HALT Doesn’t Just Mean Stop

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HALT Doesn’t Just Mean Stop

If addiction recovery is not managed correctly, there is a chance of relapse. There are many tactics taught to recovering addicts to help prevent these relapses, one of which includes ‘HALT.’

What is HALT? HALT is an acronym for four common factors that can cause a relapse, which include being hungry, angry, lonely and tired. These four things occur in our lives every day, which can be dangerous. When an addict feels any of these four things, they may lean towards their old habits. But if they stop- or HALT- and recognize what is happening, they can prevent that.

Hunger

It is easy to go about your day and forget to eat a meal, thus causing you to become hungry. This hunger then may make you irritated and crave your substance of choice. This is one reason why staying on a strict and healthy diet during recovery is important.

Anger

Anger is a natural and common human emotion. It can consume you in a split second due to the smallest occurrence. Learning how to control your anger, calm yourself down and relax is necessary in recovery. It is the reason many recovering addicts take up meditation and yoga.

Loneliness

Those in recovery often feel all alone. Through their addiction, they may have lost many significant relationships and have to start building new ones from scratch. This means many nights by themselves, left alone to let the loneliness dwell on them. Building new relationships, especially with others in the same situation, is helpful to keep this emotion at bay.

Tired

Not everyone can get the recommended 8 hours of sleep per day. In the past, you may have reached for your substance of choice to keep you awake. But now, that is not necessary or possible. Making time for your body to relax and recover is essential.

One of the most important things in addiction recovery is recognizing your triggers. Maybe these four things are your triggers, maybe it’s something completely different. Whatever your triggers may be, it is pertinent to learn how to handle them and your overall emotions in order to stay on the sober path.