Homing in on the Source of Runner’s High

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/homing-in-on-the-source-of-runners-high/

by pmcpinto • 11 years ago

44 44 11 years ago

well.blogs.nytimes.com

When withdrawing from weed I found one of the only effective substitutes is exercise, really makes me feel the same way.

saiya-jin2• 11 years ago

How much did you smoke when you decided to cut it?

I find the extra creativity, and sometimes vastly different viewpoint on many matters in life (probably all of them) is invaluable. Another thing is (in some circumstances) almost constant stream of out-of-blue ideas, solutions to situations/problems etc coming from subconsciousness. In life as usual, these are much more scarce. Some of best ideas/decisions in my life came from those places, often Inception style (you get some basic idea, and explore more and more after it).

This fades away significantly if I smoke often and comes back in full strength when having a week or two breaks in between.

working out feels great, the harder the better (well till certain breaking point), but mentally those states are worlds apart, something around clarity vs expanded consiousness.

If I could cut the smoking part (don't smoke cigarettes/tobacco since that's a net lose for consumer on many levels), and have something like eye drops that would be something.

Synaesthesia3• 11 years ago

I still do, and vaporize a lot(Magic Flight Launch Box FTW). Too much probably but it's at least not that harmful! Pretty much daily/all the time. I agree with all your points.

tetraodonpuffer2• 11 years ago

I bike commute to work for a significant amount of time (about 1:15 each way) and most days I get out-of-the-blue ideas and solutions to situations/problems starting usually around 45 minutes in. It also often happens that I get a shift of perspective/viewpoint on something that is affecting me.

If you are not getting any of this when working out may I suggest going longer? After all for most people the "runner's high" doesn't really happen unless you run for a significant amount of time (personally, same as for riding, it usually takes at least 45 minutes before it starts, for other people I know even an hour)

I have to say that when I can't ride to work but have to take transit (when it's icy out) I am definitely less effective due to the lack of this 2x/day burst of additional creativity (which is helpful on the way back too, get home, fire off emails and note some plans for the next day).

Note I have never taken drugs so I can't offer any comparisons.

moron4hire3• 11 years ago

I have never experienced it. Even when I was very physically fit (I was a martial arts instructor in college), I never got any pleasurable sort of feeling from working out. I enjoyed the activity itself, but the end result was always exhaustion and a vaguely nauseous feeling.

Considering other things that are supposed to make you feel "high, aka good" (like the Vicodin I had been prescribed when I got my wisdom teeth forcibly removed from my skull) also only seem to make me feel generally nauseous, I'm guessing this is just me in general.

emddudley• 11 years ago

I have only experienced it once in my life, so I consider people who feel it regularly to be pretty lucky. I would love to have more motivation and reward in exercise. As it stands exercise is a tedious chore for me.

moron4hire3• 11 years ago

My thought process during running:

Oh great, let's stare at the ground for the next hour. Let's trod the same ground, day after day. Yep, that pile of cigarette butts is still there. Oh look, the street cleaning crew missed that weird children's doll in the gutter again. This is so much fun. Let's do this for the rest of our lives.

Synaesthesia3• 11 years ago

That's unfortunate! I find you have to run pretty hard for it to occur, and it doesn't always happen, but I get it. It's a subtle effect. I think one of the most reliable ways to get this feeling is to hike up a mountain, then take off your backpack and lie down. :-)

mtbcoder• 11 years ago

I do quite a bit of running, some lifting and I've never personally experienced this with either. However, I also do a lot of mountain biking and experience this during and after each ride. As best I can describe it, it really becomes of a sense of "flow" and you feel connected to what you are doing while a wave of good feelings hits you. The only similar expression of this that I've been able to come across is how surfers often describe their feelings after catching a good wave.

jslatts• 11 years ago

This is dead on. Almost every mountain bike ride I go on gets me into a state of flow where I'm not thinking, just doing. It does happen when I run as well, but generally external conditions have to trigger it (awesome music, beautiful day, great views, etc). This feeling is usually accompanied by a general feeling of happiness and punctuated by occasional thoughts of how great and lucky I am to be alive and able to participate in these activities.

