Ah, the joys of a natural high. A state experienced when all the body's systems are in rythm. Very rarely do they get better than the runners high - a feeling of pleasure and content that can be replicated in very few other ways. The runners high is especially rewarding in that it is generated in pursuit of a fitter and healthier body and not in the pursuit of a synthetic alteration to ones biochemisty. Still, the cause of this altered state is the byproduct of chemicals that are produced during long-term and/or strenuous exercise. They are known as endorphins...
...But not so fast, apparently endorphins are not the only nor primary cause of this wonderful feeling. Although endorphins like cousin chemicals opiates certainly dull pain and cause euphoria, they cannot claim credit for a runners elation after an easy 10... miles. Endorphins are limited by their innability to cross the blood-brain barrier, thus preventing them from fully activating opiate recepters. Therefore it must be another substance causing the elation. Anandamide turns out to be the drug of choice for the endurance athlete. And it just so happens that this chemical triggers the same receptor as that of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). Interestingly enough this receptor would have never been discovered had it not been for a research study on the effects of marijuana. Nevertheless, runners and stoners have one this in common and that is the desire for a bliss producing chemical known as anandamide.
~Jerb
http://runtrails.blogspot.com/2005/01/understanding-runners-high.html
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