What is a Runner's High and Is It Even Real?
If you’ve ever heard someone rave about a “runner’s high,” you might imagine an ecstatic, euphoric moment mid-jog. While it can happen, science suggests this blissful buzz may not come from where you think.
When you start running, your body kicks into gear: your breathing deepens, your heart rate climbs, and your muscles begin demanding more oxygen-rich blood. Over time, regular aerobic exercise like running can improve both your physical and mental health.
Consistent cardiovascular exercise has been shown to stimulate neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells) and increase the size of your hippocampus — the brain’s learning and memory centre. The mental benefits are wide-ranging: better focus, reduced stress, improved mood, and protection against cognitive decline.
So why do we feel good for exercising? This is often attributed to endorphins, which are chemicals made by the body to help reward you for healthy and feel-good activities. These chemicals do act at the muscle level, but due to their large size, cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier, a "mesh" that doesn't allow large molecules to pass through.
Instead, runner's high is likely due to endocannabinoids — natural, cannabis-like chemicals your body produces that do reach the brain and help reduce anxiety and boost your mood.
Yes - a runner may actually be "high" when these chemicals reach the brain! Not all runners experience this high, with approximately 70% of runners across a range of studies reporting ever experiencing this phenomenon (Siebers et al, 2002). It seems as though we are more likely to experience a runner's high with the right combination of duration (30 minutes +) and intensity (70-85% of age-adjusted maximum heart rate).
Even if you don’t get that mythical “high,” the benefits of running are real and wide-ranging. You’ll support not just your joints, muscles, and cardiovascular system, but also your brain and mental health.
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