How your Mental & Physical health is Affected by the Bacteria in Your Gut

Believe it or not, we all have an ecosystem in our guts. It’s called the gut microbiome, a collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. But wait! That’s a good thing! Our gut microbiomes have a huge impact on our overall mental and physical health. We’re still learning about the connections between gut health and mental health but plenty of research has shown that the health of our guts is instrumental in our overall health.

You are What You Eat: The Nutrition Piece of the Recovery Puzzle.

We’ve all been told from a young age to eat our fruits and vegetables and maintain a healthy diet. Diet and nutrition are an important part of preserving our health long term. What we eat becomes even more critical for those recovering from alcohol, substance use, and disordered eating. Recovery is a tough but important step in the journey to better physical and mental health. While using substances, your eating habits change.

Winter is Coming: How to Manage Seasonal Affective Disorder

Fall is approaching which in many parts of the world means changing leaves, a reprieve from the heat, baked goods, and cozy sweaters. Along with the cooler temperatures, the sun sets earlier and the days are shorter. When the weather starts to change, we experience changes to our body’s internal clock and mood. These changes can cause Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Seasonal Affective Disorder typically affects women more than men and is seen more frequently in young adults and adolescents than in older adults.

The Relationship Between Addictions and Family Systems

We’ve all heard the famous Tolstoy line, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Family happiness often feels similar but the trauma that each family carries looks different and manifests in different pain. Some families have a history of addiction and some perpetuate toxic methods of communication. When a family member develops an addiction, it’s important for the entire family to be involved so that the recovery journey is breaking a cycle, not just healing the individual. For many years, recovery was viewed as an individual journey.

Anxiety and its Relationship with Chronic Pain

Which comes first, pain or anxiety? This is a complicated question. These two co-occurring disorders are so frequently linked that it can be difficult to untangle them because they create a vicious cycle. Anxiety is a mental illness with many physical symptoms, including muscle soreness, digestive issues, TMJ, and headaches. Our natural fight or flight instinct is to run away from physical pain but this is impossible if we suffer from chronic physical pain.

The Relationship between Trauma and Eating Disorders

Eating disorder treatment at Sabino Recovery follows our trauma-focused model. Research on eating disorders continues to show a correlation between traumatic events and the development of an eating disorder but it is certainly not the only factor. Just like other addictions, there is a genetic component to eating disorders. So why does someone develop an eating disorder instead of an addiction to a substance such as alcohol or cocaine? There’s no single answer. Trauma, genetics, and environmental factors all play a part. Eating disorders are potentially life-threatening and have many physical and mental health consequences.

Neurotherapy: QEEG Brain Mapping & Neurofeedback for Trauma Treatment

Our brains are one of our most powerful tools. They’re meant to ensure our survival by protecting us from trauma but sometimes they're too effective and we need to remind our brains to move back to functioning normally. We’ll sometimes refer to them as our smartest, dumbest organs. When we experience trauma, our brains will rewire themselves to protect us.

girl sitting on the bed hugging her knees

Sleep Study: Why is Sleep Important for Recovery?

Do we really need to sleep? Despite a robust body of research, it’s still unclear why humans need sleep. What is abundantly clear is that sleep is not a luxury but a necessity for repairing our brains and bodies each night. Humans are the only animal that denies themselves sleep. Lack of sleep is linked to everything from cardiovascular disease to depression and anxiety.

EMDR and its Role in Trauma and Addiction Treatment

What is EMDR? Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is interactive psychotherapy used to help people heal from the psychological effects of trauma and disturbing life experiences. Multiple studies have shown that EMDR can expedite the effects of other modalities such as talk and group therapies by effectively unblocking traumatic events and allowing patients to process and heal more quickly. After a traumatic event, it’s natural for the brain’s fight or flight response to repress the memory and create a mental block to protect that person from the trauma they experienced. While this is an understandable response, it inhibits long-term healing. To properly heal, those memories need to be unblocked and reframed. It’s similar to a physical block.

COVID-19 and Recovery: Evaluating the Impact of Global Trauma

The COVID-19 pandemic has had long-lasting effects that we most likely won’t understand the full impact of for many years to come. Two years ago we had no idea that the virus would touch every aspect of our lives, from how we shop and get groceries, to how we work and socialize. Most things went online as a necessity, including medical appointments and meetings. Unfortunately, so much of the recovery process is dependent upon face-to-face interactions and groups. Recovery communities such as 12 Step meetings were forced to operate online or not at all and many people lost a necessary source of comfort and accountability.

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