Benefits of Exericse: Add Fighting Drug Addiction
We have long known that there are many benefits to exercise. We all know that exercise helps us lose weight, improves our cardiovascular system, and has the ability to release endorphins to help with anxiety and depression. It now appears, according to a new study, that another benefit of exercise is to help avoid and cope with drug addiction. The study from Davidson College suggests that regular exercise can reduce the tendancy of becoming addicted to an illegal drug.
We have to keep in mind that this study was conducted with Rats and has not been proven in Humans but it is very promising that this same benefits of exercise could be found in Humans.
The study concluded that aerobic exercise reduced the rewarding effect of cocaine and that it also probably has protective effects against cocaine abuse. The researchers are convinced that real world exercise can be part of an overall treatment and prevention program.
The physiological reason behind exercise being effective in reducing cocaine abuse is that exercise and cocaine use both stimulate the release of dopamine in the brain. Long term exercise causes a down regulation effect of the receptors in the brain leading to less receptors available to be activated by cocaine and therefore, less of a euphoric event.
With so many benefits of exercise it seems almost ridiculous not to have some sort of exercise and fitness routine.