How Meditation Helps in Recovery from Drug Addiction

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The power of meditation is such that it can heal a number of health conditions that affect both the body and the mind. Meditation is an ancient practice that dates back over 5000 years. Practiced by various cultures across the globe, meditation elevates the state of your mind whilst supporting physical and mental balance. Several studies have established the positive impacts of meditation on the brain. Meditation has an important role in recovery from drug addiction too. No wonder, many drug rehab centers include meditation in their programme to aid in drug recovery.

  1. Meditation Impacts Your Brain Positively

Regular practice of meditation influences your brain and helps you tune and train your brain to avoid negative habits and attitudes, whilst welcoming positive influences. The brains of those addicted to drugs will nurture thoughts about the drugs, which may lead to further addiction. Meditation helps to redirect such thoughts, and focuses the mind on the goals that make your future brighter. Whether it’s the treatment of depression or focusing the mind on achieving goals, meditation offers immense health benefits.

  1. Meditation Creates Self Awareness

Self awareness can help you come to terms with reality and make you understand yourself better. Addiction can make you forget not just the moment, but also just about everything else in the world, be it yourself, your family, your job, or your social status. Meditating creates self awareness and makes you acknowledge and appreciate the true values of life. The more aware you become the better your ability will be to assess the results of your drug addiction. Being able to assess your negative attitudes and emotions may alleviate the struggles caused by drug addiction.

  1. Meditation Relieves Stress And Depression

One of the symptoms of drug addiction is stress, and addiction causes stress too. Practicing meditation relieves stress whilst calming the mind. Meditation decreases levels of cortisol, which are stress hormones. Studies conducted on the effects of meditation for relieving stress and aiding in recovery prove the health claims of meditation with regard to recovery from drug addiction. Once you master meditation you can meditate anywhere, but as a beginner and to gain control from drug addiction, choosing a luxury drug rehab is a good choice, as it offers the perfect ambience to meditate.

  1. Meditation Helps To Achieve Deep Relaxation

Meditation calms the brain, lowers heart rate, and relaxes the mind. Meditation weakens the connection of certain neural pathways, which stimulate strong responses when you fear a situation, or feel anxious about something. By weakening these neural pathways, meditation strengthens your connection with the part of the brain responsible for reasoning, which not only helps you to come to terms with reality, but also creates a sense of acceptance. Together, this relieves anxiety and relaxes the mind.

  1. Meditation Improves Emotional Stability And Positive Emotions

Meditation has a positive impact on gray matter, which is responsible for focus, emotional stability, and positive approach. Meditation influences amygdale, which is a brain structure responsible for memory processing and emotion. Thus it aids in stabilising emotions. Positive emotions reduce depression and create a sense of contentment. They increase self-awareness, which greatly helps in drug addiction recovery.

  1. Meditation Relieves Pain

Meditation relieves pain, and in cases of severe pain reduces the intensity of pain and any symptoms associated with it. Even if a chronic condition exists, it is less intrusive, thereby making you feel less pain. Various studies have proved the effectiveness of meditation in treating pain.

  1. Meditation Prevents Drug Addiction Relapse

Meditation helps to prevent drug relapse. Mindful meditation refers to observation that is non-judgmental. Practicing mindful-meditation reduces cravings, as it makes you aware of your cravings even before they take control of your senses. It gives your mind the ability to see the cravings appear and disappear. The observation and acknowledgment of cravings in you provides the awareness and allows the cravings to disappear. It brings your mind under control, and hence you are not tempted and do not succumb to cravings.

Sources:

http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2003/07000/Alterations_in_Brain_and_Immune_Function_Produced.14.aspx

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/11/meditations-positive-residual-effects/

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-14857-004

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19904665

 

 

Helen Garvey
Author of Beauty Zone https://www.beauty-zone.co.uk, Healthy Woman https://www.healthy-woman.co.uk, and New Promo Codes http://www.newpromocodes.co.uk. Written on various topics, including finance, relationships, health and beauty, skincare, and health and fitness.