The Importance of Physical Health in Drug Treatment
Helping teenagers through drug treatment is incredibly difficult. Dealing with the anger and isolation of addiction is difficult for the teens themselves, their families and the mentors at Ozark Teen Challenge.
But, through our years of work under the guidance of God, we’ve come to realize how important it is that our teens are physically, mentally and spiritually healthy so that they never fall back into their old habits.
Giving teens a leg-up in their physical health is an important part of our process and we can explain how.
The Importance of Physical Health
The most obvious benefit for focusing on physical health in drug treatment is the way in which it tackles some of the more visible symptoms and side effects of substance abuse. Weight loss, weight gain, muscle deterioration, poor motor skills, a lack of physical strength can all be caused by drug use. Depending on what your teenager has been indulging in, they might also experience an over-abundance of energy, leading to manic behavior, a lack of sleep and racing thoughts.
Focusing on the physical allows the Ozark Teen Challenge team to bring teens out of this fog during their drug treatment.
Improving their physical health can help malnourished or underweight teens gain back weight and muscle mass through healthy diet and exercise or overweight teens lose weight through a similar process. Exercise will also contribute to expelling excess energy, fixing broken sleep patterns and leading them out of the darkness of drug addiction.
Physical Health and Mental Health
You might have read about the effects of addiction on mental health and restoring mental wellbeing through drug treatment is another goal of Ozark Teen Challenge. Not only does the guidance of our mentors under the leadership of God help with the mental health of our teens but physical activity contributes, too.
If you have looked into the mental health issues that arise from addiction, you’ve probably seen the emphasis on exercise as a form of treatment. Activity helps the mind refocus as it’s purged of the poison of drug addiction, opening it to the world and through our guidance, the Word of God.
The Path to Self-Discipline
On the back of mental health improvement comes an improvement in self-discipline. There are a lot of reasons that people become addicted to drugs – even if poor self-discipline or a lack of self-control wasn’t the reason your teen became addicted, it’s certainly an effect of addiction later on.
Improving physical and mental health through activity and exercise of the body helps to create a dedication to themselves, their family and God. The discipline we instill during drug treatment serves to form healthy habits to replace unhealthy ones and a strong spiritual resistance to temptation to go backwards.
Health and Faith Through Drug Treatment
At Ozark Teen Challenge, we believe in the power of God and our faith guides us to build teenagers who have been broken by addiction and vice up to be strong in mind, body and soul. Physical health is just one element of this process and to find out more about what we can do through our youth programs.
