How Yoga Affects Gambling?
Gambling is an addictive and thrilling pastime. Apart from entertainment, the habit doesn’t offer many positives. The negatives, however, range between total financial doom, loss of personal life, and societal disgrace. However, not every person that gambles succumbs to addiction.
A group of researchers at Boston University School of Medicine recently concluded yoga could be used as a therapy for gambling addicts. The practice infuses positive thoughts, rejuvenating our body and soul. Additional perks of yoga include body-weight control, normalizing breathing patterns, increasing flexibility, and improving muscle fitness and body balance.
Kick Gambling with Daily Yoga
While both yoga and gambling affect our hormonal balance, the latter creates a similar sensation to using drugs or alcohol. The habit affects the two areas of the human brain commonly linked to substance abuse.
On the other hand, yoga helps with mood swings, mental health, insomnia, and PTSD. It decreases stress levels, improves posture, and regulates blood sugar levels, apart from an extensive range of related health benefits. Gambling addicts usually suffer from stress, anxiety, and a lack of self-control. These are severe health conditions that roughly affect a few million people globally.
Daily yoga practises primarily help kicking gambling addiction as there are no FDA-approved drugs that treat pathological symptoms. Yoga is the only straightforward solution with any degree of success. Alternate resources include non-approved medication, therapy, and support groups, with varying degrees of success.
How Does Yoga Help with Gambling Addiction?
Self-love, self-control, and self-appreciation lie at the very core of yoga. Learning to take a break from playing and investing time in oneself creates a rewarding feeling. And once you begin noticing the positive changes, the journey starts getting enjoyable and fulfilling.
Entering the right mind frame is crucial to overcoming gambling addiction, and meditation is a potent tool in your kitty. Practice staying away from distractions for 15-minutes every day. Keep the phone silent and avoid all forms of digital distractions from YouTube to Skype and everything in between. If you’re easily distracted, head over to your safe space away from human contact during the entirety of the yoga session. Once you get comfortable with your inner self, controlling urges gets a lot easier.
It takes an average human around 20 days to form a new habit. The first few days of yoga will be the most difficult. But this usually takes a positive turn from the second week. Yoga doesn’t have side-effects, and once you begin regaining control over your life, the practice stays for life.
Compulsive gambling is curable, but it takes a lot of patience and perseverance to overcome. In severe cases, combining daily yoga with group therapy sessions inhibits the desire to return to gambling. But once self-care takes precedence, kicking the addiction gets a lot easier. If you’re having a hard time, fighting gambling addiction, daily yoga is your best friend.
