Study finds runner's high isn't myth

From the August 18, 2009 edition of The Oklahoman
By Adam Cohen and Dr. Stephen Prescott

Adam’s training journal

I can’t recall the first time I heard the term "runner’s high.” But I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced it in the quarter-century since I ran my first 5-kilometer race in Stan Smiths (shoes) and a pair of too-short shorts.

It’s not that running doesn’t bring me pleasure. I certainly enjoy its effects: aerobic and cardiovascular fitness, not to mention free rein to indulge in that extra cookie. And almost palpable feelings of accomplishment and relief follow the completion of a workout, particularly a grueling one.

But euphoria during a run? No way. At best, I feel neutral. At worst, I feel like I’m about to lose my lunch (actually, at worst, I have).

I’ve spoken to other runners who say that they have experienced this mythical runner’s high. Are they full of it? Or am I just missing the endorphin boat?

Dr. Prescott prescribes

If there is such a thing as runner’s high, I’ve never made it far enough to experience it. My distance running "career” consisted solely of high school football training runs in the dead of the Texas summer, and I doubt that such miserable activities are even capable of producing endorphins.

But I guess that’s really not an answer.

Once upon a time — not long ago — science lacked the ability to answer your question. To test whether the body was releasing opiates during exercise, we would’ve had to perform a spinal tap before and after a workout to search for a flood of endorphins from the brain. And who’d volunteer to participate in a research project like that?

Today, thanks to advanced imaging technology, researchers can look at runners’ brains before and after a run. Pairing this technique with recently available chemicals that reveal endorphins in the brain, German researchers tried to ascertain whether runner’s high exists.

The study, published last year, found that in the distance runners who served as study subjects, endorphins were produced during two-hour runs. Those endorphins were attaching themselves to the limbic and prefrontal areas of the brain, regions associated with emotions.

These findings complement previous research, which has found that runners have increased pain tolerance.

This research certainly supports what you — and I — have heard from so many: that the runner’s high is real.

So why haven’t you felt it? Perhaps it’s helped buffer you from pain you might otherwise have experienced during a tough workout. It also may be the biochemical explanation for the feeling of accomplishment and relief you described following runs.

As you’ll recall, you’re trying to make good on a pledge to run every day this year. To me, that sounds a bit like addictive behavior. And what fuels addictive behavior?

That’s right — endorphins. So maybe, just maybe, you’ve experienced runner’s high after all.

Prescott, a physician and medical researcher, is president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
Cohen is a marathoner and OMRF’s senior vice president and general counsel.

President's News Page