Drug addiction has been one of the most challenging issues in the United States, with many people engaging in drug intake, both the young and the old, the poor and the rich, women and men. Therefore, the opioid crisis is one of the most significant drug addictions in the states, with over 4% of the population addicted to drugs intake. The opioid crisis is the extensive overuse of drugs from which some of the drugs are from doctor’s prescriptions while others are obtained from illegal sources. The opioid crisis began in the 1990s in the United States and has persisted, as reported by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The opioids were being described for the people to manage their pains, and as a result, they opted to use the drugs extensively for the next three years that led them to addiction. The issue is a public health emergency that needs to be checked as it poses a danger to the people as far as their health is concerned. The crisis had reported many deaths, especially in 2020 when over 81000 people died of an overdose. Therefore different methods can be improvised to help solve the crisis. Since opioid drugs are prescribed to help reduce pain, various strategies can be leaned on to do away with this pain. Exercise is the essential strategy for dealing with the crisis as it helps reduce pain, ensures people accept their pain, improves their cognitive and mental deficits, and adapts to drug withdrawal.
Exercising helps in reducing pain, ensuring the patients do not require to go for drugs to deal with their pain crisis. Pain is always termed chronic in cases where it goes beyond three months or six months based on the problem that someone is undergoing as long as it is not due to cancer (Alessi et al., 52). Chronic pain always arises from some diseases such as arthritis, an injury, or a highly sensitive nervous system. Besides, the origin of the pain can remain unknown. However, these people can lean on exercise rather than drug prescriptions, which lands them with various health problems. There is no specific exercise mode that has been identified, but taking part in an exercise for given minutes on specified days or daily can help relieve pain hence skipping drug intake since exercise is scientifically proven to bear important health benefits (Mintken et al., 349). The exercise ranges from vigorous to moderate depending on the individual. As a result, the patient can choose the rate at which they can exercise, therefore imposing health benefits in their blood system. In the first days of their exercise, people with chronic pain should lean on moderate exercise as it can significantly help as they adapt to exercise, making them do away with drug intake.
Exercise helps people in accepting their pain and forgetting about drug intake. Based on research, people’s perception of their pain is essential rather than how their pain impacts them (Alessi et al., 52). In this case, giving up on the pain and exercising form the primary ways people begin their healing journey. For example, people with arthritis can accept the pain of their health problems. As a result, they choose to engage in moderate exercise to vigorous exercise as they continue to adapt. As a result, it helps them quit taking drugs and living with their pain from which exercise helps them relieve hence their guaranteed good life (Mintken et al., 349). Besides, the acceptance of the pain depicts resiliency as it helps them adapt and cope quite well. Since chronic pain imposes them with stress, accepting and exercising forms the basis of living a good life and doing away with drug intake.
Exercise improves the cognition of the addicts and the mental deficits that they may tend to experience. Exercise forms a significant part of brain health, especially in cases where these people try to withdraw from the opioid crisis (Zhang and Ti-Fei 269). The people are encompassed with a serious fight of thoughts and as a result, choosing to engage in exercise ensures they escape from the world of reality from which it strengthens them hence coping with the withdrawal of the drug (Alessi et al., 52). This training plays a key role in coordinating people’s neural networks such as neurogenesis, dopamine system, and spinogenesis, which are key in maintaining drug addictions. Therefore, the exercise adaptation ensures they do not spend much time thinking of the drugs they are trying to withdraw from but rather the way the exercise relieves their brains for the better.