Drug addiction is both a mental and a physical problem. For different people, either aspect of the problem may be more significant than the other, and it will also depend on the substance in question. However, those that are in better physical shape not only have a better chance at recovery but can recover from the addiction much faster and have a much higher chance of avoiding a relapse.
A lot of times the addiction can be severe and this can take a toll on a person’s physical health, making it harder to get back into good physical condition. Even in such a situation, it is still useful to keep trying to improve your body to ensure a sustainable recovery. These are some of the main benefits of exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle if you want to overcome an addiction.
Better Sleep
Drug addictions of all kinds interfere with the natural process of the body, and they seriously impact the hormones and chemicals that are produced in the body. Due to this change, people in addiction recovery can find it close to impossible to get a full night of good sleep and for one reason or the other, they just can’t rest. This problem only intensifies in the morning when they are sleep-deprived.
This starts a vicious cycle in which they can’t rest because they are recovering from addiction, and they can’t fight the addiction because their body is fatigued. Exercise can help rectify the chemical imbalance, and it’s also a great way for a person to get that extra energy out of their system and stay on track to removing the substance from their life.
Stress Reduction
People in addiction recovery are also dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress. Even if they have come in to get treated by their own will, making such a change in the body creates physical and mental stress. According to the people behind Changing Tides, getting in a good workout, a session every day helps people direct their energy and gives them some fuel to battle this stress. It is a time when they have something else to focus on and through the heavy exertion, they are burning calories as well as eliminating elements of stress in this part of their life. This is especially effective if they enjoy high-activity sports like boxing, running, jumping rope, or anything else that requires quick bursts of energy.
More Energy
When the body is cleansed from all the unhealthy toxins through working out, there is more room for positive energy in both the body and the mind. Sometimes your brain just cannot get out of a thought loop and this negativity is bringing your overall energy down. Through exercise, you are helping your body get a lot more resources in physical and biological terms, and this will naturally translate to your emotional energy as well. Through exercise, your body depletes existing energy stores and is forced to create new energy. In most cases, this results in a positive, fresh, and optimistic energy that the patient can bask in.
Better Mood
It is not uncommon to see addiction recovery patients go through extreme mood swings. After all, an addiction is an artificial dose of endorphins, which are our feel-good hormones. Fortunately, exercise also causes the release of endorphins, and if you exercise intensely enough, you can produce more endorphins than your substance would have created in your body. This gives you the same rush you would get from drinking or injecting, and this helps you feel good and develop a positive outlook. If you ever need motivation during your addiction recovery phase, go for a good workout.
Better Immunity
People who have poor health due to their substance addiction also have a much weaker immune system, and this can be a major safety hazard, especially given the fact that we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Having better immunity is something everyone would welcome, and a good exercise routine can help do this for you. Exercise makes the body work overtime and creates all the resources that it needs to recover, build and grow. Not only is exercise going to make you appear strong, but you will actually be much tougher on the inside as well.
One of the biggest problems with addiction recovery patients is that they are fine when they are being treated but just a few days, weeks, or even hours after they leave the facility they fall back into the same lifestyle. This is largely because the addicts’ life is all that they have seen, and they really don’t have anything better to do. When you make exercise a part of your daily routine, you can wholly revolutionize your lifestyle, and that is the best way to make permanent changes in your body and life.
