Cognitive dissonance: Definition, effects, and examples

By unity in Sober living Posted June 17, 2020 Tags

Becoming aware of how conflicting beliefs impact the decision-making process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices. When there are conflicts between cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, and opinions), people will take steps to reduce the dissonance and feelings of discomfort. Because people want to avoid discomfort, cognitive dissonance can have a wide range of effects.

• Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant mental state that may result if someone really does have certain beliefs but thinks or acts in a way that contradicts them.
• Cognitive dissonance is powerful because we are highly driven to eliminate it.
• You may experience more dissonance if you’re in an indecisive mood or if (in the case of the outfit) you have an important presentation that day.

Alternatively, they may reduce cognitive dissonance by being mindful of their values and pursuing opportunities to live those values. The effects may relate to the discomfort of the dissonance itself or the defense mechanisms a person adopts to deal with it. If that same person believes the COVID-19 pandemic is real but refuses to wear a mask, their values and behaviors would contradict each other.

University: McMaster University

It may be delivered in person or online, through an app or a guidebook, with the support of a therapist or independently. Previous studies have shown that CBT-I can be a beneficial and low-risk option for patients with chronic insomnia. However, as it encompasses a broad range of strategies which can be delivered in different ways, it has been difficult to determine which are most successful and if all are necessary for a patient to experience an improvement.

Before they went on stage, they were told to think of a time when they didn’t exhibit that behavior. The participants felt like hypocrites — but their intention to take the positive action increased. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological tension we feel as we try to reckon with two (or more) opposing pieces of information. We generally try to eliminate this dissonance by taking a new, consonant action or by dismissing the incongruent information. Cognitive dissonance is a little different than its evil twin, hypocrisy.

Inducing Cognitive Dissonance Can Reveal the Truth

We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions. Why is it important to think about how cognitive dissonance relates to your own health and wellness? Because the mental or emotional distress it can cause can definitely affect your health and well-being. Festinger’s cognitive dissonance treatment original premise was that humans prefer to live in a stable world, in which beliefs are consistent with one another and actions align with beliefs. So when you fall out of that perfect harmony and either think or act in opposition to your belief system, tension builds and you become distressed. But that consistency doesn’t always happen, and distress can arise as a result.

• A therapist can help you examine your beliefs and behaviors and help you find effective ways for alleviating the cognitive dissonance you are experiencing.
• People who are flexible enough to adjust their thoughts or live with “gray areas” may not have a strong response when they notice the discrepancies.
• This study was a prospective randomized controlled clinical trial.
• Cognitive dissonance can happen in just about any area of your life and occurs when your current behavior contradicts one of your beliefs.
• This approach works by encouraging people to say things or role-play behaviors that contradict their beliefs about food and body image.

If you find yourself justifying or rationalizing decisions or behaviors that you’re not quite clear you firmly believe in, that might be a sign that cognitive dissonance is at work. If your explanation for something is, “Well, that’s the way I’ve always done it or thought about it,” that may also be a sign. Socrates extolled https://ecosoberhouse.com/ that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” In other words, challenge and be skeptical of such answers if you find yourself falling back on them. Another example can be seen in many people’s continuing to smoke two or three packs of cigarettes a day, even though research shows they are shortening their own lives.

What is the link between alcohol and stomach pain?

By unity in Sober living Posted April 17, 2020 Tags

A big belly does not always mean that you have too many calories in your diet. So in this article, let’s discover how you can get rid of alcohol belly once and for all, and also I’ll give 5 tips that will help you achieve that goal faster. Dietitian-approved meal replacement shakes that offer lasting weight loss, with the nutritional abstinence violation effect definition of abstinence violation effect benefit of a balanced meal. Aside from calories, food contains other ingredients that are important for our overall health like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and more [2]. But, when food only gives you calories and no other nutritional value and benefit to your health, then they are considered empty calories.

Fancy mixed drinks might sound tasty, but they’re often loaded with calories. A Long Island iced tea, for example, will set you back about 500 calories in one 8 oz glass, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That’s more calories than you’ll find in a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. So, how can you fight back if you’re concerned about your weight but don’t want to abstain completely?

1. People should speak with a healthcare professional for further advice before consuming alcohol while taking any medications to prevent the risk of drug interactions.
2. You’ll improve your overall well-being when you get rid of an alcohol belly.
3. Alcohol also affects your brain, heart and liver, and it can increase your risk of certain cancers.
4. Consuming several alcoholic drinks can lead to a high calorie intake, and this can result in weight gain.
5. It also helps ensure your choices are more aligned with your goals.

The liver also plays a role in the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. When your body is using alcohol as a primary source of energy, the excess glucose and lipids end up, unfortunately for us, as adipose tissue, or fat. There are also other how to help an alcoholic parent elements that can cause weight gain outside of calorie content. Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for a beer belly but making the right kind of changes is important for reducing it. Healthy weight loss involves losing about 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Why Does Alcohol Make Me Bloated?

