One of the most important aspects of addiction recovery is keeping stress levels as low as possible. That’s because stress is one of the biggest factors causing drug or alcohol abuse in the first place. Stress during recovery could easily be detrimental to your progress by causing a relapse. There is scientific research to back up that stress and anti-stress systems can alter the brain’s emotional circuitry, guiding you towards impulsive behavior and ultimately leading you to relapse after periods of abstinence.
Stress and Its Relationship with Addiction
It’s well known that stress plays a big part in reinforcing substance abuse. Science tells us that it can cause imbalances in your brain’s main neurotransmitters, which lead to feelings of withdrawal as your body desperately attempts to reduce stress levels in the way it’s most familiar with. This can be enhanced significantly over long term dependencies and can lead to a complete breakdown of your brain’s anti-stress systems that specifically help you combat depression, reduce your blood pressure and heart rate, and even lower your immunity.
How You Can Deal with Stress in Recovery
Here we give you some tips to help you reduce stress levels when you’re in addiction recovery that will help prevent you from relapsing.
- Mindfulness is increasingly popular in addiction treatment and includes practices such as meditation, which you can use to change how you respond to stressful situations.
- Finding an outlet that allows you to let off steam is a great counter to stress. Getting everything out of your system can be a cleansing experience and you can choose from a wide range of activities like walking, or playing an instrument. Even just taking a long soak in the tub can really help you feel relaxed and stress-free.
- It’s always important to look after your health as part of your program to combat stress. Healthy bodies are more capable of coping and if you incorporate exercise into your daily routine as well, you’ll feel the benefits much quicker.
- Always take time out for yourself and your family so that you avoid becoming withdrawn or isolated, which can lead to stress. Having people around you is a great way to distract your mind from dwelling on negative things and will also reduce your stress levels considerably.
- Get plenty of sleep. This is crucial, particularly if you are trying to re-train your body and its sleep patterns after prolonged periods of self-medicating to get a decent night’s sleep. Make sure you’re as relaxed as possible before bedtime to encourage good quality sleep. You’ll find yourself better able to deal with stress than you would be with lack of sleep.
Let Casa Recovery Help You Fight Stress at our Southern California Addiction Recovery Center
If you are going through addiction issues are looking for drug addiction treatment in Orange County, Casa Recovery has the perfect rehabilitation center to support you on your journey. Our drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs are created to help you through your struggle with addiction. We also offer holistic treatment to better equip you for a life of sobriety for years to come. If you’re dealing with addiction, there’s no need to feel alone. Contact Casa Recovery for specialist addiction treatment in San Juan Capistrano, CA today!