Effect of Exercise on Heart Risk Factors of Addicted Persons After One Year of Quitting Drugs

There is some concern that drugs abuse treatment may actually pose a risk toward unhealthy eating and weight gain. Dysfunctional eating patterns and excessive weight gains have been observed during recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a selected physical activity on some anthropometric variables (weight, BMI, and WHR), blood lipids, lipoproteins and Vo2max of subjects who have quitted abusing drugs after one year. The population of this study were the former addicted persons who had one-year quitting history in Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari province. 37 subjects who were 23-49 years old and voluntarily participated in this study were assumed as samples. The subjects were randomized at approximately 1:1 ratio under the supervision of a project investigator (case group 18 persons and control group 19 persons), but 31 individuals completed the entire study 16 persons were in case group and 15 persons were in control group. Exercise consisted primarily of some plays such as badminton playing, walking, and so on. Exercise duration ranged from 20 minutes at the baseline to 45 minutes at the end of 12 weeks and intensity of exercise ranged from 50% of heart rate reserve of baseline to 70 % during 12 weeks. Body composition was assessed using the sum of three skin-fold measurement specific for males (chest, abdomen, and thigh) (ACSM 2000). Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) were measured enzymatically using diagnostic kits. There was a significant decrease in weight (p=0.002), BMI (p=0.001), WHR (p=0.004), Ch (p=0.009), HDL (p=0.045) and LDL (p=0.002) in the case group but no significant decrease was found in VLDL (p=0.09) and TG (p=0.544). One of the reasons for weight gain is because of the fact that nicotine and drugs speed up body metabolism. It is postulated that for these measurements, weight increase is inevitable. Exercise without changes in diet produced significant reduction in weight gain and an increase in BMI (p<0.01). It appears that physical activity and exercise can prevent or manage overweight after quitting drugs and smoking.