Striving4Zen

Throughout the world, amateurs, experts and the media agree that prolonged jogging raises people's spirits. And many believe that the body's own opioids, so called endorphins, are the cause of this. But this has never been proved until now.

Researchers at the Technische Universität München and the University of Bonn succeeded to demonstrate the existence of an 'endorphin driven runner's high'.

In an imaging study they were able to show, for the first time, increased release of endorphins in certain areas of the athletes' brains during a two-hour jogging session. Their results are also relevant for patients suffering from chronic pain, because the body's own opiates are produced in areas of the brain which are involved in the suppression of pain. The researchers, some of whom are also members of the German Research Network of Neuropathic Pain, which is also funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, thereby show that jogging not only makes you high, but can also relieve pain. The results of the study have now been published in the scientific journal Cerebral Cortex.

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Labels: endorphins, exercise, healthy living, runner's high, running, study