There is a huge misconception about addiction in the world. Substance abuse is seen as the cause of the problem. But if you dive deeper, you’ll see issues like mental health, society, family, and financial difficulties are triggering addiction.
Exercise can be a helpful companion in your journey toward sobriety. Research has proved that exercise can help overcome addiction and improve overall health. If you are curious how these are linked, here are 8 benefits of exercise in addiction recovery to educate you and encourage you toward healthier lifestyle practices.
Can Exercise Help with Recovery?
Yes, exercise can significantly support and boost recovery. If you are dealing with drug or alcohol addiction, exercising is a holistic way to fully overcome that situation.
It can help regulate your nervous system and improve cardiovascular health and sleep quality. It helps you maintain a healthy lifestyle, reduce stress, depression, and anxiety, boost self-confidence, and prevent relapse.
Exercise releases endorphins, which help in drug recovery and reduce stress levels. It can boost your self-esteem through regular activities that require discipline and goal-setting.
Research by NIDA suggests that exercise can restore brain function impaired due to substance abuse, reducing relapse potential. Exercise is a healthy distraction from negative thoughts or cravings.
Top 8 Benefits of Exercise in Addiction Recovery
In drug addiction recovery, exercise tries to restore order in your body, and help you get a grip of your reality. It can drastically improve your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Now let’s explore some of the benefits of exercise in addiction recovery.
1. Helps Heal the Body
Long-term substance abuse can weaken your body. Exercise helps your brain and body to heal the damage caused by addiction. It can improve your cardiovascular health. This reduces the risk of heart disease, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
Regular physical activity can contribute to muscle strength and a better immune system. Exercise improves your brain’s cognitive functions and nerve connections.
Routine exercise can help you rebuild your physical health and reverse some of the previous damages.
2. Improves Overall Mental Health
If you exercise your body will release endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. These are the key neurotransmitters for mood regulation.
Exercise increases serotonin which stabilizes your mood. It can reduce depression and anxiety, regulate appetite, and improve sleep.
Exercise can also stimulate your dopamine release. It is the brain's reward chemical. It will improve your attention, motivation, and learning capacity. Dopamine also creates a positive feedback loop and helps you to be consistent.
Regular exercise can reduce your symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and depression. It will trigger your brain to rewire and recover from substance use disorder. Thus, it helps you deal with mental health challenges in recovery.
3. Relieves and Reduces Stress
Stress can trigger your craving and relapse, so it’s important to manage stress in addiction recovery. Regular physical exercise can reduce the level of stress hormones like cortisol in your body. Note that high cortisol can make you anxious and overwhelmed.
If you exercise in response to stress or pain, your body will release endorphins. It is the body’s natural painkiller and gives a positive feeling to the body.
It’s also a way to ease your psychological and physical stress. Exercise can help you build resilience to stress, and improve the body’s ability to cope with stressors.
4. Increases Energy
Regular exercise will increase your energy levels. In the early phase of recovery, it can help you deal with fatigue. Physical activity also boosts endorphins which increases energy.
Exercise will increase blood flow in your body. This will trigger an increased flow of oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. It can regenerate your body by improving your stamina and give you mental clarity. More oxygen can improve your cognitive functions.
This mental and physical boost can help you deal with brain fog and tiredness in the early recovery process. Increased stamina will help you regain control of your routine.
5. Meditation in Motion
Exercise is basically meditation in motion. Physical activities like running, cycling, and swimming can create a rhythm, like a flow.
This flow can help you to be in the present moment and disconnect from craving or anxiety. It also increases your mindfulness and reduce mental distraction. You will be able to become more aware of your surroundings, body, and breath.
This flow of exercise can give you a sense of well-being and progress. It will motivate you through your addiction recovery journey.
6. Improves Sleep
In early addiction recovery, withdrawals can seriously impact your sleep. Changes in brain chemistry can cause insomnia during recovery. Lack of sleep can affect your thinking, mood, and physical health.
Regular exercise effectively improves sleep quality. It resets your circadian rhythms. This will restore your body’s natural sleep cycle and provide you with restful, deep sleep. Exercise promotes stability for successful recovery.
7. Provides Structure and Routine
Exercise will provide a healthy structure and routine to your life. It can act as an anchor in your daily schedule. You can plan other daily activities around your exercise shifts.
Building an exercise routine will give you a sense of progress and purpose. This will reduce boredom and cravings.
You can talk to people about your workout plan or attend an exercise class. This will make you more likely to be consistent.
8. Improves Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem
Exercise can give you a sense of accomplishment and progress. This can significantly improve self-confidence. Small wins in fitness, such as running a mile or lifting weights, build self-esteem. This encourages a positive self-image, which helps to overcome the shame and guilt often felt during recovery.
Conclusion
Exercise is an empowering and accessible tool for anyone in recovery. It will recover your brain and body, and restore stability. This will make you feel peaceful in your own body.
Though exercise is not a cure for addiction, it provides a host of benefits that complement other recovery strategies.
If you are recovering from substance use, you can gradually build a workout routine. Start small because forcing your body will cause muscle or joint pain. Also, start slowly and remain consistent.
Substance abuse is shameful, but trying to recover from addiction is a courageous act. If you are dealing with addiction recovery and you want help, please contact The Retreat. We offer a non-clinical, mutual-help approach to the problem of drug and alcohol dependency. We believe that there is hope, and so we work for it. Call us today.
