Addiction is a medical problem that is curable. However, 50% of those who seek treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD) will relapse within a year. Therefore, scientists keep looking for fresh and efficient relapse prevention strategies.
You can restore your body's natural endorphin levels while receiving therapy and recovering from it by engaging in consistent physical activity.
This not only improves your mood but also educates your body once again that it is capable of naturally controlling your own brain chemistry and mood.
Exercise can be a highly effective help in your recovery, according to mounting research.
Advantages of Exercise:
According to experts, regular exercise might serve as a healthy substitute for addictive substances. This is thus because misused medicines and exercise both affect the same brain regions.
Both of these cause the release of feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine by activating your reward system.
Benefits To precisely understand how exercise affects addiction, more research is required.
But research suggests it might:
• Minimise Withdrawal: Stress, depression, and anxiety can all be reduced with regular exercise. These are typical signs of recovery that you could experience and that can cause recurrence.
• Reduce Appetites: When you try to stay away from drugs, you may experience a very strong want to use them. You can avoid cravings or reduce their intensity by exercising.
• Change the Triggers: You can have something to do and expand your social network by starting a new exercise regimen. You might be able to avoid individuals, locations, or things by doing this.
• Assist You in Thinking Clearly: Your mind can function more effectively if you exercise frequently. When your thoughts are more steady, your likelihood of relapsing may decrease.
• Get more Restful Sleep: When you attempt to abstain from drugs or alcohol if you have SUD, insomnia is frequently the result. You may be able to fall asleep more easily and enjoy better-quality sleep at night if you exercise often.
• Improve Your Self-Control and Self-Esteem. When you are confident in yourself, tough situations are simpler to handle.
Exercises that are aerobic, or cardio, raise your heart rate for an extended length of time. That contains:
• Aquatic Exercise.
• Gardening.
• Walking.
• Running.
Early on in your drug abuse treatment, establish an exercise regimen.
It can be a good idea to divide your workouts into 30-minute portions five days a week.
Also, a slow start is OK.
It is better to exercise than not to.
According to studies, even 5 minutes of exercise can help you resist cravings.
