Excerpt: In Faulkner and Taylor’s 2006 edited collection, Exercise, Health, and Mental Health: Emerging Relationships, Marie Donaghy and Michael Ussher report on several treatment facilities that have been studied for their exercise programs which included aerobics, meditation, cardiovascular workouts, strength training, or traditional sports such as baseball/softball, biking, or running/jogging. Although Donaghy and Ussher note that limited research was available on the subject of exercise in conjunction with alcohol and drug addiction rehabilitation at the time of their study, they found “unequivocal support that physical exercise regimens have a positive effect on aerobic fitness and strength if administered as an adjunct in alcohol rehabilitation” for recovering addicts, and that exercise regimens may potentially reduce depression and anxiety (which are believed to provoke relapse), suppress alcohol cravings, and improve abstinence from alcohol when combined with addiction rehabilitation.
In the 2009 edition of Principles of Addiction Medicine, Dr. James O. Prochaska, states that “physical activity helps manage moods, stress, and distress. Also, 60 minutes per week of exercise can provide a recovering person with more than 50 health and mental health benefits. Exercise thus should be prescribed to all sedentary patients with addiction.”