Prevention

I am really impressed by the Pennsylvania DUI Association and its ongoing effort “to address the DUI problem in all of its many stages -- from prevention to enforcement up to, and including, adjudication and rehabilitation.” They produce there own public service announcements, raise public awareness though special events, and offer a huge range of training and certification courses. There is a massive amount of info and links available on the Team DUI website, but one of the coolest things you will find there is the Safety Bug.

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Even though it looks like an Eskimo wheelchair designed to be pulled by a sled team, the ROM exercise machine is purportedly the most effective fitness device available in the free world. Makers of this $15,000 machine claim that just 4 minutes a day on this device is equitable to a 45 to 90 minute normal workout. Sounds a little too good to be true to me, but I’m here to talk about alcoholism not to debunk fitness claims. I’ll get back to the ROM after commenting on a story from Newsweek that discusses how exercise can prevent addiction.

Newsweek has put out several good features on addiction this year and this week they have once again brought out my favorite heavy hitter of addiction science, Dr. Nora Volkow.

Volkow knows — from her own 6-mile daily runs and from her scientific experiments — that the brain literally likes physical activity. Exercise seems to invigorate neurochemicals that sense and reinforce pleasure. "In children, it's innate," she notes. "Children want to move… Why do we lose the ability to experience pleasure from physical activity?" asks Volkow. ~ Newsweek

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