5 Healthy Coping Mechanisms That Offer an Alternative to Addiction

Are you struggling with an addiction? These five healthy coping tactics could help you to recover.

Addiction kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Here in the UK, the NHS reported 7,565 deaths in the UK in 2019 from Alcoholism alone. This figure doesn’t even consider the different classes of drugs available, either through prescription or in the black market. Scotland has been named as the worst drug capital of Europe. It’s fair to see the Britain struggles with addiction.

So, when you make the decision to quit using drugs or drinking. We need to eliminate as many of your triggers as possible. One thing that will help you do this and prevent relapse is establishing healthy coping tactics that will replace your old unhealthy ones.

The Top 5 Healthy Coping Mechanisms to Employ Instead of Using Drugs/Alcohol

Here are 5 things you can do whenever you feel the craving for drugs or alcohol start to overwhelm you.

1 – Exercise

If you are careful not to replace your addiction with an addiction to exercise, then it can be a healthy coping tactic. Going for a jog, going to the gym, or engaging in some other sporting activity can help you to work out the frustrations associated with craving your addictive substance. Exercise releases endorphins in the brain, which can help to give you some of the serotonin and dopamine you may have got if you had used. It’s a much more positive way to get those hormones.

2 – Meditation

Some people report that meditation works for them, while others struggle to achieve the silence and clarity of mind needed to enter the meditative state. If it works for you then meditation calms your mind and can help to calm those cravings. Meditation connects you more intensely with your body so that you are better aware of the things that can help you and the things that can hinder you.

3 – Rehab

You can check into an exemplary rehab clinic like Verve Health, anytime you like. You might already have completed a full six weeks in a rehab programme, but perhaps two or three years down the line feel that a refresher would help. You may even feel like you have an addiction coming on even though you’re not an addict yet. Checking into rehab can help that that of the bud before it gets any bigger. There is nothing wrong with using rehab as a tool to stop an addiction before it grows. Many people do this and do it successfully.

4 – Hobbies

Your hobbies and interests give you the same serotonin and dopamine reward as you would have got from using. Engaging in hobbies can therefore replace that need for validation. It gives you, something pleasant to do and it relaxes you. You may even produce something at the end of it. There is never a better time to find a new hobby than when you are in recovery from an addiction. It will distract your mind and calm you down. It will even help you bypass those cravings.

5 – Embracing your Feelings

That’s embracing your feelings, not your cravings. Sitting down in a quiet space and asking yourself why you feel the way you do, can help you to put an end to those desires to act recklessly. Feel your feelings – feel where they physically are in your body. This way you can process them to help avoid a relapse.

https://research.reading.ac.uk/research-blog/the-science-behind-why-hobbies-can-improve-our-mental-health/