Information about Addiction, Recovery, and Exercise

Addressing Addiction - The Numbers

Cost of Substance Use

Substance use in the United States alone affects 21.5 million people (8.1%) and costs over US $700 billion a year.

For the last 6+ years addiction continues to be one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States.

Specifically, in 2019 and 2023 overdoses were the #1 cause of accidental and preventable death in our country. According to recent provisional CDC data, there were more than 107,000 drug-related deaths in the 12-month period ending in December 2023.

Almost 21 million Americans have at least one addiction.

Only 10% of them receive treatment.

The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths tripled between 1999 and 2016

and jumped an additional 10 percent in 2017. and then increased by over 4% from 2018 to 2019.

Addressing Addiction - The Numbers

Number of Overdose Deaths

Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate there were an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2021, an increase of nearly 15% from the 93,655 deaths estimated in 2020.

For the last 6+ years addiction continues to be one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United States.

Almost 21 million Americans have at least one addiction.

Only 10% of them receive treatment.

The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths tripled between 1999 and 2016

and jumped an additional 10 percent in 2017. and then increased by over 4% from 2018 to 2019.

Physical Activity May Prevent Substance Abuse

NIDA Director, Nora D. Volkow, M.D. – March 01, 2011From the minute they arrive at the park, children move constantly. They run, jump, chase, and climb. Wrapped up in their fun, they aren’t thinking about the health-promoting effects of exercise. But NIDA scientists are. Staff scientists are considering the possibility that exercise — including active play, outdoor adventure, team sports, martial arts, and dance — not only boosts energy . ..

Rewiring the Addicted Brain Through a Psychobiological Model of Physical Exercise

Physical exercise has been proposed as a complementary therapy for individuals with SUD undergoing treatment at different stages of addiction rehabilitation. Preclinical animal research has shown evidence of neurobiological mechanisms induced by physical exercise that support its potential use as a therapeutic strategy to treat drug addiction. Examples are the following: ...

Exercise and Substance Abuse

Exercise intervention has long been used as one adjunctive treatment for drug abuse. Both animal studies and human trials suggest that exercise training effectively prevents addiction formation, suppresses drug-seeking behaviors, and ceases addictions. Moreover, exercise improves both mental and cognitive deficits that commonly occur during drug withdrawal. Those observations are supported by ...

Can exercise help conquer addiction?

Claire Twark, MD contributor – December 26, 2018

As an athlete, I think regularly about the potential health benefits of exercise for my patients. Every week, I treat patients hospitalized at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with significant medical problems that are a direct result of severe addiction, ranging from seizures and strokes to heart valve and joint infections. I also care for outpatients at the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Addiction . . .