Euphoria and ecstasy: chasing the runner's high
This post is about running. If you are not into running but are interested in ‘unexplained psychological phenomena’, read on.
I’m not sure if I count as a ‘runner’. I would say I am an average runner but my husband calls himself average with his ‘Big adventures on average talent’ slogan and I don't even aim to run like him. Maybe I am the genuinely average? The average person’s average? At the end of February I was making great progress with running, getting faster and running further. Then my daughter was ill, we moved house, the school and pre-nursery closed again because of the pandemic, my deadlines clustered, and other ‘life stuff’ as usual. So it was May before I ran again, and since then I’ve been running for a few weeks then off for several weeks depending on what’s going on in our life, so I am sort of maintaining where I am at the moment but not where I was in February.
Maybe ‘aspiring runner’ best describes me. I love everything about running – outdoors - and I love making progress towards my running goals. I have several running goals for the year, which despite all the ‘life stuff’ are still possible at this half-way point in the year. This year I want to:
- Run 21km (My furthest this year was 12.26km in February, and I have literally just got back to that point comfortably)
- Run 5k in 25 minutes (my fastest this year was 26:53, as part of a 5.76km run in February but now I run much slower).
- Five trail runs (I’ve been once and I loved it)
- Take part in running events - one 10k, and two Fun Runs with the children (They’ve all been cancelled so far because of Covid but hopefully there will be opportunities at some point this year)
These goals are really motivating for me. When I have to restart after a break, knowing it will be hard and that I won’t be able to run as fast or far as I could before, I feel despondent and I can’t be bothered to start again, but these goals help me to overcome that quickly.
I also feel motivated to run more because despite perhaps not being a ‘proper’ runner, I have experienced a phenomenon that is not commonly experienced, even by serious runners, and I want to experience it again. I often get a ‘soaring’ sort of feeling when running, usually when the music is just right at that moment and totally in sync with my mind and body. But that's not what I’m not talking about. Often I feel energised and exuberant after running. Most people will have heard talk of the feel-good effects of ‘endorphins’ being released through running or other exercise. This is more than that though. The first time it happened was back in February, the first time I broke 12 km. It was absolutely scorching and most of it felt like a slog. At about 9k I noticed that I was barely moving and really struggling, so I switched to some different music and made it to the end of my planned loop. By then I was feeling good and decided to carry on for a nice round 11k. This meant crossing the dam itself with no shade and brutal sun (I run after school drop-off and usually during 9:30 – 11am, so the sun is out in full force). I crossed it, but then to avoid having to cross back over to finish at the car park, I took a detour that was longer, hillier but included a few sweet patches of shade. Then at around 12km, running (slowly) up a steep hill, I felt a blissful wave of shivers all over my body: skin and scalp tingling with a silvery, cool, sparkling feeling. That feeling, with its elation and ease carried me the rest of the way up the hill and as it faded I was only a few feet away from the end. I’ve had that experience again since, to a lesser extent, but not recently. This wasn’t delirium and dehydration from pushing myself beyond my ability – I felt normal and fine afterwards. Reading up on this ‘runners’ high’ afterwards I discovered that it usually happens when you have been running for at least an hour.
Not much is known about this phenomenon; a lot of the research has been conducted on mice, and not everyone, even the most serious ultrarunners, ever experience this, although I am far from alone in it. However, even if you never get this level of ‘high’, I think most people know the evidence is clear that running and exercise, due to the various chemicals that are released in the body, are not only good for the body (more than good actually), but also good for mind function as well as mental health.
Actually, despite the often credited ‘endorphins’, research shows that they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier so are probably not responsible for the positive emotional effects of exercise. The runner’s high is also not blocked by chemicals that stop endorphins from binding in the right place, another indication that they are not responsible. Instead it could be the brain’s endocannabinoids system—the same one affected by marijuana. Other candidates found naturally in our bodies include norepinephrine, dopamine, or serotonin which have all been shown to help to reduce depression, and which tend to be released and produced in higher concentrations during exercise. The most common anti-depression medications, like Prozac, are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. In other words they work by prolonging and increasing the availability of serotonin in the brain by preventing reuptake.
Research has established that exercise can prevent or reduce depression symptoms, to an extent that has been shown to be comparable or even greater than other forms of treatment such as psychotherapy and medicine.
So although this won’t apply to everyone, and not everyone can run, running can make you feel good, and even help to alleviate depressive symptoms. And maybe you will be one of those people for whom it sometimes triggers euphoric elation. Doesn’t that sound worth a try?
Craft, L. and Perna, F. (2004) ‘The benefits of exercise for the clinically depressed.’ Prim Care Companion Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 6(3)
Fuss, J., Steinle, J., Bindila, L., Auer, M., Kirchherr, H., Lutz, B. and Gass, P. (2015) ‘A runner’s high depends on cannabinoid receptors in mice.’ PNAS 112 (42) 13105-13108
