Your brain is the center of your life. Your thoughts, your body, your functions, your decisions, your behaviors, your habits, your philosophies, and even your spirituality all happen from different parts of your brain. Taking care of your brain is as important as taking care of your body. Your brain health, not just your mental health, is as important as your physical health. In the same way that you train, strengthen, and condition your body, you can train, strengthen, and condition your brain. There are foods to eat, exercises to do, and lifestyles to practice all of which contribute to a healthier, stronger, more resilient and capable brain. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, for example, give the brain amino acids it absolutely needs to function and can only get from foods or supplements which have those acids in them. Mindfulness and meditation have been proven to increase grey matter, the raw tissue in your brain which can absorb information, form synapses, and keep your brain sharper. Exercises which increase neuroplasticity and agility can also help enhance the brain.
Men who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction are taught that their recovery is based on balanced health of mind and body. Addiction lives in the brain and the body, taking a damaging toll on both. Brain health is important for physical health and physical health directly influences brain health.
Your brain is capable of changing. For men who are coming into recovery from their addiction, this can be a startling realization. Your brain is capable of changing. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s resiliency, its ability to adapt and change throughout the course of your lifetime. Addiction changes the brain structurally and functionally. Recovery, on the other hand, changes the brain ‘back’ or at least in another direction. Working on your habits, attention, focus, and behaviors, increases your brains neuroplasticity. The more plasticity your brain has, the more it can learn, grow, and change. Focusing on these new practices by practicing them over and over again causes in how your brain functions, including creating those new, sought after neural pathways. The less you utilize your old neural pathways, the less strength they have, which is why practicing daily abstinence is the key to eliminating addictive behaviors. Recovery is focused entirely on building new neural pathways. Men in recovery learn new ways of living, new ways of communicating, and new ways of living their lives, building their neural plasticity one day at a time.
Recovery for men needs to be mind, body, and spirit. At Tree House Recovery we are building men from the ground up with sustainable changes to create a sustainable recovery. Call us today for information on our treatment programs and how we can help you find freedom from addiction: (855) 202-2138
