The human body is the best possible picture of the human soul.
Addictions are a way to manipulate your brain chemistry so you don’t feel stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and other forms of emotional discomfort. Unfortunately, over time, addictions damage and rewire our brains. If we stay sober, our brains tend to recover of their own accord, but it can be a slow process. One way to speed things up is to exercise. Research tells us that regular exercise boosts the size and function of the hippocampus, the portion of the brain that controls verbal memory and learning. It also fuels the development and growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and new brain cells, especially in the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal cortex, the regions of the brain that control thinking and memory. Exercise is so beneficial that Dr. John Ratey of Harvard Medical School calls it “Miracle-Gro for the brain.”
Just for Today
I will exercise, and I will pay attention to how this clears my mind.