The results of a new research study published in the journal PLOS ONE showed that exercise-based interventions help to significantly reduce alcohol dependence in patients being treated for alcohol use disorder (AUD). The review study examined evidence from 17 randomized controlled trials with a total of 1,905 patients with AUD, and also determined that implementing exercise helps to reduce the number of drinks per day and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score.
What’s more, the study results showed that exercise was linked to a significant and positive effect on patients’ physical and mental status, as well as oxygen uptake, resting heart rate, anxiety state, depression state, and stress level.
According to the authors, the underlying mechanism through which the exercise intervention helps to reduce alcohol dependence could be through decreasing patients’ psychological stress, as well as by improving their mental state, and its influence on the dopamine system.
“The synthesized evidence revealed that exercise intervention significantly improved alcohol dependence and physical and mental status in the experimental group, and the changes in two of the three outcome indicators of alcohol dependence (daily alcohol consumption, AUDIT) were statistically significant, indicating that exercise has an effective intervention effect on alcohol dependence in AUD patients and can be used as an adjunctive treatment for AUD,” the study’s authors concluded.
Similarly, previous review studies have also shown that exercise can be an effective intervention for the treatment of AUD. One review study published in 2021, which examined randomized controlled trials published between 1970 and 2021, showed positive effects of exercise interventions on alcohol consumption and binge drinking in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). “Our findings provide important evidence that exercise interventions can be an effective adjunctive therapy for AUD, specifically reducing weekly drinking volume and improving physical fitness… In addition, results from this meta-analysis, combined with future research, should prompt the consideration of including exercise in alcohol treatment in inpatient, outpatient, and community settings,” stated the study’s authors in the research article.