Statistics on Sober Living and Its Impact on Maintaining Sobriety

Sober living homes have been shown to provide various benefits that support long-term success in recovery. Reviewing each of the main benefits and statistics behind them, you can see for yourself how beneficial a sober living home can be to your journey.

Approximately one percent of individuals in recovery choose to go to a sober living home after their initial engagement in treatment. As you can see, only a small amount of people in recovery take advantage of this resource. As we review the benefits involved with sober living homes, this low rate of involvement may surprise you. 

What Are the Benefits of Sober Living?

To address the statistics on the impacts of sober living homes, it is important to understand what benefits these living arrangements provide. Overviewing each core benefit and the statistics provided can allow you to take a deep dive into the purpose of sober living and determine if this is the right path for you.

Increased Employment Rate 

While in early recovery, it can be difficult to focus on other responsibilities of adulthood. Throughout Real Recovery Sober Living’s program, you are encouraged to maintain employment and work towards your desired career goals along with your recovery goals. Because of the support provided to maintain employment, the rate of employment for individuals in sober living drastically increased compared to those in recovery who did not take advantage of sober living as a transition phase in their recovery journey.

Finding employers who are willing to work with individuals in recovery can not always be an easy task. Some employers fear that the potential of relapse may interfere with your ability to work. Sober living homes often provide references and support in seeking employment. This external support may be the push you need to find a job and get started on your future career path.

Financial Independence

Tying in with increased rates of employment, the potential for achieving financial independence when engaging in a sober living home is much greater. Ninety percent of residents in sober living facilities are financially independent, meaning they pay for themselves and do not require financial assistance from friends, family, or any alternative resource. Reaching a state of financial independence can be highly rewarding, especially as you move from your sober living home to independent living.

During your time in sober living, you will gain skills to budget your finances and learn to apply these skills to future financial obligations. Practicing these skills in an environment with external support can help you to improve your financial independence and feel comfortable managing your finances after leaving sober living. Having these skills can set you up for success in managing your adult life moving forward. 

Affordable Housing

Paying for housing is a common challenge for individuals transitioning out of treatment. Housing is typically not cheap, causing further financial stress on top of the other difficulties of maintaining sobriety after discharge from treatment. Living in a sober living home, the costs of rent are often much more affordable. 

Real Recovery Sober Living’s goal is to reduce your living expenses so that you can gain a sense of financial independence while still maintaining a focus on your recovery needs. By providing affordable housing, you can establish the skills needed to stay on top of your finances and bills but still have the flexibility to put your recovery needs first. The specific costs for sober living homes may vary, but by reviewing Real Recovery Sober Living’s website, you can determine your estimated monthly costs before moving in.

Reduced Potential for Relapse

Individuals who take advantage of sober living homes in their recovery journey tend to have a decreased potential of encountering relapse. This is because, through sober living, you are gaining skills to maintain recovery while dealing with external responsibilities. Having the ability to cope with multiple stressors at once without the use of substances can greatly reduce your potential of encountering relapse during this time and later on in your recovery journey.

Approximately 81% of men who have graduated from Real Recovery Sober Living have remained sober afterward in their long-term journey. This statistic is substantial compared to alternative rates of relapse. Increasing your likelihood of avoiding future relapse by over 80% can be extremely worthwhile. This statistic shows how efficient sober living homes can be in maintaining the skills necessary to move forward. 

Additionally, 40 to 60% of individuals who discharge from treatment encounter relapse within their first year. This is often because they did not engage in any transitional program. Once you leave treatment, the outside responsibilities quickly pile up and lead to potential conflicts in sobriety maintenance. Looking at the difference in these statistics, engaging in a sober living program can nearly double your chances of avoiding relapse.

Increased Support

As you are living in a sober living home, the other residents are often in similar situations as you. This allows you to have the opportunity to seek support from these residents and feel understood. Many individuals make life-long connections from the relationships they build within sober living programs. These individuals may continue to be a part of your support system throughout the remainder of your recovery.

