When was the last time you went for a run, hiked in the woods, or lifted weights? Or even tracked your caloric intake and ate a nutritious meal? When you’re struggling with an addiction, your own physical fitness is probably one of the last things on your mind. Just getting through the day in one piece and trying to manage difficult symptoms are often your main priorities. Yet a physical fitness program is actually a key component of your recovery journey—and it will put you on the right path toward lasting healing.
How Physical Conditions Affect Mental Health
How does a physical fitness program make a difference in your recovery from addiction? To answer this question, you need to understand how your physical health and mental health are interconnected. When you’re physically healthy, you are typically eating well, exercising on a regular basis, and consistently getting enough sleep each night. Because of good physical health, you’re more likely to have energy and motivation, and less likely to struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, and overwhelming feelings. You’re simply in a better mental space when you’re physically healthy.
But what happens if you don’t take care of yourself? Eating poorly, getting less sleep, and a lack of exercise over time can take their toll on your mind. Not only can you struggle with a lack of motivation to accomplish tasks (such as your recovery goals), but you’re more likely to be overwhelmed by stress and may have a history of anxiety or depression issues. And people with conditions associated with poor physical health—such as diabetes, heart disease, or chronic fatigue—have demonstrated a greater probability of experiencing mood disorders like depression or anxiety as well, shares RGA.
How Mental Health Affects Physical Health
On the other hand, the condition of your own mental health can influence your physical health as well. In general, a healthy psychological well-being can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. But alternatively, specific mental health disorders have also been connected to poor physical health consequences and harmful behaviors, shares WebMD.com:
- Depression has been linked to diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and arthritis
- Schizophrenia has been linked to heart and respiratory diseases
- Mental health conditions have been linked to insomnia and sleep apnea
- People with mental health conditions are more likely to smoke (and smoke more often)
If you’re struggling with your mental health, you’re also more prone to addiction symptoms as you self-medicate using alcohol or drugs. This makes you susceptible to greater physical and mental challenges associated with co-occurring disorders. Your mental health disorder can also make you less likely to get help for any physical health problems or adhere to your doctor’s treatment recommendations. You may even find it more challenging to try to adopt behaviors that can make you physically healthier, from changing your diet to making time for exercise.
Inpatient & Outpatient Rehab: A Holistic Approach to Recovery
Because your mental health and physical health are so intertwined, it’s important to seek outpatient or inpatient rehab that incorporates them into your recovery plan. Symptom management and medications are helpful tools in addiction treatment, but if your recovery plan only consists of these steps, you’re missing out on total healing. An ideal treatment center will take a holistic approach to your recovery, addressing your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
By adopting a holistic approach, your treatment center can provide actual whole-person care, helping you better achieve your recovery goals. And within that whole-person care process, physical fitness programs that emphasize nutrition and exercise can not only strengthen you to physically address your treatment challenges but also equip you with the knowledge and disciplines to live a healthier lifestyle in the long run.
Understanding Nutrition in Recovery
Athletes in recovery don’t just need nutrition; addicts in recovery should get it, too. Because of addiction, your body doesn’t have the healthy nutrients it needs to function normally. Depending on your chosen substance, you’ve likely struggled with poor eating habits, a loss of appetite, malnourishment, organ damage, and digestive problems as your addiction has consumed your life. Your body is also trying its best to fight off the toxic chemicals and negative effects that drugs and alcohol inflict as well.
Simply put, addiction throws your whole body out of whack. So, when you choose to pursue recovery, proper nutrition is one of the first and most important treatment steps to physically and mentally getting back on track. It’s essential to true healing.
The Benefits of Nutrition in Recovery Physical Fitness Programs
Nutrition as part of a physical fitness program is more than just changing your diet and eating healthier in recovery. It can provide a number of benefits behind the scenes that can help you achieve the sobriety you deserve, including:
Reversing Addiction’s Damaging Effects
When you start addiction treatment, your physical body isn’t in the state it needs to be to achieve long-term recovery. This is why nutrition is so beneficial: It helps correct the physical damage your addiction has caused to your body. It’s a wonder what protein, healthy fat and fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water can actually do as nutrients for you. Utilizing these nutrients as part of a balanced diet can help your body actually begin to function properly and reverse the signs of addiction. As a result, nutrition can improve your blood pressure, boost your immune system, aid in muscle function, and more.
Improving Your Brain Health
When you have an addiction, your brain develops a chemical dependency on the dopamine released every time you use your addictive substance. However, with proper nutrition support as part of your recovery physical fitness program, your brain can improve its neuroplasticity. This allows your brain to form and reorganize new, healthier connections as it chemically adjusts to the substance’s absence from your body.
Reducing Cravings and Boosting Your Mood
When you’re malnourished and lacking in nutrients, it’s easy for your addiction cravings to intensify. But a steady supply of nutrients like carbohydrates and amino acids can actually help your brain produce the neurotransmitters it needs to reduce your cravings. At the same time, these nutrients can help regulate your mood and improve your sleep.
Understanding Exercise and Recreational Therapy in Recovery
Because both your mental and physical health have taken a hit due to your addiction, it’s important to build up your overall health and strength once you’re participating in an addiction treatment program. Much of your life has also been built around your addiction, from the money and time you’ve spent obtaining your substance of choice to the unhealthy routines you’ve established. You need to shift from these addiction-related tendencies into healthier habits to achieve long-term sobriety. This is where exercise comes in on your recovery journey.
Exercise and recreational therapy are used by inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment programs to help you reach your recovery goals. And because everyone’s recovery needs are different, your treatment center may utilize a variety of exercise options, including:
- Traditional weights and gym equipment
- Yoga
- Pilates
- Basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and other sports
- Walking, hiking, or running
- Swimming
- Gardening
- Dancing
The Benefits of Exercise in Recovery Physical Fitness Programs
If you truly want to overcome your addiction and maintain your recovery after treatment ends, incorporating exercise into your daily rhythms can help you succeed. As you begin your recovery physical fitness program, some of the common benefits that exercise provides include:
Improving Your Mood and Mental Health
Exercise causes your brain to release endorphins, a chemical that helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression while also improving your mood. As a result, you feel mentally better and more emotionally capable of keeping up with the demands of your treatment regimen.
Reducing Cravings and Preventing Relapse
When you’re trying to quit an addiction, it’s common to have strong cravings and other withdrawal symptoms. Exercise and recreational therapy provide a healthy distraction from these cravings that you can stick with for life, lessening the chances of you relapsing in the future.
Enhancing Your Confidence and Self-Esteem
As you build muscle, lose weight, and improve your physical fitness through exercise, it’s natural to feel a sense of optimism and positive self-esteem. The progress you’ve made also enhances your confidence, and more confidence comes in handy when navigating the challenging aspects of your recovery.
Inviting You into a Better Lifestyle and Social Network
With exercise, you can develop a healthier lifestyle and routine that’s helpful for managing stress and other triggers. And because you can do it with others, exercise also invites you into a whole new community of people who can provide vital support as you continue your recovery journey.
Experience Holistic Recovery at Defining Wellness Centers
Exercise and nutrition are important components of your wellness journey—and even more so when you’re in addiction recovery. If you’re ready to take the first step towards a new life without addiction pulling the strings, we invite you to partner with us at Defining Wellness Centers. To learn more about our holistic recovery approach—including our physical fitness program—contact our team today.
