Apr 2, 2008 5:57 pm US/Eastern
Runner's High Creates Euphoria For Athletes
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Dr. Sonia Lewin, a member of the MassGeneral Marathon Team training for her first marathon, says her runs rarely begin well. "Things are hurting, a little ache and pain here, and I wonder why am I or anybody is doing this."
Then one day, eight miles into a long run, a breakthrough.
"I just became aware of feeling really great," says Lewin. "I wasn't fighting with my brain, I stopped hurting, I just felt really good. But I'm not sure if that was the runner's high."
The so-called runner's high is discussed enough that a recent New York Times article on the subject was among the newspaper's emailed stories for days. We asked runners training on the Newton hills this weekend if they experience runner's high. A sampling of answers:
"Running does make me high, in a way that certain substances don't."
"I'm going through it right now."
"It feels like you won a lot of money."
"Does running make me high? I don't know, I'm still waiting."
So is it all in our heads? Yes… but literally, not figuratively. Researchers at the University of Bonn report in the medical journal Cerebral Cortex that running does elicit a rush of endorphins, naturally occurring opiates, to parts of the brain. Using PET scans, a brain imaging technology, the researchers were able to show the endorphins being produced were attaching themselves to the parts of the brain that involve emotion.
"The German research is interesting because it shows where in the brain the opiates are happening," says Dr Alice Flaherty, a neurologist at MassGeneral Hospital. "I think most medical people and researchers believed this was true but it's wonderful to see where it's happening."
Flaherty says the effect and the timing of it vary from runner to runner.
"I have felt euphoria," says Sonia Lewin, running along the Charles River. Maybe not every step of the way, but even a little euphoria goes a long way when you're training to run 26.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
