How To Help Addicts Stay Safe During This Unprecedented Heatwave And Our Top Hot Weather Life Hacks!

Most of us welcome some warm, sunny weather, it can be nice to enjoy the sunshine and science even provides us with evidence that it can improve our mood, energy levels, motivation to make and maintain change, as well as improving our physical bodily functions as well as our general mental well-being.

However, when it’s too hot for too long, there are serious possible health risks that we need to keep in mind. In England alone, there are on average 2000 heat related deaths every single year, and that’s not even taking into consideration the current unprecedented level 3 heatwave we’re all experiencing!

Keep reading to find out how you can stay safe in this weather, how it can negatively impact those with active substance addictions (both drugs and alcohol) and those in recovery, what to watch out for, how you can help yourself and others, and finally but by no means least, our top tips and heatwave heat hacks to keep you cool and comfortable.

The Role That Water And Hydration Play In Addiction And Recovery

Water is essential for the body to function. The human body is made up of 65% water, which is needed for various processes and reactions such as circulation, metabolism, body temperature and waste removal. If the body doesn’t have enough water, these physiological processes can be impaired.

The brain and heart are composed of 73% water, the lungs are about 83% water, the skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79% and even your bones are made up of 31% water! You can now see why it’s so important to keep yourself hydrated if you want your body and mind to function optimally and as healthily as possible.

Reading this article will give you top tips and tricks to improve your fluid intake, recognise the signs of dehydration, over hydration and much, much more!

Solutions Create Solutions

How you look at your situation, circumstances and life generally will determine how you overcome obstacles and whether changes you make will stick for the long haul.

Only You Can Change You – MOTW

Although we need the help of other addicts, healthcare professionals and therapists to show us that there is an enjoyable life to be lived in recovery, and to realise that healing from active addiction is possible, only we can change what happens to us today, tomorrow, next year or over the next decade.

If you don’t like your current situation, only you, and you alone have the power and creativity to shape it into whatever or whoever we want to be, what we want to do or how we go about getting there…

Change Your Perspective On Your Life And Circumstances

Changing your perspective on your situation also helps to change what outcomes and possibilities are open to you.

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a solution or conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously by one or more people.

This great tool will help you to realise potential solutions or options to overcome your current circumstances and get you to where you want to go or achieve things that you want to achieve.

Nicotine Vs. Dopamine – The Chemical Messenger War And Why People Who Try To Quit Nicotine Keep Failing

Over 95% of people who quit nicotine (smoking, vaping or chewing) without help return to the same habit within approximately 6 months or less.

Our research findings have been proven effective for smoking cessation over and over again. If you’re really serious about quitting smoking, you need to check out our article, it’s one you won’t want to miss!

It’s Time To Give Up the Addict Identity And Become Who Or What You Want To Be

Escaping from active drug and alcohol addiction involves more than just giving up and stopping the physical consumption of alcohol and drugs. The addict will also need to give up, amend or develop a certain parts of their own identity.

For years, the addicts life will have revolved around acquiring and using substance (both drugs and alcohol). This will have impacted not only how they view the world around them, but also how they see themselves.

When they give all this up, it will often leave a hole in their life. Those who carry their “addict identity” with them into recovery often struggle to find success away from their addiction. One of the hardest challenges for people in early sobriety/abstinence is to build a new identity for themselves which doesn’t revolve around substances.

That’s the aim of this article, to help you give up the “addict identity” and become who you want to be and do whatever you want to!

May Is Mental Health Awareness Month 2021 – Time To Get Involved And Save Lives!

Mental Health Awareness Month is a national month-long observance that was first established in the United States in 1949. It focuses on raising awareness about and educating the general public about mental health, mental health conditions, seeking help for those who’re struggling with their mental health and removing the stigma that still exists in some areas of society.

The month is used to not only bring attention to the many different mental health conditions that people can struggle with, but also to enforce the importance of getting help if you need it as well as shed light on mental health treatment options.

With the involvement of COVID-19 affecting everyone’s mental health, your involvement in this year’s mental health month is more important than ever. Find out more and how you can get involved to benefit you and those around you in 2021. Your involvement can even save lives!…

The Role Rituals, Habits And OCD Play In Addiction And Recovery

One of the hardest parts of battling an addiction of any form (in this case, drugs and alcohol) is the cessation of rituals, habits and compulsions to do something in a set order or the same way every single time.

Certain things trigger the urge to use or drink, even things such as getting up in the morning, getting into the car, coming home from work, seeing certain people, doing certain activities and many, many others. As people living with an addiction, we build our lives around our illness. It is the centerpiece of our existence when our world becomes totally insular.

Find out what habits, rituals and compulsions are, what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how it can worsen those habits and rituals, along with treatment and coping strategies to manage and change those deep seated habits and rituals that have been built over months, years or even decades of chronic substance use and dependency.

On Second Thoughts – Thought Of The Day

We all have had those times when thoughts of using or drinking come to mind, sometimes with real ferocity. For example, those days after lockdown has started to take one step back toward normality, you might find yourself wondering down a high street, past a pub and you suddenly glance at the cold sweat running down the outside of a freshly poured pint of beer or suddenly get a waft of that distinctive cannabis smell from someone else nearby.