fact that it starts on one tap when you are in no state to choose anything.

What else works for cravings

Urge surfing is one of the exercises Paddle Past runs, and it is the thinnest-evidenced of them. The others below are stronger.

Slow breathing

A 2026 review in Addiction pooled 20 studies. The 12 that measured craving, covering 696 people, found it fell by a small but consistent amount, and the effect held across nicotine, alcohol, opioids and stimulants.

Roxburgh et al., 2026, Addiction

A short visual task

Thirty-one people, measured in daily life rather than a lab. Three minutes of a visual task brought craving down about 14 points on a 100-point scale, compared with a control task.

Skorka-Brown et al., 2015, Appetite. Limits: small trials, run on students, not on people in treatment.

These are small studies with modest effects, mostly in students, mostly on cigarettes, alcohol and food. We say so here rather than calling the app clinically proven, because it is not.

FAQ

Is urge surfing the same as distraction?

No, and they pull in opposite directions. Distraction moves your attention away from the urge. Urge surfing moves it toward the urge, deliberately, without arguing with it. Both have some evidence behind them and they work by different mechanisms, which is why Paddle Past runs both rather than picking one.

Does it stop the urge?

Not according to the trial. Urge intensity did not change. What changed was behaviour. If a product tells you the technique will make the feeling go away, it is claiming something the research did not find.

Why not just try harder not to think about it?

Trying hard not to think about something tends to keep it in mind. That is a well-described effect and it is the reason every version of this technique tells you to notice the urge rather than push it away. The practical version is simple: give your attention somewhere to go, instead of giving it something to suppress.

Do I need to learn it before I can use it?

Its own clinical source says the skill is easier to understand with practice, and suggests practising on ordinary urges first. That is a real limitation and we would rather state it than hide it. Paddle Past is built to run without any prior setup or practice, because the moment people reach for it is usually not a moment they planned for.

Where else can I get help?

This is one technique for the few minutes when an urge peaks. It is not treatment and it is not a substitute for it.

If you want more than that, the SAMHSA National Helpline is free, confidential, open 24 hours, and can refer you to treatment near you: 1‑800‑662‑4357. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.