Drug Abuse on the One Hand and Exercise and Fitness Routines on the Other. Yep, I Think I See the Connection
What the scientists involved in the experimentation wanted was to try to discover a place where two polar opposites in human behavior – a fondness for exercise and fitness routines and a fondness for drug abuse – met. It was an experiment done in the Middle East that actually went some way to proving that a connection did exist. The experiment of course was done with rats on treadmills. What it ended up proving was that if you put rats on a terribly demanding treadmill routine daily and also got them addicted to drugs, that they would even if they were addicted, cease to show much interest in drugs. Even if the drugs were available on demand (they placed levers in their cages that the rats could tap for a morphine shot. The levers went unused)
The thing is, this is not actually supposed to be a surprise. Scientists have been processing the general theme for a couple decades now. Right here in the US, a scientist at Tufts University has already demonstrated that if you put a rat on a running wheel in his cage, the more exercise he got, the less drugs like meth, morphine or nicotine have any effect on him. They don’t go near alcohol, even if it is right there in their cages. What this goes to say of course is that it could be a great way to get Lindsay Lohan to successfully come out of rehab to put her on a treadmill for punishing exercise and fitness routines (she seems thin enough as it is though).
It is actually a reasonably widely recommended suggestion for people who experience severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Get on an exercise and fitness routine, a really demanding one, and the symptoms should recede.
It does actually work with every actual smoker who tries to quit. It does not always to be excessively demanding routine for relief from withdrawal effects. If you’re happy with a humble amount of relief, a modest amount of exercise would be a lot good as well. There are all varieties of additional benefits from exercise that come to a drug-damaged brain also. Exercise can really stimulate your brain into growing fresh neurons and implementing circuits in the cortex.
So why precisely is exercising useful as a way to help with a rehab program? Why are you suddenly less dependent on any chemical of your choice if you exercise? The theory is that exercise releases chemicals in our brains that we grow dependent on. Much as we grow dependent on drugs, we grow dependent on exercise – for the chemicals released. In simpler terms, it could just work as a sort of substitute drug. It helps explain how a few people who are used to a steady exercise and fitness routine are oftentimes irritable or depressed or just lethargic if they skip it. It is a withdrawal symptom. Exercise actually does give us what is known as a natural high. This is not just an expression. It is literally true.