Instead, your liver prioritizes breaking down alcohol rather than fat. Your doctor will probably slowly increase your Rybelsus dose to help lessen these side effects. Reaching a higher dose of Rybelsus quickly may make stomach side effects more severe. While it varies depending on biological factors, the average time it will take for the full effects of alcohol to leave a person’s system is approximately 24 hours. When it comes to alcohol consumption, most of us are aware that it can cause stomach bloating.

Does Beer Really Cause a ‘Beer Belly’?

So, it’s normal for people to need weeks or months to manage the bloating. The constant drinking will have already taken a toll on every part of their body. Therefore, it’s imperative that they detox their system to get the organs back on track.

Alcohol can contribute to excess belly fat

Essentially, an alcohol belly or more visceral fat in the lower abdomen is caused by excess calories from a poor diet, drinking heavily, and little or no physical activity. If you feel like this after consuming alcohol regularly, it’s time to reconsider how much you drink. Drinking a smaller amount of alcohol can also prevent beer belly, weight gain, alcoholic hepatitis, gastritis, and other alcohol-related problems. Older people may be more at risk of a beer belly, since abdominal fat increases with age for both sexes due to hormonal and metabolic changes. However, anyone who has an unhealthy diet can develop a beer belly, Wroe says.

How Alcohol Impairs Stomach Health

Males are more likely to gain abdominal fat from drinking than females. Females may gain weight in their abdominal region after menopause when estrogen levels naturally decline. Alcohol can reduce your blood sugar level, which may increase hunger.

The sphincter doesn’t work as well when it has been relaxed by alcohol, so you are more likely to experience acid reflux, commonly called heartburn, after drinking. The alcohol can gradually irritate and erode your stomach lining. This means that they provide your body with calories but contain very little nutrients.

This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include Micromedex (updated 2 Jan 2024), Cerner Multum™ (updated 16 Nov 2023), ASHP (updated 10 Jan 2024) and others. is alcohol a stimulant or depressant Rybelsus is from the class of medicines called GLP-1 receptor agonists (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists). Rybelsus works to lower blood sugar (glucose) levels by increasing how much insulin is released and decreasing glucagon secretion.

Boys and girls start out with similar fat storage patterns, but puberty changes that. Women have more subcutaneous fat (the kind under the skin) than men, so those extra fat calories tend to be deposited in their arms, thighs, and buttocks, as well as their bellies. Because men have less subcutaneous fat, they store more in their bellies. Reducing alcohol consumption can also help manage weight, along with a balanced diet and regular exercise. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), alcohol increases inflammation in a person’s body and directly irritates the stomach lining. A person absorbs alcohol into their bloodstream through the gastrointestinal tract, which includes the stomach and intestines.

What food can I eat while taking Rybelsus?

People accumulate visceral fat when they consume too many calories from anything, whether it’s beer or pizza. In fact, it’s possible to develop a beer belly even if you don’t drink beer or other alcohols. Chronic gastritis which may arise as a result of alcohol consumption is a risk factor for more serious conditions including stomach cancer and stomach ulcers. Research also indicates that a person’s gut microbiota can change if they use alcohol excessively. People should speak with a doctor if they frequently experience abdominal pain, whether they notice it after they consume alcohol or not. A person may experience stomach pain as a symptom of another underlying condition, such as a stomach ulcer.

Further, when you’re drinking beer at a bar or party, the food on hand is often fattening fare like pizza, wings, and other fried foods. Mixing a drink with sodas or sweetened juices can also add calories. Consuming several alcoholic drinks can lead to a high calorie intake, and this can result in weight gain. “Consuming too many calories — whether from alcohol, sugary foods or just a lot of extra food — can lead to extra belly fat,” Dr. Allan says. And because an average can of beer runs you more than 150 calories, it doesn’t take long for the calories (and the belly) to build.

An alcohol belly is caused by drinking too much alcohol and consuming alcoholic beverages with too many calories. On the other hand, a hormonal belly is a lower abdominal weight gain that’s caused by a hormonal imbalance with hormones either being too high or too low. An alcohol belly is basically an increase in belly fat that’s linked to drinking a large amount of alcohol. We have 2 types of fat in the body — visceral fat, which is stored deep inside the belly and subcutaneous fat which is stored underneath the skin and is visible [1]. There’s a lack of evidence linking reduced alcohol consumption to weight loss. A study published in 2016 found that decreasing light-to-moderate alcohol consumption did not significantly affect weight loss.

“Choose dessert or alcohol for the night, not both,” Kostro Miller says. Alcohol may make the digestive system work more quickly than usual. As the contents of the stomach will pass through the small and large intestines faster, the body may be unable to absorb the normal amount of water back into the body.