Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t. But we always want it – and more of it. It’s the runner’s high, and when we are lucky enough to tap into it, our runs feel easy, exhilarating, even euphoric. But we aren’t always that lucky, are we?
Recently, researchers studied how the brain responds to running and found that the ability to get “high” while logging miles might be hard-wired within us. 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, says David A. Raichlen, Ph.D., an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. The runner’s high may have served (and serves today) as a natural painkiller, masking tired legs and blistered feet, he says.
Even though you no longer have to chase down dinner, learning how happy brain reactions are sparked may help you achieve the runner’s high more often.
Read the article in the May 2014 issue of Runner’s World or online at RunnersWorld.com