The Canyon

Many studies over the years have touted the positive benefits of exercise for those who are in recovery. One organization in St. Petersburg is putting those theories into practice in an organized way. CLEAN (Citizens Learning to End Addiction Now), associated with Goodwill Industries in St. Petersubrg, is an organization dedicated to helping those in early recovery “recreate” themselves in a new and positive way.

Chris Nelson is a counselor at CLEAN. He says: “If we can recreate in a more positive different place with a more positive activity maybe we can recreate the brain to do something different other than crave a drug. The concept of sobriety is mind, body and spirit concept — that’s what we do in treatment.”

Vivian Sarber, 20, a recovering heroin addict, was a participant in the program. She says: “For me, it’s being able to finish something, you know, finish something that’s positive, because I have been kind of down the wrong path for a couple of years now.”

Michael Musser has been in recovery for a decade and also found personal benefits through CLEAN. He says: “I just get out, run, take all that anger and aggression that I had on me and just put it in my feet and run.”

Why Does Exercise Assist Recovery After Drug Addiction?

Is it the endorphins released in the brain during and after exercise? Is it the “runner’s high” that can only be accomplished through intense exercise, a close cousin to what you experience on drugs and alcohol without the residual negative effects of addiction?

Chris Nelson thinks so: “They don’t need the drug anymore, because they can achieve the satisfaction that the drug would provide by doing some other physical activity.”

There’s also the fact that if you’re running, you aren’t using. Those minutes on the track or running in the park or on a treadmill are minutes that aren’t spent getting high. In early recovery, finding a positive way to fill your time is a crucial part of avoiding relapse.

Another benefit is the ability to clear your head and physically vent pent up aggression and anxiety that often comes with large life changes like drug addiction treatment. Building a whole new life without drugs and alcohol is taxing on many levels; running gives you an outlet to address those emotions physically.

How Long Does Exercise Aid Recovery and Continued Drug Addiction Treatment?

As long as you continue to do it. Nelson says that a number of CLEAN graduates continue to run, even training for marathons in some cases.

If there isn’t a program near you or associated with your drug and alcohol rehab, you can start your own running regimen. Like recovery, you’ll be more successful and gain more benefits if you have a partner or a group of people holding you accountable. Try to find a local runner’s group or start your own. If you attend 12 step meetings or are currently in rehab, encourage others in recovery to join you. It will help you stay clean and sober, not only to run but to keep each other accountable to clean and sober goals as well.

You’ve gotten through the roughest parts of drug and alcohol detox. You’re at home and you continue to go to outpatient rehab on a daily basis. You maintain the schedule of educational classes and 12-step meetings and therapy that they request of you. If you are on a continued opiate detox, you take your methadone or Suboxone as prescribed. If you have a job, then you head there and if you have small children, then you spend time with them. If not, maybe a meeting, out for coffee, take care of the house….

No matter how busy you are, when you are new to recovery there is one stark reality: all the time you used to spend chasing your drug of choice or getting and staying high or drunk is now dead time.

What are you supposed to do all day or all night after you get out of outpatient rehab?

One of the problems with recovery is that it’s boring. I’ve heard so many people say that they ended up relapsing because they didn’t have anything to do. TV got old and they just weren’t getting any ideas about how to spend their time. The opportunity arose to get loaded, and so they did. This is where chaos comes in.

Chaos and Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment and Recovery

It may seem counterintuitive, but just like you have to ingest some fats while you’re trying to lose weight, you also need a certain amount of chaos in your life in order to successfully navigate life during drug and alcohol recovery. Yes, you need to stay away from the negative elements and stressors that put you in a position to use in the first place, but you can’t bury yourself at home and hide for the rest of your life, either. Humans crave contact and contact breeds chaos. And a little chaos can help you fight off the boredom that may drive you to relapse.

Chaos is especially effective for those in recovery while they are undergoing outpatient alcohol and drug rehab. With a daily support system behind you, you have a network of advisers who can assist you as you get through the tough times. Every time a development occurs, you can discuss it with your therapist, in group meetings and with your peers. You can get an opinion about how to proceed from the perspective of someone who understands your issues with drugs and alcohol as well as the nature of triggers. It’s important to be tested during early recovery when you have someone there to help you.

Where to Find Chaos

For most, this is a given. They simply walk through the door at home or answer the phone and chaos finds them. But if you need assistance in this area: Maybe a friend of yours is having issues with her boyfriend or husband and needs someone to listen. Maybe you have a niece or nephew who could use a little “auntie” time. You can always find someone who needs something at meetings, whether it’s advice, companionship or a ride somewhere. The point? Controlled chaos can help you take your mind off yourself, get you out of the house, appreciate your situation and your newfound sobriety.

How do you create balance in your life during drug and alcohol rehab? What about after? How do you fend off drug and alcohol relapse?

The past few weeks, I’ve been reading and researching and thinking quite a bit about those few days before you enter drug rehab and the weeks following your return home. What do you do during those days? You’ve likely lost your job, you’ve alienated positive friendships, and all you want is not to get drunk or high and yet it’s all you can think about. How do you stop yourself from relapsing?

During my research on relapse prevention, I find some research that says exercise may help prevent substance abuse. Well, of course it does! We knew that, right? But it’s always nice to be validated by the scientific community.

The United States government is pushing for even more research in this area, something that explores the effects of “regular” activity as opposed to the “runner’s high” achieved after a really intense workout. In other words, can normal people like us who aren’t athletes benefit from exercise in the area of drug and alcohol use prevention?

Drug Addiction Rewards and Exercise Rewards

It’s all about the reward system in the brain. After prolonged periods of drug and alcohol use, this is one part of the brain that suffers long-term, if not permanent damage. It’s harder to feel happy or even normal without drugs once you’ve grown dependent on getting high. This means that events that “normal” people may be able to take in stride seem more like a mountain than a molehill to those with opiate addiction issues. The stress of the incident can make an addict want to use, to manually trigger the reward system in the brain to numb the drama. Herein enters exercise as a possible solution.

Clues That Exercise May Fight Drug Addiction Relapse

Here’s what some researchers have found to support the idea that exercise can be an important part of a relapse prevention program:

• Rats were less likely to ingest amphetamines if their cages had running wheels, suggesting exercise stimulated a reward pathway in the brain to leave them less vulnerable to the drug’s rush.
• In people, exercise acts as a mild antidepressant and relieves stress. Depression, anxiety and stress increase risk of alcoholism, smoking or drug abuse.
• Volkow is intrigued that attention deficit disorder and obesity both involve problems with the brain chemical dopamine, one system that drugs hijack to create addiction.
• Baby monkeys who do not play enough in childhood have problems controlling aggression when they’re older. The most aggressive tend to have defects involving the feel-good brain chemical serotonin — and binge-drink when researchers offer them alcohol.
• Back to rats, physical activity increases production of growth factors and stem cells in key brain regions important for learning and mood; increases formation of blood vessels; and strengthens communication networks between brain cells.

Exercise, Schmexercise… Bring Out the Bleach

Personally, when I feel triggered or feel any of the emotions that used to precipitate a run, I get out my arsenal of cleaning supplies and a bucket of old rags and get to work. And I don’t mean light dusting. I’m talking pulling everything out of the closet and reorganizing in earnest, pulling the refrigerator and stove away from the wall to scrub the floors beneath, getting on all those projects that tend to get put off during normal life. It’s a workout with a tangible result at the end.

Do you work out to fight off the impulse to relapse? Do you clean the house when you’ve got too much idle time on your hands? How do you fight off drug relapse?