Addiction Recovery

How Regular Exercise Positively Impacts Your Addiction Recovery

  • September 28, 2022
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The importance of maintaining sobriety with a regular fitness regimen is sometimes underestimated. Exercise, when combined with other methods of treatment, can help to avoid relapse by establishing a consistent routine, occupying free time, regulating mental health, and generating improved self-esteem. 

Although daily exercise may appear to be a daunting task, it does not take much movement to begin reaping the advantages of being active regularly. In this post, we’ll look at why exercise is such a vital tool for sobriety and how you can start reaping the benefits right away.

Many people who abuse drugs or alcohol disregard critical aspects of everyday health, wreaking havoc on their mental and physical well-being. It is essential to restore both the psychological and physical harm caused by drug dependency and the broken mind-body connection. 

Exercise serves numerous roles in chemical dependence therapy, but there are several fundamental benefits of exercising for addiction treatment and recovery.

1. Exercise Occupies Your Mind And Time

Many people discover that after they begin the recovery process, they have a lot of spare time on their hands since they are no longer spending their time thinking about, purchasing, or using a substance. 

Depending on how it is used, this free time can be a blessing or a curse. Exercise is a terrific way to spend this additional time, and it can take up many hours every week. It is often beneficial to keep oneself active throughout addiction rehabilitation, particularly in the early stages.

Following a regular exercise regimen eliminates the need to make split judgments about what to do with spare time throughout the day, which is frequently where incorrect selections are formed.

Having an exercise goal might also help divert you from cravings and shift your attention to something more productive. Training for a half marathon, for example, is more than just showing up on race day; the months preceding up to it will be filled with deciding on a growth route, planning pace, setting goal timings, and running practice road races.

Exercise

2. Exercise Helps To Relax And Lessen Stress

Physical and psychological stress can both be relieved by exercise. Tension accumulates in our bodies when we work, engage with others, and even while we watch television. This strain might be caused by poor posture at work or negative interaction with a coworker. 

Moving your body relieves stress and allows you to release whatever unpleasant feelings you have been holding in. Focused exercise expends both physical and emotional energy that would otherwise be diverted to harmful outlets.

Increasing your heart rate via exercise also causes the production of serotonin, an anti-stress hormone that boosts your mood. Exercising to relieve stress is healthier than resorting to a drug, overeating, or lashing out at others for individuals in recovery. 

Physical activity ranging from cycling to meditation can result in increased levels of natural stress-relievers, thus there is a therapeutic exercise for everyone. So, role of exercise in addiction recovery is critical.

3. Exercise Changes Your Brain Chemistry Naturally And Beneficially 

Exercise causes your body to release endorphins, which produce a natural high. These are the same endorphins your body produced while abusing drugs. However, drug and alcohol misuse creates an imbalance that impairs a person’s ability to feel pleasure, happiness, and fulfillment. 

Dedicated physical exercise during treatment and rehabilitation will assist you in reintroducing natural endorphin levels into your system. This not only improves your mood but also educates your body that it is capable of controlling its brain chemistry and mood in healthy, natural ways.

Exercise Changes Your Brain Chemistry

4. Cravings Are Reduced By Exercise

Following an exercise routine might be good for anyone who has a history of substance abuse, such as:

  • Cocaine
  • Opioids
  • Amphetamines
  • Cannabis

Studies have shown that regular exercise can boost abstinence days. Participants in one research who suffered from drug use disorder committed to 12 weeks of frequent moderate aerobic exercise and observed considerably better substance use outcomes than those who did not.

Because exercise causes blood to flow more quickly via the heart, it can boost the quantity of oxygen and nutrients going to your body’s muscles. Because of the increased nutrients, the body becomes more robust and has a better ability to release energy throughout the day. 

These increased energy levels make everyday duties simpler and often improve the capacity to resist the desire to consume drugs. 

Exercise, when combined with regular cognitive-behavioral therapy, is a very successful strategy for helping individuals stop smoking because it addresses psychological and physiological demands that nicotine replacement treatment does not. 

For these reasons, many ex-smokers start exercising to help them quit smoking.

5. Improves Sleep Quality

People in the early stages of rehabilitation typically find it difficult to sleep deeply all night. Exercise can assist you in overcoming typical sleep difficulties such as:

  • Sleeping difficulties
  • Having difficulty staying asleep for an extended period
  • Sluggishness and napping during the day

Regular exercise improves sleep quality and allows you to sleep for extended periods. A brief duration of exercise before bedtime will enable your body to chill faster, making it simpler to fall asleep.

You Can Also Read “5 Tips For Finding The Best Sleep Position For Your Health“.

Improves Sleep Quality

Wrapping Up

If the recovering addict hasn’t exercised in a long time, have them start modestly, such as going for a daily stroll and observing how it feels. It is also a chance for them to broaden their social circle; for example, they may meet someone who shares their interests or is a bit more experienced. 

Having a workout partner can help you stay motivated and push each other during your sessions. Allow them to begin slowly and gradually increase their intensity to see which workout is best for them. 

Remember that there is no one road to recovery and no one approach to exercise. Exercise is essential for both recovering from addiction and maintaining healthy.