The Importance of Exercise for Addiction Recovery

by: Stefan Simonovic

Source: Flickr

Addiction is never a good thing. Period.

Some individuals are addicted to seemingly harmless things like food or biker dating sites and don’t even consider themselves addicts, yet are still endangered by potential complications that might source later from their addiction. Differently put, there is no such thing as more and less harmful addictions - none of them should be taken lightly.

However, when it comes to recovering from an addiction, there are certain ways by which you can make that whole process much easier. In this light, we’re going to talk about how exercising affects addiction recovery in a positive way.

Something to Focus On

Exercising is most commonly used to lose excess weight and shape one’s body. When we’re talking about addiction recovery, working out has proven to be essential because it allows an addict to focus on something concrete during the recovery process. Namely, attempting to keep yourself in shape can occupy your mind just enough to help you forget about the problems. Moreover, you might even gain a fresh perspective on your addiction as well as the consequences it could have on your life should you continue to act irresponsibly.

Bettering Yourself

Another more obvious reason to exercise while recovering from addiction would be the actual betterment of ones' self, both physical and psychological. So, staying healthy and prolonging your life are just some of the many benefits exercising can bring to the table. On the other hand, working out can easily replace a former addict’s ruinous rituals and thus help them create a new and healthy routine. For example, those who had a food addiction will find it easier to overcome their cravings if they exercise, as they’ll have less time to eat. It doesn’t hurt to mention that one isn’t obliged to engage in heavy workouts immediately. Some studies have proven that doing even the most minor exercise like walking for half an hour a day can help reduce addiction-related anxiety and significantly improve one’s health.

No Time for Games

The last but not least benefit of exercising in regards to addiction recovery comes in the form of taking up time one would otherwise spend on thinking about the addiction, succumbing to cravings or losing mind over trying hard to overcome urges caused by an addiction.

First off, if you choose to exercise seriously, you’ll have to create a workout plan before you start doing anything. This will immediately take up a good chunk of your time and will help keep your mind off an addiction. Then, you can time your workouts in such a way so that you don’t have any “void” time whatsoever. Also, you can choose a type of workout and intensity of training that suits your needs best, especially if you haven’t been active and lived a sedentary lifestyle for quite some time.

Have you ever tried exercising to get rid of an addiction? Did it help you? We’d really like to hear all about it in the comment section below!


About the author:

Stefan is a writer and a blogger in his spare time. He also works for First Beat Media, a company that mainly focuses on the online dating niche and similar services.