A daily plan made meal and bed times more steady in alcohol treatment
Who it’s about: Adults, People with a health condition
- Helped
A personal plan with fixed meal and bed times made those times vary less than a diary without a plan.
- Rule: At the same time every daytested
- Action: Eat your mealsused
- Action: Go to bedused
- Action: Get upused
Small randomised trial of 41 adults in treatment for alcohol dependence · vs the same diary and check-ins without a plan · they rated themselves · ⚠ many people dropped out
The study
Who took part
41 adults in Munich, Germany, who were starting treatment to stop drinking, on a hospital ward or in a day clinic. The plan group was about 55 on average and the other group about 47.
What they did
The plan group learned about the body clock and kept a diary of meal, sleep and wake times for a week. Then they had a personal plan with fixed times for meals, bed and sleep. They kept to it for 4 to 5 weeks, with a check-in each week. The other group kept the same diary and talked about adverts for legal drugs, with no advice on daily times.
What happened
After 5 to 7 weeks, meal times, bed times and daily times overall varied less in the plan group. The paper doesn't print the actual numbers, so we can't give sizes. 12 of 20 people in the other group dropped out, against 4 of 21 in the plan group. The paper's group counts also don't add up.
Source
DAILY – A personalized circadian Zeitgeber therapy as an adjunctive treatment for alcohol use disorder patients: results of a pilot trial (2025)
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1477895 (opens in a new tab)
