Physical exercise is beneficial for everybody irrespective of gender, weight, or age. While it is beneficial for everyone, recent studies suggest that physical exercise is even more beneficial for people who are in substance abuse recovery programs. In fact, a lot of rehabs and treatment centers seem to include a bunch of physical exercises in their substance abuse recovery programs. But before we talk about all the benefits of physical exercise during substance abuse recovery, let’s spend a few minutes on how it achieves that, when is it encouraged and what you should expect out of it.
How is Exercise Beneficial During Substance Abuse Recovery?
When you are addicted to substances, it changes your brain chemistry over time. This reduces your energy levels and leads to fatigue or feelings of weakness that can linger on for a while. These makes people believe that they don’t have the required strength or energy to do day-to-day activities or chores. But these feelings of weakness and fatigue are not permanent and you can gain them back through physical exercises. When you start doing physical exercises, your body will begin to regain muscle memory and what it was like before you got addicted. Over time, your physical strength and energy will start to return, and you will be back to feeling strong and normal just like how you were before.
When is Exercise Encouraged in Addiction Recovery?
Addiction treatment programs consist of several components and physical exercise is just one of them. Your doctor or your program load will tell you when to begin your exercises. You don’t want to start with hardcore exercises such as bench-press or dead lifting or something like that. That would be a very bad way to start and would definitely cause issues. Start slow with exercises such as running, then begin exercises such as lunges, squats, crunches, sit-ups, and so on. When you exercise, your body will be in need of more protein and nutrients than ever before, so make sure that you eat enough to have a healthy supply of protein and nutrients for your body muscles.
What Should You Expect Out of it?
Physical exercise is not a miracle cure that will take you out of your addiction. You will have to follow through with all the components of your treatment program if you truly want to be free from drugs. Residential in-patient treatment programs are the best programs if you plan to free yourself from the influence of drugs and these programs also include physical exercises. All in all, you should expect physical exercises to enhance your body’s energy levels as well as the experience that you have during the treatment period.
6 Benefits of Physical Exercise During Substance Abuse Recovery
Here are the 6 benefits of physical exercise during substance abuse recovery-
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Stress Reduction
Stress is actually quite the issue during the treatment program. Patients tend to unnecessarily worry about withdrawal symptoms and other stuff. There are staffs who are well-trained to take care of such things and patients shouldn’t be worrying about such things. Physical exercises can help release their stress and promote better mental health. Physical exercises also increase the release of endorphins, which makes a user feel good.
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Better Sleep
Sleep troubles are nothing new with people who abuse drugs and is actually a side effect of drugs. Due to altered chemical levels in their brain, getting a proper sleep cycle is a stretch for a lot of people. Exercises, however, somewhat help bring the brain chemicals back to normal levels, leading to a healthy sleep cycle.
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Improved Mood
When a user is under the influence of drugs, their moods shift significantly. They can feel happy or sad or depressed or even agitated depending on what goes inside their head. Their mood could shift from being extremely happy to extremely aggressive from a simple trigger point. These mood shifts may result in inappropriate behavior, but with the release of stress, the user’s mood could change and have a very positive outlook.
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Increased Levels of Energy
When you exercise a lot, your body will burn fats and release a lot of energy which can then be used to build the muscles that did a lot of work. So, when you do any heavy exercises, your muscles experience a breakage/damage within the muscles which is a good thing in this case. When there’s a breakage in the muscles, your immune system will attempt to repair it and apply additional tissues to it to make it strong enough to handle more stress. So, the more you exercise, the more the breakage and more muscle density. Increased muscle density and decreased fat will lead to more energy levels and increased physical health in recovery.
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Stronger Immune System
Physical exercises also increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your immune system which will help prevent harmful diseases and stop your body from developing any serious health conditions such as heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, depression, and cancer, among other things.
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Prevent Relapse
Exercises not only help relieve the user from stress but also regulates their brain chemical levels and balance their hormones which combined do a whole lot of benefits. The user feels strong, healthy, and will be in a good mood, lowering the chances of having a relapse which mainly gets triggered as a result of stress, anxiety, and depression among other things.
Wrapping Up
Exercises are not a replacement for your recovery but rather act as a supplementary help that will go along with your main treatment to help you achieve your treatment goals faster and better. When it comes to dealing with addiction recovery, Golden Road Recovery is a prominent name in this field. It is a luxury drug recovery center in Los Angeles, California. You can connect with the team for any query, just by making a simple call at our addiction recovery hotline number i.e., (877) 372-0536.
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