Exercise can help reduce drug cravings. But is exercise itself a kind of drug?
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kshama2001
Posts: 27,926 Member
Gym Rats and Dope Fiends
Exercise can help reduce drug cravings. But is exercise itself a kind of drug?
A few years ago, a team of Iranian scientists in the city of Isfahan put about two dozen male rats on a strict exercise program: The animals were forced to run on a treadmill, not unlike the ones in your local gym, at a gentle incline and for 90 minutes each day. After their workouts, the rats were allowed half an hour for a brief cool-down. Then they got high on drugs.
The point of the experiment was to show that an exercising animal—a real-life gym rat—would be less inclined to tap a lever for a dose of morphine. It wasn't a new idea: The interplay of physical activity and the use of addictive drugs has been a subject of intense study for at least 20 years. Robin Kanarek of Tufts University, for one, has shown that spending time in a running wheel makes rats less susceptible to the effects of nicotine, morphine, and amphetamines. It's also known that an animal with an exercise habit drinks less alcohol in its cage, and takes fewer bumps of cocaine. What about the rodents in Iran? Yes, they took fewer hits from the lever after their workouts.
Humans with drug problems might get some of the same benefits from working out. Habitual smokers report having fewer withdrawal symptoms and less intense cravings for a cigarette after they've been to the gym; even mild workouts and stretching can help stave off a relapse. (Efforts to get heavy drinkers into slimnastics have been less successful.) We've also heard that fitness routines can mend broken cortical circuits and stimulate the growth of new neurons. Apparently you can use exercise to "train your brain" to ward off dementia and depression, and treat the symptoms of ADHD. And it seems these benefits accrue whether you're riding the elliptical or lifting weights.
But if exercise works as a treatment for drug addiction, we don't know exactly why. It's possible that a sweaty session at the club merely serves as a distraction: You're not thinking about your next fix when you're focusing on your next set. Or it could be that we use the gym to relieve stress, which is a major risk factor for backsliding into drug abuse.
There's another, slightly more disturbing theory for why exercise helps stave off relapse—that working out helps people (and rats) resist drugs because of its similarity to those drugs. Have you ever felt irritable after skipping a yoga class or two? Or a little depressed and lethargic when you don't have time for the gym? These might be construed as withdrawal symptoms—the eventual outcome of an activity or habit that mimics, in some important ways, the effects of morphine and cigarettes and dope. To put it another way—and maybe one that sounds less like vapid neuropunditry: Exercise may prevent drug use by helping us to replace one compulsive, feel-good behavior with another.
To be clear, exercise is not like heroin, at least not in the sense of fundamental psychopathology. And it's best to avoid the semantic controversy over whether any behavior—weightlifting, shopping, eating, playing World of Warcraft—should properly be termed an "addiction," or a "dependence," or even appear at all, in the official manual of psychiatric diagnoses. But the story of how we came to think about the relationship between exercise and addictive drugs—the similarities between them, and the ways they interact—is worth telling.
It begins about 35 years ago...
Read more: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/fitness/2011/01/gym_rats_and_dope_fiends.html
Exercise can help reduce drug cravings. But is exercise itself a kind of drug?
A few years ago, a team of Iranian scientists in the city of Isfahan put about two dozen male rats on a strict exercise program: The animals were forced to run on a treadmill, not unlike the ones in your local gym, at a gentle incline and for 90 minutes each day. After their workouts, the rats were allowed half an hour for a brief cool-down. Then they got high on drugs.
The point of the experiment was to show that an exercising animal—a real-life gym rat—would be less inclined to tap a lever for a dose of morphine. It wasn't a new idea: The interplay of physical activity and the use of addictive drugs has been a subject of intense study for at least 20 years. Robin Kanarek of Tufts University, for one, has shown that spending time in a running wheel makes rats less susceptible to the effects of nicotine, morphine, and amphetamines. It's also known that an animal with an exercise habit drinks less alcohol in its cage, and takes fewer bumps of cocaine. What about the rodents in Iran? Yes, they took fewer hits from the lever after their workouts.
