There are innumerable factors that contribute to the desire to get sober, and everyone’s reasons for pursuing sobriety are personal. Regardless the motivations that push us, the journey towards addiction recovery is not an easy road to follow by any stretch of the imagination. In times of increased stress like that of a global pandemic, it is even harder to remain on the sober path. It is, however, all the more important to do so since drugs and alcohol suppress white blood cells as well as cause dehydration and malnourishment. The use of these substances can play a major role in decreasing the body’s natural defenses against illness.
The Immune System
In order to understand why it is so important to focus on the steps we can take to bolster the immune system, it is vital to understand what the immune system is and what it does for the body. It’s a complex and pervasive system composed of specialized cells throughout the body. When the immune system first recognizes danger signals produced by the identification of unhealthy cells or pathogenic agents, it responds to address the problem. It is when the immune system cannot adequately respond to these problems that infection and disease ensue.
The Effects of Alcohol on the Immune System
Heavy drinking can lead to decreased immunity and increase one’s susceptibility to pneumonia. Considering that pneumonia is a serious complication of COVID-19, the adverse effects of heavy drinking take on additional significance in terms of the pandemic. Alcohol disrupts immune pathways in complex ways which can impair the body’s ability to defend against infection, contribute to organ damage associated with alcohol consumption, and get in the way of recovery from tissue injury. Even more discouraging, alcohol consumption does not have to be chronic to have negative health consequences. Acute binge drinking also adversely affects the immune system spelling bad news in these pandemic times.
Seek Support
The rising tendency in the face of social distancing and pandemic related stress and anxiety is to find a means to self-soothe. Unfortunately, this often leads one to self-medicate. We escape into innumerable kinds of binging as we seek respite from the often desperate circumstances of our loneliness and despair. We fall out of good habits, let routines fall to the wayside, and wallow. With hurdles in the path to social interaction and outreach we are all hard pressed to find solid ground beneath our feet, yet there is a choice we can make here: to reach out and seek support, or continue to freefall.
With one in ten Americans reporting a start or increase in substance use because of COVID-19, we are seeing in real time the trend towards substance use as a means of alleviating the mental strain of pandemic life. Though drinking and the use of other drugs seems like the inevitable conclusion to these anxious and stress filled times, one of the most significant ways to protect oneself in the face of this pandemic is to stay sober. Making healthy choices is not often easy, but we all have the power to make better choices today than we did yesterday. We can choose sobriety and Recovery Community Development is here to help.