Addiction and Exercise
Jul. 15th, 2008 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liveonearthhttp://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.com/2008/06/battling-addiction-with-exercise.html
--his post Saturday, June 21, 2008
--title: Battling Addiction with Exercise
--physical exercise helps addicts who are working their way through withdrawal and recovery
--exercise impacts endorphin levels, circulating serotonin and dopamine
--these neurotransmitters implicated in addiction maintenance & withdrawal
--Dirk asks the question, can regular exercise PREVENT addiction??
--Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), thinks it can. She discounts vaccines (for addiction???? I never heard of such a thing).
--Dr. Bess Marcus of Brown University, has ongoing NIDA-funded study of exercise for smoking cessation: the reward pathways of the brain's limbic system (esp dopa) are very similar btw smoking & exercise.
--Bess study findings: Rats in cages with running wheels show less interest in amphetamine infusions than rats without exercise options.
--Baby monkeys who don't roughhouse with their peers have higher levels of impulse control problems and alcohol use when they get older. (??? they're giving alcohol to monkeys?? I need to find out more about this study)
--In humans, exercise reduces stress and tension--anxiety is common SE of withdrawal from addictive drugs
--physical activity MAY enhance cellular growth in key areas of the brain involved in addiction-->neural rewiring of detox and withdrawal
--this effect not studied enough yet, don't know if age affects it or if it can be used preventatively
--"Statistics indicate that teens who exercise daily are the least likely to report using drugs or alcohol" -Volkow
--exceptions to this rule: hard-drinking athlete. "Now the kids who exercise the most actually drink the most," Dr. Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan told the Associated Press. I'M NOT SURE I BELIEVE THIS. I suspect that when young one can drink hard and still perform as an athlete, but later in life the alcohol has a stronger impact.....every drink kills liver cells.....
--his post Saturday, June 21, 2008
--title: Battling Addiction with Exercise
--physical exercise helps addicts who are working their way through withdrawal and recovery
--exercise impacts endorphin levels, circulating serotonin and dopamine
--these neurotransmitters implicated in addiction maintenance & withdrawal
--Dirk asks the question, can regular exercise PREVENT addiction??
--Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), thinks it can. She discounts vaccines (for addiction???? I never heard of such a thing).
--Dr. Bess Marcus of Brown University, has ongoing NIDA-funded study of exercise for smoking cessation: the reward pathways of the brain's limbic system (esp dopa) are very similar btw smoking & exercise.
--Bess study findings: Rats in cages with running wheels show less interest in amphetamine infusions than rats without exercise options.
--Baby monkeys who don't roughhouse with their peers have higher levels of impulse control problems and alcohol use when they get older. (??? they're giving alcohol to monkeys?? I need to find out more about this study)
--In humans, exercise reduces stress and tension--anxiety is common SE of withdrawal from addictive drugs
--physical activity MAY enhance cellular growth in key areas of the brain involved in addiction-->neural rewiring of detox and withdrawal
--this effect not studied enough yet, don't know if age affects it or if it can be used preventatively
--"Statistics indicate that teens who exercise daily are the least likely to report using drugs or alcohol" -Volkow
--exceptions to this rule: hard-drinking athlete. "Now the kids who exercise the most actually drink the most," Dr. Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan told the Associated Press. I'M NOT SURE I BELIEVE THIS. I suspect that when young one can drink hard and still perform as an athlete, but later in life the alcohol has a stronger impact.....every drink kills liver cells.....
