Your left foot pounds the ground, soon to be replaced by your right foot. Your heart is racing. Your arms are swinging back and forth, one after the other in a continuous motion. You’re pretty sure you look like a cartoon character. You have no clue how long you’ve been running, but you know you are on your third lap on the track. Well, four laps equal a mile.
Almost a mile? No wonder I’m so tired. But will I make it? My body just wants to fall; I could just lay out on this track!….Wait. What is this I feel? Why is it getting easier? It’s almost as if my body is going into auto-pilot. It feels like I’m floating. I’ll reach a mile with no problem!
Have you ever experienced that? That said feeling is what the athletic and science communities refer to as “runner’s high”.
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I remember having a personal experience with “runner’s high”. I was running on the University of Chicago track. I was on my third lap, almost 3/4 of a mile, so naturally I was slowing down. I wanted to make a mile; that was my goal. I began to notice how tired I was since I had not run for that distance since i could remember. I started to doubt myself. I distinctly remember almost giving up. At my quitting point something snapped in my head that gave me a burst of energy.
I picked my feet up, breathed deeply and kept pushing. In fact, it felt like some supernatural force was pushing me. I felt like something else was in control. To end the story, I ended running two more laps without stopping! That was runners high.
This feeling of euphoria has baffled scientists overtime. For a while, there was debate on how it is caused and whether or not existed to begin with. Regardless, athletes have always been familiar with the feeling, which is activated at different milestones of exercise and with different intensities per individual.
For example, it may only take one runner a half mile to achieve this feeling while it may take another runner a full marathon – even if they are running the same speed. It all depends on the individual. You should also note that you may not experience the “high” every time, adding to the ambiguity of the feeling that science has struggled with.
A few years ago, science made strides in determining what this so called “runner’s high” actually was. In Germany, researchers have determined that “runner’s high” does in fact exist. The hypothesis they tested was if endorphins – the brain’s naturally occurring opiates – change an athlete’s mood. Dr. Boecker, creator of the study, recruited 10 long-distance runners for a two hour run.
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Before the run, the participants had a PET scan and standard psychological test before running, and after the run they had yet another PET scan and took another psychological test. The data showed that, indeed, endorphins were produced during running and were attaching themselves to areas of the brain associated with emotions, in particular the limbic and prefrontal areas.
According to Dr. Boecker, “The limbic and prefrontal areas are activated when people are involved in romantic love affairs or when you hear music that gives you a chill of euphoria, like Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The greater the euphoria the runners reported, the more endorphins in their brain. Some people have these really extreme experiences with very long or intensive training. That was also what happened to the study subjects. You could really see the difference after two hours of running. You could see it in their faces.” He added, “There are studies that showed enhanced pain tolerance in runners. You have to give higher pain stimuli before they say, ‘O.K., this hurts.’ ”
But that study was a few years ago.
This year, scientists believe they pinpointed exactly what happens in your body when the “runner’s high” is in effect. This study, according to Science Daily, reveals that the cause of “runner’s high” is because of the fat cell-derived hormone, leptin.
Leptin’s job is to send signals to the brain of whether or not the body has enough fuel/energy. According to the senior study author Stephanie Fulton, falling leptin levels “send a hunger signal to the brain’s pleasure center to generate the rewarding effects of running. Based on these findings, we think that a fall in leptin levels increases motivation for physical activity as a means to enhance exploration and the pursuit of food. Our study also suggests that people with lower fat-adjusted leptin levels, such as high-performance marathon runners, could potentially be more susceptible to the rewarding effects of running and thus possibly more inclined to exercise.”
David A. Raichlen, Ph.D, a professor of anthropology at University of Arizona has a similar theory, on the biological level, about why humans have the potential for “runner’s high.” Speaking on a separate study, he revealed, “Years ago, our ancestors’ survival likely depended on chasing down food. The desire to live was possibly their motivation to run and run fast, and the feel-good brain chemicals released when they did so may have helped them achieve the speed and distances required. The runner’s high may have served [and serves today] as a natural painkiller, masking tired legs and blistered feet.
“Runner’s high” does not just pertain to running. It can be activated in any physical activity that requires strenuous exercise. Running just may be the easiest way to achieve this.
So, according to not only athletes everywhere, but also science now, “runner’s high” is a real thing. So, if you are able to run, I strongly encourage you to do so on a consistent basis. You will not only look good but feel good as well!
Sadly, while running on the street (many people run along the lakefront here in Chicago) provides great scenery, running on concrete/roads can damage your knees overtime. This is why tracks are made of polyurethane (to cushion impact on knees). Treadmills are another option.
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