Exercise
We all want to fix our life. Why aren’t we starting with the most clear problems for which we already know the solutions?
We are unhealthy. Unfortunately, we look externally and we believe that most of the problems in our lives have very little to do with our health and fitness. Or, we delude ourselves into thinking our physical health has very little to do with our drinking and using. Early in recovery, we are bombarded by the problems we’ve been creating. On top of that, our main goal is to stop using the substances that seemingly “protected” us from all of our problems. This leads to an unmanageable focus on fixing every problem we created. This focus includes:
Fixing relationships we’ve harmed.
Fixing financial situations we’ve destroyed.
Rebuilding burnt bridges.
Finding steady employment, getting a job back.
Finishing school, returning to school.
Staying sober.
Building new relationships with healthier friends.
If you read the article on focus you now understand that what you focus on you feel. When we stop drinking and using, our focus is nearly immediately directed to solving all the problems we created, or using again. Once we are in treatment, we’ve taken action and chose the former. Therefore, our focus has very little choice but to steer it’s eyes in the direction of everything in our life that is wrong. Honestly, I believe the only reason I stayed in the dirt so long was because I continued to put substances in my body that made me feel okay with the shitty life I had and the shitty decisions I was making.
Often, however, this focus on our problems doesn’t come until after we’ve made it through withdrawal. Sometimes our withdrawal is so intense, and we are so used to using in the midst of it that we struggle focusing on anything else but using and drinking. In any event, the recurring issues most have with addiction has very little to do with initial withdrawal. Although the withdrawal is difficult, nearly every addict and alcoholic can describe to you multiple times where they’ve successfully made it through withdrawal. I’ve seen it with hundreds of addicts. After a week of teaching a new client, I’m convinced they don’t enjoy my class and I have failed in motivating them. The truth comes around when inevitably they would approach me, apologize for their lack of attention the past week, tell me they’re feeling better and enjoyed the class the whole time but just lacked the energy in to get involved. Now that they are feeling better, they want me to help them in tackling the problems above that they are focused on. This makes sense right? Addicts spend the first week and nearly all of their energy is focused on just feeling okay. Their withdrawal diminishes, freeing up energy to focus on the problems in their life.
While fixing our life is the main motivation in getting sober, most of the fixing required will take an inordinate amount of time. After all, we’ve been drinking and using for ____ years. We cannot remain focused on problems that will take years to solve. This focus makes us feel behind. This focus makes us feel like we are in a hole and our problems don’t stop at the surface, but continue to stack into a skyscraper like building, with us in it’s shadow.. underground. This focus leaves us in a position that is far more likely to end in relapse. If we spent more time focusing on the progress we’ve made in our life we would be left feeling as though we’ve made progress - instead of focusing on the things that make us feel behind.
Don’t get me wrong, you must solve problems from your past. My point is, that’s not all you have to do. You could, since you have twenty-four hours in a day, spend one of those hours focused on something that makes you feel better, look better, make better decisions, have less health problems, less stress, more energy, and more confidence. This one hour a day could lead to a new community which will serve you in your recovery. This one hour a day could lead you to meet one person who may have a positive influence in your life. This one hour a day could completely change your life. And, you only have to do it an hour a day - so even if it doesn’t completely change your life, do you have anything better to do?
If we don’t exercise, or deliberately focus on something besides our problems, we don’t think exercise could solve our problems. Especially since very few of our problems have anything to do with physical fitness or the lack of it. Or does it?
Studies regularly show that exercise and substance use and abuse are inversely related. Meaning, if you exercise you’re less likely to use drugs and if you use drugs your less likely to exercise. This could be due to many reasons some of which include: “exercise could lead to a causal decrease in substance use, either by serving as an alternative, non-drug reinforcer, or by producing functional neuroadaptations that influence an individual’s susceptibility to developing a substance use disorder. Second, substance use could lead to a causal decrease in exercise, either by reducing discretionary time/income that would otherwise be spent on recreational activities or by decreasing aerobic capacity to limit an individual’s ability to engage in exercise. Third, an external factor could have a causal impact on both activities, such as an underlying personality trait or an influence from the individual’s home environment.”[1]
Rats were less inclined to hit a lever for alcohol[2] and cocaine[3] once exercise was introduced to their daily regiment.
