{"id":61832,"date":"2017-09-18T07:15:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T11:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=61832"},"modified":"2017-09-23T13:44:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T17:44:55","slug":"hiit-endorphins-runners-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/hiit-endorphins-runners-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Can HIIT Give You the Same High as Running?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can
Photo: Twenty20<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are many reasons you exercise, but none is more enticing than the buzzy bliss that comes from a satisfying sweat session. After all, mood-boosting endorphins \u2014 aka your body\u2019s built-in pain killers \u2014 are one of the main sells of long runs. But is the so-called runner\u2019s high exclusive just to running?<\/p>\n

While most forms of exercise will release endorphins, the path to happy will differ. According to recent research published in Neuropsychopharmacology<\/em><\/a>, the flow of these feel-good molecules depends on exercise intensity and plays a unique role in how we perceive our workouts.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Endorphins and the Truth About Why Exercise Makes You Happy<\/a><\/p>\n

A HIIT of Endorphins<\/h3>\n

Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland studied the effects of different types of exercise on endorphin release and mood. As your body\u2019s natural opioid, endorphins are neurotransmitters that activate your brain\u2019s reward system<\/a> and minimize pain.<\/p>\n

Participants of the study underwent three position emission tomography (PET) scans to illustrate brain functioning before and after exercise. They did one at rest, one after an hour of moderate-intensity exercise and another one after a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session. What they found was that HIIT significantly increased the flow of endorphins in the brain, particularly to the areas that control pain and emotions. But interestingly, moderate-intensity aerobic session didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Tina Saanijoki, one of the researchers of the study, says, this is one of the first studies of its kind.\u00a0\u201cNo studies have compared opioid release after moderate and high-intensity exercise at the brain level.” She says, \u201cThe finding that HIIT led to opioid release<\/a> didn\u2019t surprise us, but we were somewhat surprised that in the group level, we didn\u2019t observe opioid release after one-hour of aerobic exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>HIIT It Hard with These 25 Workouts and Tips<\/a><\/p>\n

Runner’s High: Is It All in Your Head?<\/h3>\n

Surprisingly, researchers discovered that the moderate-intensity aerobic work left participants feeling<\/em> euphoric, even though there wasn\u2019t a flood of the neurochemicals in the brain. Which begs the question: Is runner\u2019s high all in our heads? Saanijoki says, \u201cRunner\u2019s high is a subjective experience, and we don\u2019t have a scientific determination, criteria or a measure for it.\u201d So if you don\u2019t get that glowing feeling post-10K, you\u2019re not alone. \u201cThe description of runner\u2019s high varies considerably between people who have experienced it, and even then, they don\u2019t get there every time,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, while the HIIT participants showed a measurable endorphin rush, they experienced a rush of negative feelings, too. Participants reported exhaustion, irritation and lack of energy. Instead of the typical post-workout glow, the intense bout of exercise caused the exact opposite effect.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>7 HIIT Mistakes You\u2019re Probably Making<\/a><\/p>\n

Understanding the Endorphin Rush<\/h3>\n

The findings suggest that endorphins can have a dual effect on your body and mind, depending on the intensity of your workout. \u201c[Endorphins] appear to be involved in positive emotions at moderate intensities<\/a> and in modulating negative emotions and perhaps pain at very high intensities,\u201d Saanijoki says. \u201cThe opioid release after HIIT likely is the body\u2019s protection response to this physically and emotionally stressful situation.\u201d Which makes sense. Who hasn\u2019t felt like keeling over after a killer AMRAP workout<\/a>?<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>3 Fat-Blasting HIIT Workouts to Try Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Since feeling like death post-workout isn\u2019t everyone\u2019s cup of tea, hit up a HIIT session with caution, especially if you\u2019re just starting to exercise or struggling to keep up your gym habit. In that case, a moderate-intensity aerobic session may be a better fit. You may be more motivated to come back for the feel-good vibes that accompany those workouts.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a>20-Minute HIIT Treadmill Workout to Get Fit, Fast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A study shows that HIIT workouts give you a bigger dose of endorphins than moderate-intensity exercise. Here\u2019s how it compares to the elusive runner\u2019s high.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":61843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[288,289,139,341,343],"class_list":["post-61832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-cardio","tag-exercise","tag-hiit","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2exercise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61832","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\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}