Humans with drug problems might get some of the same benefits from working out. Habitual smokers report having fewer withdrawal symptoms and less intense cravings for a cigarette after they've been to the gym; even mild workouts and stretching can help stave off a relapse. (Efforts to get heavy drinkers into slimnastics have been less successful.) We've also heard that fitness routines can mend broken cortical circuits and stimulate the growth of new neurons. Apparently you can use exercise to "train your brain" to ward off dementia and depression, and treat the symptoms of ADHD. And it seems these benefits accrue whether you're riding the elliptical or lifting weights.
But if exercise works as a treatment for drug addiction, we don't know exactly why. It's possible that a sweaty session at the club merely serves as a distraction: You're not thinking about your next fix when you're focusing on your next set. Or it could be that we use the gym to relieve stress, which is a major risk factor for backsliding into drug abuse.
There's another, slightly more disturbing theory for why exercise helps stave off relapse—that working out helps people (and rats) resist drugs because of its similarity to those drugs. Have you ever felt irritable after skipping a yoga class or two? Or a little depressed and lethargic when you don't have time for the gym? These might be construed as withdrawal symptoms—the eventual outcome of an activity or habit that mimics, in some important ways, the effects of morphine and cigarettes and dope. To put it another way—and maybe one that sounds less like vapid neuropunditry: Exercise may prevent drug use by helping us to replace one compulsive, feel-good behavior with another.
To be clear, exercise is not like heroin, at least not in the sense of fundamental psychopathology. And it's best to avoid the semantic controversy over whether any behavior—weightlifting, shopping, eating, playing World of Warcraft—should properly be termed an "addiction," or a "dependence," or even appear at all, in the official manual of psychiatric diagnoses. But the story of how we came to think about the relationship between exercise and addictive drugs—the similarities between them, and the ways they interact—is worth telling.
It begins about 35 years ago...
Read more: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/fitness/2011/01/gym_rats_and_dope_fiends.html
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Replies
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I can never tell if my depression has lessened from exercise or if it's because I'm making progress on my goals.0
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So, a 4 year old opinion article, with no sources discussed, links to urban dictionary for definitions and links to other opinion articles on the same parent site as if that made them meaningful. Not to mention the broken links.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll wait for some real science that tells me that my going to the gym is just as bad as doing a man made drug that I have to introduce into my body from external sources.0 -
People can form a mental addiction or dependency to anything, not just substances. I don't know if there's science to back up the idea that someone could form a physical dependency on the feeling they get from exercise, but it's been shown time and again that mental addictions can be very powerful and often harmful.0
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BecomingBane wrote: »So, a 4 year old opinion article, with no sources discussed, links to urban dictionary for definitions and links to other opinion articles on the same parent site as if that made them meaningful. Not to mention the broken links.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll wait for some real science that tells me that my going to the gym is just as bad as doing a man made drug that I have to introduce into my body from external sources.
Sure, it's an opinion piece. But it's not an anti-exercise piece. It's a "look at these interesting connections between exercise and addiction." And it doesn't say "going to the gym is just as bad as doing a man made drug."
It does say:
"To be clear, exercise is not like heroin, at least not in the sense of fundamental psychopathology."
"It would be silly—and very unhealthy—to avoid exercise on account of its habit-forming properties."
Etc.0 -
Dunno. Definitely not a drug for me though. I do it so I can eat more and that's pretty much it.0
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I suppose nearly anything can become addictive to a true addict. but whose to say if a rat is a true addict
eminem become obsessed over running when he first go sober
Ya, my yoga practice certainly helped end my unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and exercising now helps with my relationship with food. On that note, off for my walk!0 -
YES, exercise replaces drugs or alcohol for many addicts. Some of those become muscle dysmorphics, trading one problem for another. But the muscle thing, IMO, is much, much better. Addictive personalities tend to throw themselves into things totally. They get hooked on something. Why not exercise?
Personally, my opinion is that if you're going to "treat" a former addict who is now a muscle dysmorphic and your plan is to "cure" the muscle issue, you had better know what comes next! You better know for sure that it won't be going back to drugs or alcohol. If your "cure" makes the person worse, that is your fault, not theirs. So, you better make sure that you know you're going to help and not hurt.