Establishing a strong support system early on in recovery helps improve retention rates of the skills you have gained through treatment and improves your levels of motivation as you continue forward. It can be easy to dismiss the positive influence of these relationships when they are not present, but they tend to have many benefits. It is possible to create a strong support system without residing in a sober living home. However, sober living creates an easy opportunity to build these relationships. They may help you in moments of hardship and provide you with the support you need to develop independence moving forward.

Improved Health and Wellness

Along with staying on top of your recovery and financial responsibilities, it is also essential to consider your health and well-being. Through sober living homes, you can establish skills to improve your overall physical and mental state to ensure you are maintaining your health. This includes establishing healthy exercise routines and cooking habits and managing your sleep cycles. Each of these components helps lead to a healthy lifestyle and can influence the rates of long-term success in recovery. 

Sleep Habits

At Real Recovery Sober Living, a curfew is in place. This is not to place restrictions on your freedom but rather to help you establish healthy habits with your sleeping routines. The decision of when you choose to go to sleep is up to you, but taking away the opportunity to go out all night can easily diminish the desire to ruin your sleep habits.

Ensuring you get approximately eight hours of sleep each night and maintain a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, you can allow healthy sleep cycles to become a habit. Sleep cycles are easy to throw off balance, as one night of staying up too late can disrupt your sleep. Individuals who maintain healthy sleep habits are less likely to encounter relapse. This is because healthy sleep habits allow the body to function properly and perform at its best.

Nutrition and Diet

When you are in a residential treatment facility, your meals may be prepared for you at a specific time. Many individuals experience trouble when first moving out of treatment because they lack the skills needed to cook healthy and nutritious meals for themselves. Due to budget constraints and a lack of knowledge, many people rely on cheap meals that lack nutritious value.

Sober living homes can help you gain skills to prepare nutritious meals that will not take up a great deal of time. This can be done on a budget but often takes practice to achieve. Developing this skill in sober living can help you to maintain a healthy diet moving forward. Maintaining your nutrition plays a role in recovery by helping to keep your body functioning at its best.

Exercise Routines

Engaging in forms of exercise may feel strenuous or time-consuming during the journey of recovery. As you begin to transition to a state of independence, it can be difficult to establish an exercise routine to keep yourself active. Exercise is often a great way to release stress when problems arise and work through these emotions without the use of substances.

Using our facilities, we can help you set up a healthy routine of engaging in physical activity. This does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym every day. You may choose to engage in other sports or activities that promote physical activity that is more enjoyable to you. 

Importance of Balance

Each benefit provided by sober living helps to establish an overall state of balance. By working on each of these areas during your time in sober living, you can create a sense of stability and improve your overall life-management skills to move forward. Sober living is not fully focused on recovery as much as it is about establishing balance and creating healthy habits along with your newfound life of sobriety.

Balance is essential in recovery. Creating this sense of balance ties in with the 80% potential of maintaining long-term recovery success. Establishing habits in each of these areas reduces the chance of experiencing high levels of stress from other life circumstances. Having these habits in place, you can prepare yourself to handle your future on your terms. 

As you review all of these benefits of sober living, consider choosing to take advantage of these services to help you succeed in recovery. It may feel strenuous at the time, but it can help set you up for long-term success with the support of your recovery team and other residents at your facility. 

Sober living homes become like a family, with each resident working toward the same goal of long-term sobriety while learning to implement new skills to navigate through sober life. While everyone’s journey is different, it makes sense to participate in something that provides so many benefits to your sobriety. You can stay in your sober living home for as long as it takes for you to feel confident that you have built the skills to live independently. You can take from sober living life-long sober friendships and new skills to combat the stressors in life. 

You may hear about the benefits of sober living homes, but what is the potential of these benefits occurring? By reviewing the statistics of sober living homes, you can see how efficient these transitional programs are in the recovery process. Learn about the different aspects that may benefit you to help you decide if this is the best path for your long-term sobriety maintenance. Our sober living home can help increase your chances of maintaining employment, becoming financially independent, finding affordable housing opportunities, reducing relapse, and many other benefits for you moving forward. To learn more about sober living and to review these statistics, reach out to Real Recovery Sober Living at (727) 290-9156.