Millions of Americans struggle with addiction in many forms. Some people are addicted to narcotics, and others to sugar. Addiction is anything you can’t control or step even when you want to. Overcoming addiction is a massive challenge and often impedes progress. In addition, it can destroy careers and family relationships.
Change is hard, but it’s not impossible. Whenever someone tries to break an addiction to work, sex, drugs, or anything else, it requires a significant change in behavior and attitude. Sometimes, overcoming addiction requires medical intervention.
Following proven steps to help manage and, ultimately, overcome addiction give you the best chance of success. It’s never easy, but building healthy habits and social connections with people makes things more manageable. Here are some things to try to help you or someone you know overcome addiction.
Control Your Environment
It’s hard to break ingrained habits when you’re in the same environment where access to drugs or alcohol, or whatever you’re addicted to, is easily available. If you want to break a pattern, it’s typically much easier when you try somewhere else.
Changing your environment can mean switching jobs, moving social circles, adjusting your daily routines, or anything else that prevents you from entering a harmful cycle that leads to addiction. If you want to succeed and stay free from addiction, you must focus on staying in a positive environment free from as much temptation as possible.
Brutal Honesty Is Required
When facing addiction, honesty is a must. Too often, people fail in their attempts at sobriety because they make excuses and fail to hold themselves accountable. For example, you have to be willing to cut off toxic relationships that trigger addictive behaviors. In addition, people must transparently analyze what triggers addictive impulses. Is it a person you talked to? A situation you encountered at work? A place or an experience? By knowing what triggers your desire to drink, take drugs, cheat, lie, gamble, or do anything else addictive, it’s easier to prevent and avoid bad situations.
Build a Support Network
The people you spend time with influence your ability to stay sober or clean from addiction. Sometimes, overcoming addiction means leaving behind friends and family who facilitate bad behaviors or trigger addictive impulses. Changing social groups is frequently very hard, so be prepared for some difficult conversations with people you may love.
If possible, join some addiction support groups in your area. Build new connections with people who support your goals and your desire to leave addiction in the past. They can be there for you when times are tough and keep you from turning to drugs or other bad habits when you feel like you’re alone.
Engage Professionals for Help
Depending on the severity of your addiction, you may need professional help. Sometimes, addiction is too much to overcome alone. For example, taking too many drugs or binge drinking for years can create physical dependencies that are harmful or even fatal if you quit suddenly. You may need to check into a treatment center to guarantee your physical health remains stable.
In addition, working with a therapist can help you address some of the underlying trauma and other conditions that led to addiction. Working with them can teach you to develop strategies to manage stress and how you interact with people around you.
Ideally, people who want to overcome addiction will work with professionals specializing in addiction treatment. There should be resources around you, some of which are free through neighborhood or national charity groups.
Find Positive Stress Outlets
Typically, people become addicted to things that start as stress-relievers. You grab a beer after a long day of work, or you smoke a cigarette when things feel stressful at home. Eventually, those things build into habits you can no longer control.
Instead, look for ways to build new ways to handle stress. Whether it’s beginning a new hobby at home or joining some type of class, it will distract you from old addictions and prevent stress from building up. People who struggle with addiction usually need to find something to focus their energy on to take the place of whatever they are addicted to.
Peptides & Addiction Management
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that facilitate certain biological processes. NAD+ is a peptide that was discovered more than 100 years ago. It’s one of the most abundant and crucial molecules in the body.
NAD+ shuggles electrons from one molecule to another within cells. It promotes various reactions and processes, including metabolic reactions that generate a cell’s energy. In animal models, subjects given NAD+ saw improved cellular stress response and improved neuroprotective properties. It also aided in energy management and gene expression. Research revealed key roles for NAD+ in the adaptation of neurons to a wide range of physiological stressors and neurodegenerative diseases.
