There’s no arguing that physical activity is part of any healthy person’s lifestyle. That said, fitness and exercise play a particularly important role in addiction recovery. In this blog, we’ll look at how fitness benefits both the body and mind during recovery and how it can be incorporated.
- The Importance of Physical Fitness in Recovery
- Types of Exercise Beneficial in Recovery
- Creating a Balanced Fitness Routine in Recovery
- Harmony Junction Recovery’s Approach to Physical Fitness
The Importance of Physical Fitness in Recovery
In general, fitness has many benefits for everyone, not just those with an addiction. But it can help target the areas of recovery that make you vulnerable to relapse.
During your recovery program, you’ll go through many emotions as you battle cravings and the changes to your body. It’s common for recovering addicts to deal with depression and anxiety as their body returns to its original state. Exercise is scientifically proven to lessen anxiety, depression, and stress by releasing endorphins into your system naturally.
Besides helping against negative emotions, fitness reinstates healthy brain chemistry and mood regulation. Incorporating exercise into your daily routine also enables you to maintain a healthy BMI and promotes better sleep.
Benefits of Fitness in Recovery
- Fights cravings
- Regulates emotions
- Boosts mood
- Produces natural endorphins
- Improves sleep
- Fills time
- Provides structure and routine
Physical Health Benefits of Exercise in Recovery
Endurance exercises (aerobic exercise) like running and planks can improve your physical strength, cardiovascular health, and immune function. A healthier heart and stronger body will make you feel better physically and emotionally, reducing the need for a substance to fulfill you.
Likewise, daily exercise improves sleep patterns and boosts energy levels. One high contributor to relapse is boredom, which is common in those with sleep problems. When you’re able to fall asleep on schedule, this significantly fills up time that could be spent contemplating relapse and ultimately using.
Mental and Emotional Benefits of Physical Fitness
The psychological effects of exercise are incredibly beneficial for recovering addicts. Key contributors to relapse include stress, anxiety, and depression.
Both exercise and substance abuse activate your reward pathways, releasing feel-good chemicals. The difference is one offers a natural form of releasing these endorphins, while the other is unnatural and will distort your brain’s perception of the reward pathway, leading to dependence and addiction. When you replace the substance with exercise, you get the same release in a natural, balanced form.
Types of Exercise Beneficial in Recovery
Exercise is a broad term. Many different types of exercises are designed for various purposes, like endurance training, flexibility, and strengthening exercises. For individuals in recovery, some of the most effective exercises include yoga, cardio, strength training (resistance training), and group sports. Regardless of which type of fitness suits you best, what’s important is that you’re engaging in it consistently.
Yoga and Mindfulness-Based Exercises
Yoga works the mind and body by grounding you in the present moment. It’s a great form of meditation and mindfulness and a way to increase flexibility. As you practice yoga, you may see increased mental clarity and an overall balance of your emotions.
Cardiovascular and Strength Training
Strength training works to increase muscle mass and endurance. Some common exercises for strength training include squats, lunges, push-ups, and planks. Regularly taking part in these exercises increases your resilience both physically and mentally. As you break your own physical barriers, your mentality will become more stable and capable of overcoming relapse urges.
Creating a Balanced Fitness Routine in Recovery
Fitness is all about balance. You don’t want to underdo it, but you especially don’t want to overdo it and risk hurting yourself. The best way to establish a fitness routine is to write down your goals.
Setting Realistic Fitness Goals
What do you want to achieve through fitness? For example, you may wish to improve sleep and regulate your emotions. Make sure your timeline is realistic; fitness goals take time. Once you lay down a foundation of fitness goals, your next step is to talk with a healthcare professional.
Speak to your doctor before beginning a new exercise regimen. This way, you’re ensuring your goals are healthy and practical for you, and you can receive advice on the types of exercises you should incorporate to achieve your goals.
Examples of Fitness Goals in Recovery
- Decrease stress
- Learn a new hobby
- Build muscle strength/target muscle groups
- Promote better sleep
- Improve blood flow
- Increase mood
- Establish a routine
- Increase or decrease body weight
Incorporating Fitness into Daily Life
When you’re in treatment, fitness deliberately fits into your schedule, making it easy to stay on top of. Once you’re out of treatment, it becomes your responsibility to create a fitness routine and stick to it.
Depending on your schedule, you could prioritize working out first thing in the morning or stopping by the gym after work. Fitness can be done in a professional setting or at home. So long as you can maintain the fitness goals you’ve set for yourself, that’s what matters.
Harmony Junction Recovery’s Approach to Physical Fitness
At Harmony Junction Recovery, we make your physical and mental health treatment top priorities in your addiction recovery. You’re here to detox and recover from addiction, but we believe that takes more than medication and traditional therapy. Our facility provides patients with a pool for training sessions and relaxation, yoga classes, group work, and equine therapy.
“Your recovery must come first so that everything you love in life doesn’t have to come last.” – Unknown.
Make recovery your chief goal today. Please contact us to learn more about recovery and how we can help you or a loved one.
Clint earned a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology in 2012. With 5 years in drug and alcohol treatment and 8 years in private practice, he specializes in helping clients uncover obstacles to living their envisioned life. Leveraging his experience, Clint supports clients in finding the motivation to make meaningful life changes.
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