Lifting Weights Can Help You Break Addictive Patterns

Addictive tendencies, whether we are talking about food cravings, cigarette cravings, alcohol cravings, or any other type of craving share the common feature of low brain levels of dopamine which are temporarily boosted by intake of the addictive substance. A new study with smokers demonstrates that two 60 minute strength training workouts per week over a 12 week period can help break addictive patterns. While no brain chemistry was measured in this study, the results would likely apply to any sort of addictive problem.

The participants in this study averaged 36 years of age and 19 years of smoking. Those who did the regular weight lifting along with a smoking cessation program were twice as likely to quit smoking as those who did not do the weight training. Furthermore, those doing the weight training who were able to quit also lost weight and body fat, while those who did not do the weight training and were able to quit actually gained weight and fat.

The activity of weight training requires surges of adrenaline to move muscles at a high level. Surges of adrenaline are driven in part by the dopamine system in the brain. In other words, the weight training besides helping fitness and helping to pump blood to your head, is also a form of conditioning for the dopamine system that is having the addiction problem. This is true not only for smoking but for any craving.

The benefit of this approach would be enhanced by nutrition that helps fuel dopamine production and by adequate dietary protein as a foundation. Minimally, a person should have one-half their ideal weight in grams of protein per day when they are weight training. This can be accomplished with whey protein added to the diet, especially before or after exercise to enhance recovery. Additionally, amino acid Building blocks of peptides and protein and have multiple roles of function in life including muscle function, growth, detoxification and metabolic pathways, and neurotransmitter function. supplementation that facilitates dopamine production (N-acetyl-tyrosine, plain tyrosine, and/or phenylalanine) can be taken any time of the day to help offset cravings and thus help break addictive patterns of behavior.

Keeping your brain above the “pain level” associated with low levels of dopamine and consequent cravings is a key strategy to overcome troublesome addictive patterns.