I get wanting to keep working with people to make the realize all their potential, but it's a risk. If you aren't 100% certain that they'll be better off! leave bad enough alone. IMO.
More and more inpatient treatment centers are using exercise/weights in the gym as a reward. Get to a certain place, you get gym privileges. Yay.
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Dunno. Definitely not a drug for me though. I do it so I can eat more and that's pretty much it.
Hahahaa... was thinking exactly the same thing! TBH, though, sometimes in cardio I feel this aggression welling up and out of me and I wonder where it comes from and what it's all about. So maybe there is something to cardio helping with working out aggression, but that is a long jump to feeling high.0 -
I still hate to admit it, but I might as well. I'm 22 days clean and I can tell you... exercising will never replace my love of using. It'll always be the love of my life. However, exercise greatly reduces my cravings, and I've had a *very easy* withdrawal this time around. The only thing different is that I was exercising... I've tried to quit so many times before and just couldn't do it. I fully contribute my success to exercise. 0
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Compulsive behavioral problems can probably exist with just about anything.
I'm not really going to buy into exercise/addiction ties for the average person, and don't really see the point of this thread given that most of us are not former addicts.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »But if exercise works as a treatment for drug addiction, we don't know exactly why. It's possible that a sweaty session at the club merely serves as a distraction: You're not thinking about your next fix when you're focusing on your next set. Or it could be that we use the gym to relieve stress, which is a major risk factor for backsliding into drug abuse.
Both of these seem likely or at least possible to me. Another thing is simply that fitness goals may provide a reason not to abuse drugs or alcohol. If you know you won't manage your morning 5 mile run and are committed to it, that may give you the added reason you need to not drink/drug, at least for a while, while developing a lifestyle without it.0 -
If it is, it's the worst drug ever.0
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I still hate to admit it, but I might as well. I'm 22 days clean and I can tell you... exercising will never replace my love of using. It'll always be the love of my life. However, exercise greatly reduces my cravings, and I've had a *very easy* withdrawal this time around. The only thing different is that I was exercising... I've tried to quit so many times before and just couldn't do it. I fully contribute my success to exercise.
Happy 22 days!
It's been 11 years since I used The Other Thing and I don't think about it any more except when we're talking about addiction here and sometimes not even then.0 -
I wish I had more of an addictive personality just so I WOULD eventually love working out. Maybe I will just never be one of those gym rat people. Even when I see improvements and my body change I still find it to be a chore and miserable.0
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My drug of choice has not hindered my weight loss or my ability to exercise on the regular. I don't think I'm addicted to exercise, but i know i have addiction issues, as do others in my family tree.
I have heard of "runners high" before... I've yet to experience it. Or maybe I've been experiencing it and don't even realize it. Either way, for me, exercise isn't addictive. The way i look in the mirror when i get out of the shower is really what motivates me to continue my fitness regime0 -
I'm going to agree with it just because it can be used to show people that sex isn't exercise or else no one would feel like smoking afterwards.0
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YES, exercise replaces drugs or alcohol for many addicts. Some of those become muscle dysmorphics, trading one problem for another. But the muscle thing, IMO, is much, much better. Addictive personalities tend to throw themselves into things totally. They get hooked on something. Why not exercise?
Personally, my opinion is that if you're going to "treat" a former addict who is now a muscle dysmorphic and your plan is to "cure" the muscle issue, you had better know what comes next! You better know for sure that it won't be going back to drugs or alcohol. If your "cure" makes the person worse, that is your fault, not theirs. So, you better make sure that you know you're going to help and not hurt.
I get wanting to keep working with people to make the realize all their potential, but it's a risk. If you aren't 100% certain that they'll be better off! leave bad enough alone. IMO.
More and more inpatient treatment centers are using exercise/weights in the gym as a reward. Get to a certain place, you get gym privileges. Yay.
As an alcoholic (almost 13 years sober), I can safely say there is no way I'm getting "addicted" to exercise! Are your nuts!?0 -
Just because someone chooses to become clean and exercise does not mean they are replacing drugs with exercise, or that they are addicted to it. It just means they are choosing something different. I just don't see the point of posting the article.0
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