8 Unexpected Ways Meditation Can Help You Stay Sober
It’s believed that over 23 million Americans are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. It can be a long and painful process to find sobriety.
Therapy, rehab centers, and support groups are all standards in treating an addiction, but there are also other steps you can take. One lesser known way to recover from an addiction is meditation.
If you are on a sobriety journey and interested in how meditation can help you stay sober, keep reading. Listed below are just eight ways it can help!
1. Control Pain
Many drug problems stem from taking opioids originally prescribed for a painful injury. It’s unlikely you will be able to remain pain-free forever after becoming sober. Meditation is a great way to manage pain in lieu of taking medication.
2. Self-Acceptance
Most people are hard on themselves. This can especially be true for those in recovery for an addiction disorder. Through regular meditation practice, one can self-reflect and become more self-aware. This can give you insight into your life.
Over time, meditation can help your patience and help you learn to treat yourself with kindness first and foremost.
3. Stay Sober and Slow Down Aging
Excessive drinking or drug use is hard on the body. Part of this means accelerated signs of aging.
While it’s impossible to reverse the damage that has been done, meditation can help avoid further rapid aging. The practice can reduce anxiety and emotional outbursts that can contribute to aging.
4. Lower Blood Pressure
After going sober, it can take some time for your body to feel normal again. Abusing drugs and alcohol over a long period of time can lead to issues like high blood pressure.
Meditation is one simple practice that has been shown to lower blood pressure, making it a great choice for recovering addicts.
5. Help Your Immune System
Just like drugs and alcohol can impact your blood pressure, longterm use can impact your immune system.
Daily meditation is one way to remain stress-free and slowly rebuild your immune system in order to remain healthy.
6. Better Attention and Focus
Meditation practices force you to focus on the now, not worry about the past or future. When you focus on the current time, you learn to enjoy and live in the moment.
This shift in focus is beneficial for those in recovery as they can often forget how far they have already come.
7. Sense of Spirituality
Even if you don’t necessarily believe in God, meditation is a great way to achieve a sense of spirituality that makes sense for you.
Through regular practice, you can feel connected to the world around you and learn to appreciate some of life’s mysteries.
8. Managing Stress
One final reason to consider meditation is to help manage stress. Chronic stress can cause illnesses and lead to unhappiness in daily life.
Regular meditation can help keep stress levels at bay and allow you to focus on other important elements in your life.
Continue Your Sobriety Journey through Meditation
As you can see, when working to stay sober, meditation has a lot to offer. Finding sobriety is challenging, and you should be able to find peace and enjoy your new life.
If you are looking for more information on how to incorporate meditation into your daily life, check out this amazing how-to guide!