Enhancing Brain Health: Confidential Strategies for Addiction Recovery
https://images.pexels.com/photos/15410078/pexels-photo-15410078.jpeg
Want to Help YOUR Brain Heal from Addiction?
In recovery, stopping substance abuse is just the beginning. Your brain also needs time, support, and rehabilitation tactics to fully recover. Here’s the thingâŚ
Did you know that 48.5 million Americans aged 12+ suffered from substance use disorders in 2023? Yeah, me neither. Turns out brains require way more attention than we realized.
There is hope!
With proper treatment, brain recovery is more than possible. Providing your brain with what it needs can make all the difference during recovery, and confidential brain health services offer just that. Let’s jump in!
What you’ll learn:
- Why Brain Health Is Important
- The Brain & Addiction
- Helpful Brain Recovery Tips
- Recovery Timeline
Why Brain Health is Important
If you don’t take care of your brain, nothing else you do will matter.
Your brain is responsible for everything you do and think. It’s the powerhouse behind your urges, decision-making skills, impulses, and more.
Addiction alters the physical makeup of your brain. This can impact your mood, memory, impulse control, and ability to find joy in daily activities. Leading many to believe they just don’t have the willpower to quit.
Substances flood your brain’s reward system and kick your brain into overdrive. Your brain will want the drug more than food, relationships, or even sex. This doesn’t mean you’re weakâŚ
Your brain is just wired that way.
When brain health is incorporated into treatment plans, people start to recover. In fact, about 75% of people who suffer from addiction will recover from addiction. You just need to treat your brain right.
The Brain & Addiction
When substances enter your brain, they force changes upon your neural pathways.
In short, the more you use a substance, the more pathways your brain builds to continue using. It’s like a super highway straight to problematic behaviour.
There are three parts of the brain that are mostly affected:
- Reward system
- Prefrontal cortex
- Stress response system
The reward system is hit hard when a person abuses substances. Drugs introduce large amounts of dopamine (feel good hormone) into the brain. So when we use substances, we feel extreme joy and happiness. Natural rewards don’t compare to drugs. Which is why some people use.
Your prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that controls judgement. Decision-making skills become blurry when substances are involved. That’s why your brain will choose drugs over everything else because it can’t control the impulse to get high.
Lastly, your stress response system is also affected by substance abuse. Things that would normally cause stress don’t faze you like they use too. So you turn to your newfound love for substances to cope.
Your brain thinking:
‘How can I avoid feeling these feelings? Give me MORE drugs!’
This brain behaviour is what makes many people feel like quitting is impossible. Addiction changes the physical structure of your brain and tricks you into believing you need substances to function.
But there’s good newsâŚ
Your brain has a magical ability called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity allows your brain to create new neuropathways, heal damaged ones, or rewire itself with time.
Helpful Brain Recovery Tips
Alright! Let’s get into some helpful tips that will aid your brain in recovery.
These are all tips backed by science as being effective during brain recovery. They all use the brain’s natural ability to create new neuropathways.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy
Ever heard of CBT? If you haven’t let me introduce you to your new favourite thing.
Briefly, cognitive-behavioural therapy allows you to create healthy brain pathways. CBT will enable you to pinpoint triggers and thoughts that lead to substance abuse.
Instead of turning to substances when you’re stressed, you could practice deep breathing. CBT reinforces this new behaviour by allowing you to practice over and over. The more you react this way, the stronger your new healthy pathways will become.
Physical Activity
Take your dog for a extra-long walk today.
Physical activity allows your brain to release happy chemicals like endorphins. Not only will you feel happier, but exercise can:
- Improve your mood
- Regulate your stress and anxiety levels
- Increase energy
- Improve sleep patterns
- Promote healthy brain neuron connections
Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness helps your brain observe it’s craving and let it go.
Think about watching waves crash on the beach. You see them roll in, all big and angry. But they don’t break the sand. They roll right back out.
Mindfulness allows your brain to feel that type of freedom. It can acknowledge cravings without giving in to impulsivity.
Research shows that mindfulness-based relapse prevention can alter brain activity. It helps with emotional regulation and decrease reactions to cravings.
Eat Healthy Foods
Your brain needs proper nutrients to function.
Supplying your body with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins help boost brain health. Not to mention, they help promote new neuropathway formation.
Eat things like:
- Fatty fish (i.e. salmon, sardines)
- Vegetables (try some leafy greens)
- Nuts and seeds
- Drink lots of water
Eating poor will decelerate your brain’s recovery process. Help your body out and watch your brain thank you!
Sleep
Last, but certainly not least⌠SLEEP!
Your brain does a lot of healing while you sleep. If you don’t have healthy sleep patterns, it can affect your recovery.
When you sleep, your brain processes information, reinforces memory, and clears toxins. Give your brain the best chance by getting quality sleep each night.
Most adults require 7-9 hours of sleep.
Recovery Timeline
How long will my brain take to recover?
Well, that depends on a few factors⌠but science has given us an estimated timeline!
Consider this:
- 0-2 weeks: Anxiety and depression start to decline. Your brain starts to build back grey matter.
- 2 months â 5 years: Your brain continues to recover functions. Things like your memory, emotional stability, and decision-making skills.
- 7+ years: Complete brain recovery!
Did you know after five years of continuous recovery, there is only about a 15% chance of relapsing? That’s right! Just by staying clean for over half a decade you have the same chance of relapsing as anyone who has never used substances.
Your brain can recover. It just takes time.
Wrapping Things Up
You heard the amazing things that your brain can do!
Just remember your brain plays a pivotal role in recovery. If you don’t allow it to heal, you’ll never be satisfied with your journey. Never fear, there are always ways to better yourself!
Here’s a quick recap:
- Brain health is vital to your recovery.
- Remember to use things like CBT and mindfulness to build healthy brain pathways.
- Get outside and eat nutritious foods.
- Sleep is just as important!
- Be patient with your recovery.
