Recovery looks different for everyone, but there are still some habits with universally positive impacts that you should consider including as part of your routine if you’re building yourself back up in the wake of treatment for addiction or trauma of any kind. These are the baseline steps worth taking when you’re committed to making progress day by day.
Good Sleep Is Consistent Sleep
Having a target for achieving a specific amount of sleep each night isn’t that helpful, but what does make sense is setting a consistent sleep routine that you follow to the letter throughout the week. This involves choosing a time that you will go to bed each night and wake up each morning that stays the same, whether it’s a weekday or a weekend. When you’ve likely been living with a disrupted sleep pattern, restoring balance here will have you feeling better and thinking more clearly in no time.
Your sleep environment also needs to be conducive to restful nights. So in addition to installing blackout curtains or blinds and having comfortable bedding, you should avoid using your phone or watching TV at least 30 minutes before going to bed. All this will put you in the right mindset to sleep deeply and soundly.
What You Eat Matters
A healthy diet is all part of recovery, regardless of what you’re recovering from. It’s as important for effective alcohol treatment and addiction recovery as it is for recovering post-surgery or when managing a chronic illness.
Again, the specifics of your diet need to be individualised, but can generally be built on the basis of having lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in addition to lean meats and complex carbs that keep you feeling full for longer. Moreover, like your sleep routine, you should aim to eat at the same times each day, and never skip meals so that you don’t experience peaks and troughs in blood sugar that have a deleterious effect on your mental state and energy levels.
Fitness Comes First
Physical fitness is linked to mental wellness, and it’s frequently incorporated into recovery processes because it’s that kind of healthy habit that also has long-term health benefits detached from the short-term upsides.
Most importantly, don’t worry about going all-in at the gym or dedicating yourself to marathon levels of training. Going for a 20-minute walk each day is significantly better than staying sedentary, and low-impact exercise like riding a bike and swimming are similarly good for this reason.
Stay Connected With Peers
Many people in recovery will need to reconfigure their social lives in order to avoid triggering their addiction and potentially relapsing. However, that doesn’t mean shutting yourself off from the world entirely. You need to maintain relationships with family and peers you have a positive relationship with, and a daily text or instant message is all it takes.
Likewise, attending weekly support groups, whether in person or remotely, will give you that community connection that’s so important to reinforcing positive progress. And lastly, approach each day with a sense of self-reflective kindness, because you’ve been through a lot, and adopting healthy habits is an impressive step.