A team of Iranian scientists recently forced rats to run on a treadmill for 90 minutes per day then use morphine. The result? The rats who exercised hit the lever less.
Tuft university’s Robin Kanarek has shown rats who spend time on an exercise wheel are less susceptible to the effects of nicotine[4] and amphetamines[5].
Cigarette smokers report less cravings and less withdrawal symptoms after working out. [6]
“Exercise has been implicated in modulating dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission, altering synaptogenesis, and increasing cerebral blood flow. In addition, recent evidence supports that the type of exercise may have regional effects on brain circuitry.” [7]
Exercise is increasing as a component of addiction treatment for a reason. Science is getting better. Brain imaging, specifically SPECT imaging is getting better. What we are learning is that drugs and alcohol limit blood flow to certain areas of the brain essentially “turning them off”.
So why aren’t we doing it again? Because we don’t think it affects our life? We don’t care if we are out of shape? We might not care about being out of shape physically, but the mental benefits are just as important. This brain is the filter through which you experience life. Increasing blood flow to it and challenging yourself will leave it better off to make decisions in a world where we can’t drink or use anymore.
I believe our life is nearly a direct reflection of the health of our mind.
Check out this video, evaluate your schedule, start slow and choose to make progress in your life by focusing on what you can control: the health of your body and mind.
Being healthy fixes our life.
I met a good friend in treatment used to always pray asking God to remove his desire to use. Instead of asking, “God help me stay sober” he would ask, “God help me not want to get high today”. That was almost seven years ago. He’s in jail right now actually. Now, I don’t want to say that he didn’t fix his life because he didn’t exercise. It’s not that simple. I would, however, feel okay in saying that he left something up to God that should have been up to him. He thought all of his problems were caused by his desire to get high. He never stopped to think about what caused his desire to get high.
The problem was, when he stopped using, all he could think about was his problems. He could reflect back and see most of those problems wouldn’t have happened if he simply didn’t want to get high. So, once he’s sober, he’s focused on a mountain of problems that will seemingly all be solved just by not using. So he went to some meetings and as his mind continued to clear up, the reality of his problems became more clear as well. While he was progressing in terms of length of sobriety, there wasn’t any sort of internal feeling of progression as his focus was on problems that take years to solve: regaining trust of others, finding a career, regaining custody of children, going back to school, finding a new circle of friends, finding your purpose, being happy etc. Focusing on these problems, and trying to solve them directly while not progressing in other areas can lead to shame, stress, and separation that will leave us in a place where we are more likely to relapse.
This guy calls me every few months. I’m grateful that I come to mind when ideas of sobriety permeate his psyche. But I can’t help but wonder what his path would have been if he did things like I had.
You see, lucky for me, before I got involved with drugs, I had a background lifting weights and was an athlete in high school. I wasn’t anything special but I certainly knew the return on the investment of exercise. There was a time in my life where exercise was the most important thing and everything else revolved around that. During this time, I developed branches on my “friend tree” because I was going to the gym at the same time everyday meeting people. Together, we progressed and shared knowledge on fitness. This made me feel apart of. Unfortunately, during this time I also started using Oxycontin, the drug that led me to heroin. I never decided heroin was better than exercise, I never made that choice consciously. I thought I could workout and stay on my path. I was wrong. I lost all the muscle I had gained, the friends I had made, and the positive influence I had on others. I felt alone. To say this contributed to my demise would be an understatement. The fact was: when I was focused and progressing in lifting everything in my life was filter dialed into being fit. Once heroin came in, my focus on lifting tried to stick around, only to be overtaken by the opiate. Soon enough, since I had been focused on heroin, everything in my life was dialed into whether I would be sick or get high.
Exercise is an act of discipline. A day in, day out, conscious and deliberate choice to exert effort. Addicts and alcoholics are stressed. Exercise releases brain derived nootropic factor(BDNF), a compound released to fight stress. Exercise increases our ability to deal with struggle. Exercise changes the way we look at ourselves, which changes the way we envision our future. Exercise changes the way others look at us, which will solve many problems we were focused on prior. Here’s the thing, most people who don’t trust us or put themselves around us anymore do so because they care about us. While we think they may want an apology or amends, and maybe they do, they may feel fine rekindling a relationship with you once they see tangible changes in you. What they don’t want is talk. They are used to that. For us addicts, when all is said and done, more is always said than done. So, with that said, can you start doing?
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