Good Morning Finishers,
Today is Sunday. While mustering the mental fortitude to write this week’s Monday Mugs, I’m simultaneously battling a small hangover and a familiar foe that goes by the name: The Sunday Scaries.
Yes, I had a little too much to drink last night, and because I did, I did not make it out for a run this weekend.
Whenever I don’t make it out for a run that I planned on doing, I turn into a very anxious and stressed person. I become very conscious of my body and hyper analyze all of the poor eating decisions I’ve recently made. My head gets cloudy and I let myself stress over a million things that really don’t matter that much. It’s like the snickers commercial with the slogan, “You’re not you when you’re hungry…eat snickers.”
So in my condition, I got to thinking, “why do I feel so much better when I run?” There is a very clear and obvious distinction between how I feel when I run and don’t run and I wanted answers as to why that is. So I did some research and compiled the high-level findings for you all today. Shall we dive in?
The Mental Benefits of Running
Running makes you feel good. That’s why people do it. More than ~610 million people globally run on a consistent basis making up nearly 8% of the entire population. The act of running itself is not what’s drawing so many people in though. Most don’t find pounding their feet on pavement for miles at a time a particularly “fun” activity. It’s the mental and physical benefits that makes this sport so attractive.
Do you ever feel regret after going out for a run? I’ll answer that for you, NO you haven’t. Regardless of how far, fast, or furious your run was, at the end of it you always experience some sense of fulfillment and satfifaction and today I’m going to tell you why this happens.
The Brain Chemistry of Running
Endorphins and Endocannabanoids
Ever heard of endorphins? These are chemicals produced in our brain, spinal cord, and many other parts of the body that, in simple terms, make us feel good. Pain medications like Morphine and Codeine produce endorphins to alter our brain’s perception of pain. These chemicals are one of the “happy chemicals” that make us feel “euphoric” in a sense, which unfortunately is why many people end up getting addicted to opioids.
A better alternative for endorphins? Running. These chemicals are released in our brain at a higher rate when we run. The suppression of perceived pain that happens is what allowed our ancestors to hunt for food. The less pain we feel, the more we can hunt. The more we can hunt, the longer we can survive.
This correlation between endorphins and running has been known for decade. However, more recent studies have found other biological substances responsible for the “feel good” effect of running. Endocannabinoids are molecules naturally produced in our body that produce the delightful sensation someone gets from the THC in marijuana. There is an entire Endocannabinoid sytem that impacts our sleep, mood, memory, and many other elements of our health. I’ve talked about these chemicals in recent Mug Thoughts.
These two molecules are the main drivers of “Runner’s High” or the sweet sweet rush of happiness ew might feel on or after a run. Some beleive this term to be a myth, but science has our back on this one. The actual “high” looks different from person to person, and it certainly doesn’t happen on every run. Regardless of how often this high happens though, our brain is definitely hard at work crafting these feel good chemicals when we’re running.
Neurogenesis
As we get older our brain shrinks. Scientists estimate that the volume of the brain shinks at about 5% per decade after age 40, and faster after the age of 70. This shrinkage is why we’re able to tease our grandparents when they forget where they put their car keys completely space on the location of the TV remote.
The hippocampus, the part of our brain responsible for learning and memory, is heavily impacted by aging. Ever heard the phrase, “You can’t teach a dog new tricks?” It stems from the increased neuroinflammation, altered intracellular signalling, and reduced synaptic plasticity in the declining hippocampus (sorry 4 da big words). This process is related to the cause of diseases like PTSD, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and depression.
Neurogenesis is the process of creating new neurons in the brain. The production of these neurons helps combat the aging of the brain and you’ll never guess what helps neurogenesis take place? You guessed it: Running. Aerobic exercise assists neurogenesis in several ways. It increases the rate in which the cells are created, accelereates the maturation of the cells, and aids in connecting the cells to the rest of the brain.
Consistency with running is the only way to realize this benefit however. Studies found that only running for a week had little impact on neuronal growth, whereas continued exercise of 3 weeks or more showed clear evidence of neurogenesis taking place.
What does all this mean? The more ew run, the bigger our brain. Well, that isn’t entirely true, but running does dramatically help our brain flourish later in life and can be vital in preventing cognitive decline.
Cognition
Aside from chemically induced mental benefits of running, there also process related ones. The way we think, also known as cognition, can also be improved through running.
It doesn’t matter who you are, the battle with stress and anxiety is one we all have to fight. We’re all balancing what seems like a million different things on a daily basis. It might be work, school, family, relationships, finances, or social status weighing you down. It might also be the racial hostility going in the world, the craziness of this election, or idk…a global pandemic we’re STILL in causing the stress. Regardless of what it is, we carry it with us every single day, and sometimes find ouservles completely consumed by it.
Thinking about our stress is overwhelming because we likely can’t completely solve it in the moment. If we can muster the courage to get out the door though, running can liberate us from that stress. When we run, we have one goal in mind: “finish.” Our brain shifts focus away from the things we can’t solve and instead focuses on whats right in front of us. We find ourselves in the moment, realizing progress with every stride, and getting lost in the fulfillment of self-improvement.
And at the end…we celebrate an achievement. Whether that achievement is big or small, we end up feeling like we did something good. No matter what it took to get to that moment; waking up early, overcoming doubt, or a very busy schedule; we feel proud, fulfilled, and grateful that we got here.
This victory can then be taken and applied to other parts of our lives. If we can get our asses up and out for a run, what else can we do? Running creates this momentum of empowerment that can transcend and amount of self-doubt or worry. It helps us realize that we are capable of doing hard things, not just in running, but in all things in life.
And it doesn’t end there…
The full impact of running on the brain is still a subject being researched today and new findings will continue to come out. There are other realized benefits that I’ve found in my own life that I’m sure others will agree with.
The physical benefits of running consistently have dramatically influenced my self-esteem. As humans, we naturally feel better when our bodies look the way we want them to, and running is one of the most efficient means of doing so. I’ve lost over 40 lbs since starting M1F and for the first time in my life feel confident in the way I look and feel.
Running has also helped me to find an identity. I’ve always wanted to have a “thing” or hobby that I feel passionate about. I played sports growing up, but never truly found anything that I knew I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That is until I found running. When people ask me about myself, one of the first things I say now is that I’m a runner. My friends know me as a runner, my family knows me as a runner, and people on social media know that I’m a runner. I’m really proud to carry a brand with me and have something in my life that I feel personally attached to.
Finally, running also comes up a very special community (like the one we have with M1F). There is this sense of unity between people that run and I’ve been fortunate to come in contact with so many amazing people because of it. I’m connected to you all reading this email because of running. Whenever I come across someone at the grocery store wearing a Garmin watch, I say hello to them and ask if they are a runner. I meet people in the races I participate in and have formed several friendships from that. I feel like I am a part of this greater community that covers the entire globe and that to me feels incredibly powerful.
Wrapping up
Hopefully, by now you are on board with the fact that running supports our mental health in so many ways. There are chemical benefits, structural benefits, cognitive benefits, and benefits that are a by-product of all these things.
They say that running is as much of a mental sport and it is physical. Turns out, they weren’t kidding!
Cheers,
Zack
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