I never considered that euphoric feeling during exercise to be the "runners high". I always thought it was the euphoric and satisfied feeling I have _after_ exercise that is the high. I pretty much always feel great afterwards unless I really over exerted myself.

comrh• 11 years ago

I think most people would use the word "mindfulness" for what you're describing. It is an amazing feeling that I get from lifting but never quite got from cardio.

kristofferR• 11 years ago

I don't have the time to do the googling right now, but I'm pretty damn sure that I've read somewhere that a relatively small minority of people are genetically incapable of experiencing the runner's high.

moron4hire3• 11 years ago

After about 20 years, I just assumed that was the case. For all of the 90s and most of the early 2000s (aka before clickbait was a thing) I had a sneaking suspicion the entire world actually enjoyed the taste of soap in their food from adding cilantro, too.

But according to the other posters here on HN, I've just been doing it wrong.

kstenerud2• 11 years ago

Huh. This would certainly explain a lot. I can't get high from cannabis, and I've never ever gotten a runner's high despite doing a weekly 6 mile run for the past 3 years and training hard for boxing.

chipgap98• 11 years ago

I've only hit runners highs on much longer runs. Like 10-15 miles. Totally anecdotal, but you might need to try going further.

Also, what do you mean you can't get high from cannabis?

kstenerud2• 11 years ago

I mean that I've tried repeatedly, watched everyone else get baked on half the dose I was taking (deep, and holding in until I absolutely needed to breathe), and felt absolutely nothing except that nasty aftertaste.

Running itself is pretty damn boring, which makes it hard to do it for more than an hour. It is nice to get outside, though.

deveac• 11 years ago

I've never gotten "runner's high" either, and I've definitely ran further and longer than than what is required to achieve it according to my runner friends (8 miles).

Mostly running is just a mix of pain and boredom for me to the point where I simply cannot bear it. The only way I can run is if there is a goal/agenda of some sort...like playing Soccer for instance.

jobu• 11 years ago

I definitely get a high from exercise - lifting weights as well as running.

Exercise also tends to increase my appetite, especially when lifting weights. I wonder if this is related to the endocannabinoids.

js24• 11 years ago

One possible if slightly disheartening lesson of the study could be, in fact, that we may need to cover considerable mileage in order to experience a runner’s high; the mice in the study, small as they are, averaged more than three miles every day on their wheels.

I'm on track for 3000 miles this year. I ran over 2000 miles last year. My shortest run in the last few months is 4 miles, and that's on days when I double with a 6 mile run. I've raced almost a dozen marathons and I run the half-marathon distance a couple times a week. So I think it's fair to say that I "cover considerable mileage." This isn't all just slow miles either. As any runner trying to improve, I also run intervals of varying distances and tempos (where you run about as fast as you could race for an hour, but for about 30-45 minutes).

So I enjoy running. There are runs where I'm relaxed and in the groove and the miles just click by. But that's just an enjoyable experiece, like relaxing at the beach. It's nothing like the high from smoking marijuana. Or the exhileration from something like sky diving that first time. Or post-orgasm bliss.

I've also spoken with a few ultra-marathoners, runners that cover 50-100 miles or run for 24 hours straight. None of us have experienced a "high" from running. Have we all been duped? Maybe we're all expecting the wrong thing?

I'm envious of those mice... :-)

roymurdock2• 11 years ago

Strange...I do 6-8 mile runs 3 times a week, so I'm by no means a high-mileage runner. I find that I get a high around on around 1/4 of my runs, usually around the 4-5 mile mark.

It starts out with a cool rush of euphoria felt in the head and behind the eyes, which quickly spreads to the extremities and blankets any perpetual pain/discomfort, replacing it with a weightlessness, like every tendon and muscle in your body has been renewed. It's a pure, cool, iron-like high that allows me to cut 30-60 seconds off the next 1-2 miles once it kicks in.

I don't think it's a distance thing - it's more of a pushing yourself to the point where your brain feels the need to intervene. I expect that if I had a disciplined training schedule and ran long distances regularly, my brain would get used to the idea of running and stop getting me high.

