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
You exercise so intensely that your muscles burn and you gasp for breath. Then you slow down for a minute or two, catch your breath, and then go very fast again. This training technique has been used in all endurance sports since the 1920’s. Now George Brooks of the University of California at Berkeley has shown why interval training makes you a better athlete.
Inside each muscle cell are mitochondria, the little furnaces that burn fuel for energy. A major fuel for your muscles during exercise is the sugar, glucose. In a series of chemical reactions, glucose is broken down step by step, with each step releasing energy. When enough oxygen is available, the glucose releases all of its energy until only carbon dioxide and water remain; these are blown off through your lungs.
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