How To Use Exercise To Help Preserve Brain Power If You Have A Drinking Problem

The implication of the University of Colorado research is that exercise helps reverse the downward spiral of brain damage. When problem drinkers get out and get exercise, their brains preserve the neurons that make exercise more enjoyable, increasing the connections needed for eye-hand coordination, and helping the brain regulate body temperature, appetite, and heartbeat, which in turn reduces depression.

Laboratory studies with animals show that exercise also increases the brain's production of the reward chemical dopamine. This is the chemical that makes drinking feel good, and that rewards gambling, sex, recreational drug use, and consumption of sugar. The release of dopamine through aerobic exercise helps the neurons in the gray matter of the brain pass messages to each other more readily, "clearing the brain," without the problems induced by other "rewarding" activities.

Would Weight Lifting Work Just as Well?

Not everyone who works out, of course, likes aerobic exercise. Some people prefer to build muscle with resistance exercise--which is not the same thing as weightlifting, but which includes weightlifting. If you aren't getting aerobic exercise and you have a drinking problem, however, weight lifting is not likely to do a lot of good for creating new muscle.

The reason for this is that alcohol is a powerful inducer of an enzyme called aromatase.

In women, aromatase interferes with the metabolism of estrogen, predisposing women to fractures and bone injuries. It's a good idea to get alcohol consumption under control first before trying to put on muscle through weight lifting.

The Benefits of Exercise Can Be Undone by Smoking

It's also a good idea to stop smoking. Many people who live with alcohol abuse disorders also live with nicotine addiction. People who can't stop drinking often can't stop smoking, either. It's a well-established observation among brain researchers that nicotine use reduces the perfusion, or blood flow, of the brain's frontal lobes, the parts of the brain involved in reasoning, planning, problem-solving, short-term memory, and emotional control. These are not the parts of the brain that are helped by exercise, but they too are needed to stick to resolutions about controlling drinking.

It's really hard to control both drinking and smoking.

And if you can perform the astonishing feats of discipline needed to control your drinking, your smoking, and your weight, you will be well down the road to recovery.