I also lift weights 3 times a week, but I never experience a high while deadlifting, bench pressing, running sleds, etc. I'm fairly certain it has to be biking/running where you have no rest in between sets in order for your brain to flip out and turn on whatever chemical switch it is that produces the effect.

js24• 11 years ago

I have never experienced anything like this from exercise. Neither from the pain of a 5K, nor the discomfort of a marathon, nor the intensity of a crossfit workout. I'm a little jealous!

agumonkey• 11 years ago

I'm barely a noob (did run/jog 15 miles once), but I love running and when I reach groove, it's a bit more than groove. I feel a strong uplift. Not a high, but suddenly pain and even effort just vanish from my mind and I just 'fly' contemplating the world. It's a very happy sensation. Unfortunately it's also a zen exercise because it's usually when you become aware that you're 'flying' that you start to drift away from it. Maybe a relation between not running for the sake of it, but running while thinking of something else.

tatx• 11 years ago

I only started running regularly a year back, and I certainly feel something like a long-drawn low-ebbing pleasant kinda 'high' after a run. I also have double the energy now-a-days and am twice as productive since I started running. Concentration has improved along with temperament.

I am in my mid-thirties though and I can't recollect having run more than a mile before in my life. Maybe I will get used to this high and stop feeling the difference. Maybe I am feeling the kick because it is novel to me. But yes, it is nothing like the high you get from smoking marijuana :)

hsitz• 11 years ago

+1. I could have written that exactly. I'm on track for 3,000 miles this year, ran 2,200+ last year. Have been doing 80+ miles/week recently with upcoming marathon. Ran a 50 mile ultra back in July. I've never had any "runner's high". It's not something that any of my running friends ever talk about; it's something non-runners talk about. Closest I get is also "feeling in a groove", which for me is mostly a feeling of ease I get when running a moderately fast even pace on flat route with no interruptions (like on a bike path). But it would be really stretching it to call that feeling a runner's high. There can also be a nice feeling _after_ certain runs, when they're over. This is also not a runner's high, just a pleasant feeling of being somewhat drained and relaxed, similar to the way you might feel after a massage, or after some non-running workouts. The whole "running high" terminology is geared towards making people think there's some kind of mystical thing. People like to believe things like that, but no.

jamesxwatkins• 11 years ago

I dont think you could have explained that any better. I usually hit around 1200-1300 miles per year and the closest I have ever come to a "runners high" is what you explained towards the end of your comment.

js24• 11 years ago

I'm in violent agreement with you. I'm running Richmond later this year. Which marathon are you runnning? (And good luck!)

ak217• 11 years ago

Just to add some anecdata as a pile, I run about 1200 miles a year (half pavement, one third trail, the rest track). I regularly get a sort of runner's high after covering 5+ miles at a hard (7 min) pace, or 10+ miles at a moderate (8-9 min) pace. The intensity varies, but it usually sets in after this considerable distance and lasts for 2-4 hours afterwards.

shiplet• 11 years ago

In the 10+ years I've been running, I'd guess I've felt a "high" maybe 3 times? The first one was actually my first year running - a brisk 5-miler in the early Fall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Another during the second 800 of my first fairly competitive mile (dropped 12 seconds off my PR). And the third during a late Fall run in Lexington, VA (another 5-miler). In each instance I felt this impenetrable happiness, lightness, and ease. My form, breathing, even the air-circulation allowed by my clothing, were all perfect. I remember not wanting to acknowledge what was happening for fear of it disappearing as soon as I "looked" at it. Whole-body tingles, no soreness afterwards.

I think, in each case there were a couple of prevailing influences to the sensation:

1.) Feeling alone. Even during my mile, surrounded by 10 other racers, I felt pleasantly alone. Everything was quiet, non-distracting, sublime even.

2.) I was also on the verge of a major breakthrough in my training. My first year running, my 5K went from 22:09 to 17:21, and that first high was probably two weeks before that new PR. Same for the run in Lexington. Luckily it came in the MIDDLE of my mile, because I'd run the exact same time the past 4 races in a row.

