No, athletes, it’s not just a myth: Running really can make you high. Or at least feel like it.
Until now, no scientific study has confirmed that the “runner’s high” is a real neurophysiological occurrence. But a recent test at the University of Bonn in Germany shows that the relaxed or even slightly euphoric feeling some get after a morning run or an endurance event can be explained with science.
The university’s scientists hypothesized that chemicals called endorphins were released to the brain during exercise, causing slight or dramatic mood changes according to the intensity of the exercise.
University Health Center Director Ben Douglas said endorphins contain natural opiates that have some of the “same properties as narcotics,” which “act somewhat like natural pain modifiers” and calm the emotions.
Henning Boecker, the leader of the study, found the endorphins at work by conducting positron emission tomography scans on the brain before and after his subjects went for a long run. When the endorphins flooded to the brain and attached themselves to areas associated with emotion, Boecker knew the chemicals affected his subjects’ feelings.
Avid runners have never needed chemical explanations to justify their habits, but the new study may make it easier for non-runners to understand their counterparts’ logic. People who don’t fare well with cardiovascular exercise probably haven’t trained enough to feel the relaxation that regular runners feel after a few miles. First efforts in distance running might make some feel positively nauseous.
“I think when somebody starts a new exercise program, it takes your body time to adapt and adjust to it,” said Scott Frey, a psychology professor at the University and director of the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging.
Douglas agreed. “Some people experience it more than others. You really have to get into shape,” he said.
But even those who despise running can understand other, less scientific explanations for that certain feeling of euphoria endurance athletes feel after completing a challenging event.
Frey, who is a competitive runner himself, says part of the euphoria one feels after a marathon or a triathlon could simply be attributed to the feeling of “relief that it’s over.”
“It’s like taking your hand out of a bucket of ice,” Frey said.
The slight euphoria could also be the result of a great sense of accomplishment.
“I did a very hard workout yesterday afternoon, and I felt great when it was done,” Frey said. “One reason for that might be that I knew I had this hard workout in my schedule, and I sort of was dreading it a little bit because I knew it was going to be uncomfortable, but overcoming that gives you a sense of satisfaction.”
Frey compared the feeling with the “little bit of time where you feel better than good when you’ve had a really bad cold and it finally goes away.”
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