{"id":46667,"date":"2016-01-08T07:15:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T12:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=46667"},"modified":"2021-11-18T08:47:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T13:47:15","slug":"what-are-endorphins-runners-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/what-are-endorphins-runners-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Endorphins and the Truth About Why Exercise Makes You Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What
Photo by Curtis Mac Newton<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019ve ever taken out a bad day at the office on the nearest treadmill<\/a>, you know that working up a good sweat can easily turn your day around. And by now you\u2019ve probably heard that endorphins are the magic bullet behind that post-workout bliss<\/a>. People love the feeling so much that \u201cendorphin junkie\u201d has even become synonymous with someone who\u2019s constantly chasing that exercise high. But while endorphins may get all the credit for your post-run buzz<\/a>, there\u2019s actually a lot more going on behind the scenes. Here\u2019s what you need to know about endorphins \u2014 and why you might not be an endorphin junkie after all.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Your 12-Move Total-Body Workout<\/a><\/p>\n

What Are Endorphins?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When your body comes under stress or experiences pain (hello, burpees<\/a>), neurochemicals called endorphins are produced in the brain\u2019s hypothalamus and pituitary gland, explains J. Kip Matthews<\/a>, Ph.D, a sport and exercise psychologist. Endorphins, which are structurally similar to the drug morphine, are considered natural painkillers because they activate opioid receptors in the brain that help minimize discomfort, says Matthews. They can also help bring about feelings of euphoria and general well-being. \u201cEndorphins are also involved in natural reward circuits related to activities such as feeding, drinking, sexual activity and maternal behavior,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Sweating Out the Sadness: Can Exercise Help You Grieve?<\/a><\/p>\n

Chasing the Runner\u2019s High<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The idea that exercise creates a huge endorphin rush entered popular culture soon after endorphins were discovered 40 years ago<\/a>, says Matthews. \u201cLong-distance running<\/a> was quite popular in the mid-1970s around the same time that endorphins were discovered. Anecdotally, there were a lot of reports of the so-called \u2018runner\u2019s high<\/a>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cBy suppressing the experience of pain, a number of researchers put forth the idea that endorphins could be the source of this euphoric feeling after intense exercise.\u201d But was that really the case?<\/p>\n

\"Endorphins
Photo by Alex Wong<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Blood-Brain Disconnect<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yes, blood plasma endorphin levels do increase in response to stressors and pain, research shows. For example, a 2003 study<\/a> found that the more severe pain someone experience post-surgery, the higher their blood plasma endorphin levels. And research shows<\/a> that exercise can have a similar effect, but research also<\/em> suggests<\/a> that endorphin levels might not increase at all until an hour after you\u2019ve started working out. (Which doesn\u2019t explain why those 30-minute HIIT sessions<\/a> still leave you feeling awesome.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe less active we become, the more challenged we are in dealing with stress.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what gives? The problem with jumping to the conclusion that endorphins cause your \u201cexercise high\u201d is that in large-scale studies, scientists measure endorphins present in the blood<\/em> \u2014 not the brain. Then, they make the assumption that if endorphin levels rise in the blood, then it must be because of an increase of endorphins in the brain, says Matthews. But their findings don\u2019t necessarily prove that. And it\u2019s the endorphins in your brain that would be causing that \u201chigh.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, a recent German study<\/a> found that, while endorphin levels are higher after a run, endorphins can\u2019t pass through the blood-brain barrier, which means they probably don\u2019t have much to do with experiencing an exercise high. What does affect the brain, researchers found, was a neurotransmitter called anandamide, which is elevated after exercise and can<\/em> travel from the blood to the brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there have been some studies to show that exercise can lead to elevated endorphin levels in blood plasma, there have been no consistent findings that, indeed, exercise leads to that famous \u2018endorphin rush,\u2019\u201d Matthews says.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 5 Calorie-Blasting Cardio Exercises, No Treadmill Required<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Really Going On?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So if you aren\u2019t an endorphin junkie, then what are you? Well, you might be a serotonin or norepinephrine junkie, according to Matthews. When you exercise, your brain increases production of these neurotransmitters, which send messages throughout your nervous system. In the case of exercise, those messages might be something along the lines of: \u201cYou\u2019re running!<\/a> This is awesome! Cheer up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Studies have linked low levels of serotonin<\/a> and norepinephrine<\/a> to depression, which is a much more solid link to feelings of post-workout euphoria than the evidence for endorphins, says Matthews. And it\u2019s not just that exercise leads to an increase in serotonin and norepinephrine which may, in turn, reduce depression and stress. Exercise may actually help ward off depression and anxiety by enhancing the body’s ability to respond to stressors, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat appears to be happening is that exercise affords the body an opportunity to practice responding to stress, streamlining the communication between the systems involved in the stress response,\u201d says Matthews. \u201cThe less active we become, the more challenged we are in dealing with stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the science about why<\/em> you feel a rush after exercise may be complicated, that doesn\u2019t mean the runner\u2019s high isn\u2019t a very real feeling. And don\u2019t worry, we won\u2019t judge you if you still wear your \u201cendorphin junkie\u201d T-shirt to the gym.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you an endorphin junkie? Love that post-workout high? We dug into the science behind runner’s high and what endorphins really do. The answer might surprise you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6],"tags":[288,289,108,282,341,349],"class_list":["post-46667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-cardio","tag-exercise","tag-running","tag-stress","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2sports-medicine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}