3.) The weather. In each case, the weather was extremely mild - cool, brisk, gentle breeze, but no wind.

I'm probably over-analyzing it. Also TONS of nostalgia. But still, I want to make that feeling a more regular part of my life as time ticks on :)

EDIT: There's a fourth.

4.) Running was joyful. Not something I was doing to rack up mileage, or beat a competitor, or "push myself to the edge." Yeah, those things happened as a consequence of training, but they weren't the goal. The goal was to enjoy going fast. And yeah, I got high from it. It's when the focus became about those other things that the best I could do was get in a groove.

ctchocula• 11 years ago

I'm a beginning runner, so what you said piques my curiosity, because a question that's been on my mind is whether a slow runner can ever get fast. I remember seeing Malcolm Gladwell (he happens also to be an amateur runner who can do a 4:54 mile) quoting someone saying "I’ve never seen a boy who was slow become fast", then express his agreement sprinting is indeed an exception to the 10,000-hour rule. [1] (To be clear, he is talking about, sprinting, but I think he would agree the logic extends to running.) You mentioned your 5K went from 22:09 to 17:21 your first year running. Were you simply a good runner to begin with? My personal experience is that I'm also in my first year of running, and my 5K PR is 26:50, so I'm wondering whether I can ever get it down to 22:09.

[1] http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/complexity-and-...

ZeroFries• 11 years ago

You probably have a high tolerance to the chemical concoction, so you get some pain-killing effects but not enough for a full-on high. I'm guessing the tolerance is both genetic and induced from the high amount of training you do.

hinkley• 11 years ago

I used to be a long distance bicyclist. I got my time in but nowhere near as much as you, but nobody there really experienced the high either.

What I actually experienced felt more like what we now call Flow, which is a pretty good experience by itself. Programmers seek it out almost habitually, like an addiction. I've also experienced the same thing once doing restorative Yoga (the teacher was experimenting at the end of a quarter, but I moved across town after), and maybe while doing meditation but it felt different.

I'm really curious if this is the high people mean, and those who rave about it just have a really hard time entering a flow state. If that's so then I pity them.

Thanksgiving before last this really gelled for me. I had potatoes cooling on the stove and the dog was begging for a walk so I went out with him at like 10:15 am. Runners. Everywhere runners. Then it hit me like a brick. They were all out meditating, trying to mentally prepare for the onslaught of relatives and poorly behaved nieces and nephews that were about to descend on them.

irl_zebra• 11 years ago

I have to generally echo this sentiment. I'm at about 1,900 miles for the year and will end up with about 2,500 by New Year's (50 miles per week avg for the year). Most of the time my runs are enjoyable, except maybe the day after a hard workout. Sometimes I'll hit a stride and end up going much faster than intended and the miles click by and I'm amazed at my pace and what I've done by the end.

The closest I come to "runners high" is usually on those days where it's been a bit hot for long periods and then a cool front blows in. I'm practically giddy for the whole run and feel amazing. And I run races from 5k to 100 miles. I really, really enjoy racing, but I think it's the competitive aspect of it and not from some runners high.

uptownJimmy• 11 years ago

I run 3-4 miles every morning, before work. My before-and-after is pretty drastic, which is why I run every morning.

So I say without ambiguity: I defnitely get runner's high. It changes my personality and my "feeling tone" significantly.

Roodgorf2• 11 years ago

This is pretty irrelevant to the actual conversation but, it's honing isn't it? Have I been saying it wrong this whole time?

Glide• 11 years ago

Hone in is so common that it's now listed.

To hone is to sharpen or to perfect. You can hone a blade.

Home in is the phrase that has more widespread use. A missile homes in. It probably has roots to do with homing pigeons.

Roodgorf2• 11 years ago

Ah, interesting, thank you.

I always thought that it should be home, but heard it more often as hone, so I figured there must be some etymological history I was unaware of. Apparently I just had a bad sample set.

Homing in on the Source of Runner’s High

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