Running makes you high?

[Diane]

This NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/health/nutrition/27best.html) suggests it's true, and Deric Bownds at Mindblog (http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/2008/04/runners-high-endorphin-release-finally.html) has a post about it.
Here is the abstract (http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/bhn013v1) the story is based on. So, no wonder people run - sounds like it could be addictive. Evolution made running (probably after prey animals) addictive/adaptive.

I doubt this is true for endomorphic (http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1B3GGGL_enCA226CA227&hl=en&q=define%3A+endomorphic&btnG=Google+Search) body types.. for whom running is probably no "pyknic (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enCA226CA227&q=define%3A+pyknic&btnG=Search)" at all.

[Bas]

Interesting to see some science behind my clinical experiences with marathon and other runners. Even recreational ones tend to get really CRANKY when they have to miss a day.
Trying to tell them to ease off to let something heal or settle down, or telling them that their running may actually play a role in their pain complaint - well, I have learned to figuratively duck....

[oljoha]

Currently in training for my third marathon. I used to hate runnning (but loved weight lifting - so I'm still too heavy for running at 230 lbs). Even did a 6 hour race last year. I couldn't figure out how the h I'd be able to run a marathon (when I started training for my first one - guided by this book (http://astore.amazon.com/arnokl-20/detail/1570281823/002-8289179-4657605))... then suddenly one day when finishing off a 10 mile run I thought to myself - "this was actually nice". So yes - It does make me high.

[nari]

A sports scientist on the radio some months ago said that it takes about 6 weeks for the addiction to have full effect. During those 6 weeks, there is an increasing feeling of satisfaction after a run, despite aches and pains. The same applies, apparently, to gym workouts.

Interesting that '6 weeks' seems a bit of a magic number for physiological effects, including healing times, medications and so on.

Nari

[Jon Newman]

Ronald W. Dworkin explores "runner's high" in his book Artificial Happiness. I learned that Candace Pert, et. al. "made the first attempt to link exercise-induced euphoria with endorphins."

What caught my eye in the abstract in Diane's post was that these runners ran for 2 hours. That's a pretty long time. It has been my experience that a change in mood can occur in a much shorter time frame. I wonder if they have studies planned to see how quickly they detect the presence of these endorphins or whether the endorphins are even a necessary condition for the desired change in mood.

[ian s]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_3_34/ai_113645546/pg_1

jon , this is hardly scientific but i think moods and movment/exercise are really undervalued . It takes me no time at all to think about what i need to do for myself .
This is really interesting --not a lot to do with the thread but ideas on walking evolution and identity.
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2008/02/will_self_spencer_wells.php
ian

[Jon Newman]

Thanks for the links Ian. I'll have to contemplate the difference between moods and emotion. I've always used the words interchangeably but the first link seemed to draw a distinction. I'll give it another look.

In the book I mentioned earlier I learned that a fellow named David Pragman coined the term "runner's high" but I was surprised to find that I got no hits when I googled his name and "runner's high."

On the cultural side of things, Ronwald Dworkin mused:

Fitness culture also gives people a reason to feel proud. Because the measures of success in fitness culture bear no relation to those in real life, the happiness that fitness culture induces is artificial.

For this alternative source of Artificial Happiness to work, people must believe in it. Unless exercise enthusiasts think their goals are respected, useful, and significant, they won't feel proud when achieving them; they won't feel as if they're spending their time in a sensible way...Thus, fitness culture's viability depends on the public's respect, which in turns depends on a well-respected institution vouching for it.After reading this I thought about the movie Forrest Gump. The movie gave credit to Forrest for catalyzing, if not creating, the *running movement*. However, Forrest just did it because he felt like it, not for the respect of the culture. It seems to me that, unlike Forrest, many people pursuing various forms of fitness do so only with a significant amount of effort.

[oljoha]

... i think moods and movment/exercise are really undervalued .

Posture and moods as well.

Straighten up and you WILL feel better instantly.