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Common Reasons to Receive Counseling

Physical Inactivity

When it comes to physical inactivity, people usually mistake it for being sedentary. Someone who is sedentary means remaining in one position for a long time.

While being physically inactive means when someone is not doing sufficient physical activity.

Hence, the person is not meeting the required guidelines for a healthy workout.

There is no harm in being sedentary, however, a physically inactive person is at risk of coming down with some physical, mental, and psychological consequences if care is not taken.  

One of the major effects of being physically inactive is, that it increases the chances of circulatory diseases.

When someone is physically inactive, it can induce the buildup of fatty materials in the arteries.

If the arteries that take the blood to your heart become clogged and damaged, it can cause a heart attack. If it happens in the arteries, it can cause a stroke. To step down the risk of happening, you need to get more physically active.

Free From below back view of crop strong runner walking along running track in athletics arena while doing warm up exercises during workout Stock Photo

The heart is a muscle that needs proper physical activity to function properly.

When you are physically active, the lungs work better by supplying oxygen into the blood so that it can be circulated to all the body cells and tissues.

With regular physical activity, you can control your blood pressure, to keep it at healthy levels. More so, it reduces the bad cholesterol level and increases the good cholesterol level.

Additionally, regular physical activity can reduce the chances of Type 2 diabetes by controlling your blood glucose levels.

To reduce the chances of being physically inactive, you need to put some measures in place like going to the gym or working out at home.

According to a good rule of thumb, it is advised to perform a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity each week. This can be distributed into 3-4 days a week.

Apart from reducing the physical health consequences of not being physically active, you can get your body into great shape when you become used to working out.

What is Addiction

Addiction can be defined as a disease that negatively affects your brain. When addiction is in play, there is an intense urge to keep performing the habit even when the adverse signs are there.

Generally, addiction is divided into two categories: Behavioral and Substance addiction.

Behavioral addiction

Behavioral addiction is a disorder where an individual is addicted to some habits that come with unpleasant consequences.

Examples of behavioral addiction are sex addiction, video gaming addiction, gambling addiction, shopping addiction, etc.  

When someone is addicted to any of these addiction types, they are likely to approach them with the highest priority.

This means that they may not be productive in other areas of their lives because of the recurring addiction. Most times, the signs of behavioral addiction are mental, emotional, and psychological.

Substance addiction

Substance addiction is the opposite of behavioral addiction. It is an addiction type where an individual is addicted to drugs and alcohol.

When individuals are addicted to these substances, you will be able to tell easily from the physical symptoms.

However, this doesn’t understate the fact that they will still experience mental, psychological, and emotional effects.

Steps in addiction treatment

When it comes to addiction treatment, it is quite similar to behavioral and substance addiction.

The first step of addiction treatment for substance addiction is detoxification. And this is because toxins buildup as a result of drugs and alcohol, need to be removed.

Hence, detoxification is peculiar to substance addiction. The next stage is counseling, which applies to behavioral and substance addiction.

Counseling helps the individual to uncover the root cause of their addiction, which would make it easier to create a treatment plan.

Additionally, the individual learns some coping strategies that will make them fight off addiction cravings and triggers.

After the counseling stage, the next is inpatient or outpatient treatment, where the patient either stays within the treatment facility or goes from their location respectively.

The last stage is aftercare treatment which is a post-recovery phase. This is where the individual builds upon the knowledge and skills they have when it comes to evading addiction cravings and triggers.