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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Runner’s High Revisited

Posted October 1st, 2007 at 1:07 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

HesFit.com, our men’s health and fitness partner site, recently reported that runner’s high was largely caused by the presence and production of endorphins in the human body. Interestingly enough, it turns out this issue isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem. Recent research questions the role of endorphins in the onset of runner’s high and turns instead to other factors to explain this state of temporary euphoria.

Endorphins are hormones, recognized for their morphine-like qualities, that are produced in your body during exercise. As Dr. Owen Anderson in Runner’s World magazine was quoted as saying, it is “[s]tress, either emotional or physical [that] triggers the release of endorphins into the bloodstream.” Intense physical activity, an undeniable cause of stress on the body, is widely recognized as the main trigger in this release of hormones. Consequently, many scientists have come to believe that there is a significant link between the release of endorphins and the elevated moods athletes are in after long, hard workouts.

Read the rest of Lisa’s analysis at our partner site: HesFit.com

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Explaining Runner’s High

Posted September 25th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Ever feel unusually cheerful after hitting the gym or increasingly confident after finishing up laps at the track? You’re not alone. This state of happiness after exercise is known as “runner’s high,” and has been a point of interest for researchers and athletes for years.The question is, what exactly causes runner’s high? Turns out, it’s all about endorphins.

Quite simply, endorphins are hormones that your body manufactures during exercise that are found mainly in the pituitary gland and nervous system. The interesting thing about endorphins is that they are renowned for having morphine-like qualities. In other words, they act like naturally-produced painkillers and sedatives. And, as exercise is a form of stress on the body, by participating in physical activity you are helping to release surges of endorphins.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit our partner site: HesFit.com

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Warning: If you start running, you may become “addicted”

Posted January 15th, 2007 at 7:03 PM by Amanda Black

Section: Running & Training, Motivation, Health & Fitness, Exercise

People often look at serious runners with awe and admiration, wondering why they would choose to do such a thing and how a person could get up at five in the morning and go for a run in the freezing cold before the start of a stressful day.

For most runners the answer is simple: they need it, they love it and they just don’t feel “right” if they don’t go for their run. In a lot of ways, running is actually psychologically and physically addictive. The body produces natural endorphins during exercise; the so called “runner’s high” and many people just can’t get enough! Author Pam Hilts explains that these endorphins:
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