Drug addiction is a serious matter, and recovering from it is no easy thing to do. Accomplishing this, however, and being sober is a great achievement on its own. If you’re in this phase, or if you know someone in this phase, you may be familiar with how tricky it is to reacquaint yourself with regular life after years of drug addiction.
It’s not impossible to live healthily after addiction, although it may take some adjustments on your end. With proper guidance from professionals and careful observance of continuous treatment on your end, you may live healthily after years of drug addiction.
Remember, you have gone this far in your addiction recovery, which means living healthily is something you can achieve given the right time and patience. Following the below tips alongside your professional help’s guidance can get you to the place in life you want. Do remember however that the tips below may not necessarily apply to your condition, as there might be other effects of drug addiction, such as medical conditions that may have an impact on the kind of exercises and routines you can do. Having a good idea on your limits can help.
According to Addiction, living healthily after years of drug addiction might not be just a fantasy other people are thinking of when imagining their recovery. If you’re thinking of undergoing fitness routines, sports, or even just casual working out, living healthily after being addicted to drugs may actually have a lot of benefits.
Exercise and Fitness Helps Self Control
According to a paper in Mental Health and Physical Activity journal, it appears that adding a form of a routine health regimen to addiction recovery methods may strengthen the impact of recovery tools and mechanisms for patients. Exercising, when added with methods such as self-help, medication, support groups, and counselling, may actually reinforce the positive impact of recovery methods of patients.
This is because exercise can actually lead to increased strength, a sense of accomplishment, increased confidence, and improved health across the board. This is a multifaceted benefit of exercising as while you do get exhausted in the process, the effects of it on your body can be seen in a few short weeks or months. This kind of visible and physical change can help boost confidence.
Exercise can also be a substitute of sorts to the “high” drug addicts were obsessed with in the first place. A properly tailored exercise routine can actually give the same level of endorphins, or pleasure hormones, to recovering addicts. This is because endorphins, alongside endocannabinoids, can give a sense of amazement or euphoria. The positive thing here is that the negative effects of consuming illicit drugs don’t appear when exercising.
Exercise is also very capable of helping mitigate some of the long term effects of addiction, including weight gain, depression, anxiety, and sleep troubles because of its natural effects. A strong desire and consistency when it comes to exercising can help recovering addicts step forward in their lives and make a positive change.
Exercise and Fitness Improves Overall Health
Given the benefits above, it may seem extremely advantageous for a recovering addict to take up an exercise routine. If you’re thinking about doing the same, it’s important to remember as early as now that the kind of routine you should be doing must be something that has been approved by your therapist and/or physician. This is because undergoing an exercise routine consistently may actually have an impact on your overall well-being.
- Get a clear goal, especially with the muscle groups you’re targeting. Remember, you can’t always rely on whole body exercises as they may strain you too much. If you don’t have a lot of time in your hands, you may want to try finding routines that primarily benefit the parts of the body you need working on. Some exercises are tailored for weight loss, weight gain, or even muscle improvement, so be careful with your goals and build your routine from there.
- Try to exercise on a set schedule, so you don’t get to think about the “high” from drugs. This is helpful, especially since focusing on a physical activity mitigates stressful thoughts and boredom that may lead to the motivation to use drugs again. Not to mention, exercise leads to elevated moods, clearer thinking, and reduced stress that may make someone avoid drugs in the first place.
- Get adequate rest, especially when you’ve first started working out. One of the effects of addiction is that its disruption of bodily processes ruins sleep patterns. Being able to exercise properly can help restore these sleep patterns. However, try as much as possible to get adequate rest when working out, before, during, and after the sessions. This allows you to make sure you are allowing yourself and your muscles to grow by giving them short periods of rest before straining them again.
- Don’t overexert your muscles. Remember, overexertion can lead to injuries, which can further bring you to yet another few weeks of treatment and rehabilitation. When you’re new to the working out scene, it may be best to start slow and work your way there.
Recovery and Good Health Are Possible
If there’s anything the above tips may prove, it’s that recovering and living healthily even after drug addiction is not totally impossible. Although the tips above may take a bit of time and practice to accomplish on a consistent basis, pushing yourself the right way will get you through drug rehabilitation and to a healthier you.
Should you need any form of legal consultation on the impact of drug addiction and drug possession, you can click here for more information. This is especially if you also wish to share these tips with someone undergoing rehabilitation, or there is someone you want to urge go to rehabilitation for recovery.
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