Eating well and developing an exercise routine are key to any who is in a relapse prevention program. A good diet and exercise plan can positively impact your emotional health. Anxiety and depression are often highly correlated with addictive behaviors, yet exercise and a healthy diet often go unnoticed when discussing relapse prevention. When people are working through their recovery, the primary focus is stopping the use. Managing addictive behavior is the obvious goal of any addiction program. However, it shouldn’t be the sole goal of your relapse prevention plan. A relapse prevention plan is about more than just avoiding future use. It’s about rebuilding your entire life, and your physical health should not go ignored.
Most people who are dealing with an addiction are also dealing with anxiety or depression issues. It doesn’t matter what problem occurred first. If you ignore your emotions in your relapse prevention, you increase your chances of problems in your long-term sobriety.
Undoubtedly, therapy for anxiety or depression is extremely important in your recovery. However, there is more to emotional growth than only participating in therapy. Your diet and exercise plan is also proving to be important in your recovery. Therefore, the following diet and exercise tips can help you manage your mood, and thus manage your addiction.
- Control the amount of sugar you consume.
- Avoid other simple carbohydrates .
- Do cardio workouts at least three times a week.
- Lift weights to improve your emotional health.
- Participate in yoga to help with mental focus.
- Avoid caffeine.
- Don’t be afraid of healthy fats.
- Eat more fish.
These simple tips can help you with your relapse prevention in several ways. They will help you sleep better because you will use up unused physical energy. They will help to improve your self-esteem. They also will help you by increasing mental focus and pushing you to breathe. The most important way to control anxiety is in steadying your breathing patterns with breathing exercises. Exercise can help with the flow of oxygen in a natural way. Therefore, when you are looking to maintain long-term sobriety, step away from the tunnel vision of focusing only on your behavior, and use an improved diet and exercise plan to set the stage for the best relapse prevention plan possible.
