Life is a challenge for everybody, even successful individuals. As a result, stress is a common problem among all classes. What a lot of people don’t often talk about is that stress is one of the most significant contributing factors of addiction. As a result, you must understand stress management and addiction recovery if you fall into this damaging situation. Thankfully, time spent in drug rehabilitation can help you get sober, learn more about the triggers that are driving your behavior, and work to address those triggers and change for the better.
How Stress Impacts Drug Addiction
Stress releases a series of hormones into the body that cause anxiety which in turn can cause increased heart rate, trouble sleeping, and weight gain, among other symptoms. As a result, drug addiction often stems from stress because people may use a substance like alcohol or heroin to get rid of anxious feelings or negative thoughts, as these substances make people feel physically better, and take them out of their minds. Unfortunately, they are not learning how to manage their stress better, but are instead masking its symptoms. As a result, people may turn to other substances or higher doses of drugs in order to cope with symptoms of stress over time. All of these issues make stress management and addiction recovery critical for a person’s health. If you learn more about what’s causing your stress, you can address these stressors head-on. Likewise, if you can learn to understand when your stress is getting to an unhealthy point, you can learn new coping mechanisms to help you navigate stressful situations without relying on drugs or alcohol to help get you through.
Stress Management and Addiction Recovery Steps
The dangers of anxiety and social pressure make stress management and addiction recovery critical for anyone in this situation. Thankfully, this process is not as hard as it may seem and provides many benefits that are hard to get in other ways. Steps to manage your stress include how you must:
- Understand your limitations and know that not every situation is solvable – things out of your control should not be stressed
- Master stress-management methods, such as meditation, deep breathing routines, and even exercising to calm your mind and body
- Stay away from things that you know stress you, such as traffic situations, people who bother you, and anything else that may trigger stress
- Keep busy with fun and engaging activities that calm your mind, bring you happiness, and distract you from the stress in your life
- Spend time with people who mean the most in your life and build friendships and connections with others whom you want to learn more about
- Eat a healthier diet with smaller servings to ensure that you are filled with vitamins and minerals and to avoid sleep problems that may otherwise plague you
- Stop saying yes to every situation and learn how to spend time on yourself to avoid agitating and stressful situations
By mastering these stress management and addiction recovery steps, you put yourself in a better place during rehab. This process will not only help to calm your mind but give you a better insight into why you use drugs in the first place. As a result, you can walk away from these addictive situations with a fresher mind and a healthier body.
Don’t Neglect Our Healing Help
As you can see, stress management and addiction recovery are tied together in ways that are critical to understand. So if you need help with this process, please call 1-866-824-5193 to contact us at Atlantic Recovery Center today and verify your insurance for drug rehab help. Our family-style treatment facility is designed to help people like you get relief from substance abuse.