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The runner’s high has long been an elusive experience that some mile chasers know well and others, not so much. It’s often described as a run that feels easy, exhilarating, even euphoric. But the reason for this happening is almost as difficult to pin down as the feeling itself.
Recently, however, German researchers studied how the brain responds to running and found that the ability to get “high” while logging miles might be hard-wired within us. Years ago, our ancestors’ survival likely depended on chasing down food.
The desire to live was possibly their motivation to run and run fast, and the feel-good brain chemicals released when they did so may have helped them achieve the speed and distances required, says David A. Raichlen, Ph.D., a professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California. The runner’s high may have served (and serves today) as a natural painkiller, masking tired legs and blistered feet, he says.
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Even though you no longer have to chase down dinner, learning how happy brain reactions are sparked may help you achieve the runner’s high more often. Here’s what to know so you gain that other-level run.
The Runner’s High Trigger: Endorphins
Nature’s home-brewed opiates, endorphins are chemicals that act a lot like their medically engineered counterpart, morphine. Runners have credited them for their feel-good effects for decades, but it wasn’t until 2008 that German researchers used brain scans on runners and were able to identify exactly where they originated. The scientists found that during two-hour-long runs, subjects’ prefrontal and limbic regions (which light up in response to emotions like love) spewed out endorphins. The greater the endorphin surge in these brain areas, the more euphoric the runners reported feeling.
How to get more endorphins
Push yourself hard, but not too hard. Endorphins are painkillers produced in response to physical discomfort, says Matthew Hill, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute. But that doesn’t mean your runs should be excruciating; you need to find a sweet spot where they are comfortably challenging (think: tempo run).
In the German study, for example, the subjects were experienced runners for whom a two-hour run at a six- to seven-mile-an-hour pace wasn’t easy nor was it gut-busting. “Most runners I have worked with experience endorphins when they are pushing their bodies, but not usually at max effort,” says Cindra S. Kamphoff, Ph.D., director of the Center for Sport and Performance Psychology at Minnesota State University.
A short, casual run likely won’t produce enough discomfort to trigger a rush, but if you attempt a pace or distance that’s too aggressive, you’ll possibly be too overwhelmed by the effort to feel good. As powerful as they are, endorphins can’t override an injury or lack of training (which is why newbies aren’t likely to feel elated when they are just starting out).
Hooking up with others could also help: An Oxford University study reported that rowers who exercised together significantly increased their endorphin release compared with solo rowers.
When you are on your own, consider wearing headphones: Research shows that listening to your favorite music may spike endorphins.
The Runner’s High Trigger: Endocannabinoids
Endorphins get all the attention, but your body also pumps out endocannabinoids, which are a naturally synthesized version of THC, the chemical responsible for the buzz that marijuana produces. The most examined endocannabinoid produced in the body, anandamide, is believed to create a feeling of calmness, Hill says.
Endorphins can be created only by specialized neurons, but pretty much any cell in the body is capable of making endocannabinoids, which means they have the potential to make a bigger impact on your brain.
How to get endocannabinoids
Endocannabinoid production is believed to react more strongly in response to stress as opposed to pain (the stronger endorphin activator). Differentiating between physical stress and discomfort during a run is nearly impossible. Which means the same mechanism that triggers endorphins can also trigger endocannabinoids: a challenging (not killer) workout.
Raichlen says that running at 70 to 85 percent of your age-adjusted maximum heart rate is optimal in spiking the primary stress hormone cortisol, and producing endocannabinoids. (If you’re 30, you’d aim for between 142 and 161 beats per minute.)
Hill’s research suggests that, in small doses, mental stress may also increase endocannabinoid production. So prerace jitters could have a payoff. However, chronic stress can dull this effect.
That may be one reason why Cecilia J. Hillard, Ph.D., director of the Neuroscience Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has found that people need eight hours of sleep a night for optimal endocannabinoid production. What’s more, her research shows that endocannabinoid levels are three times greater first thing in the morning compared with when you hit the hay. Though there’s no scientific proof, this could suggest that a morning run is more likely to produce a high than an afternoon or evening run. Set your alarm; it’s worth experimenting!
We mentioned before that working with a partner may help you out. But just because your running buddy gets that coveted runner’s high doesn’t necessarily mean you will. Or at least, you may have to keep tinkering.
In 2019, researchers looked at 25 collegiate runners, both male and female, and tested their saliva before and after a long-distance run. (They focused on saliva because it contained information on RNA, which is what your DNA uses to make feel-good proteins like natural opioids and cannabinoids.) But not everyone’s processes it at the same degree, meaning you might have a runner’s high, while your running partners are still in slog mode.
Lead author, Steven Hicks, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the Penn State College of Medicine, suggests playing around with different conditions—like longer runs or more sprinting, for example—to turn the proper pathways on, which may in turn help you catch a runner’s high.
