Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Evolution of the Runner's High

Running has proven to be essential to evolutionary needs. During the primitive days of humans, running was essential for life, and those that could run well survived and were able to pass along their traits. The survival instinct to run has carried on to the present; therefore professors at University of Arizona researched what makes a person run. They studied the levels of endocannabinoids, a chemical naturally produced by the body to lighten moods, of three different mammals: humans, dogs, and ferrets. They found that humans and dogs produce normal levels of endocannabinoids after walking, but higher levels after running. Ferrets, animals that do not usually run, had no change in endocannabinoid levels after running. The increase in human levels of endocannabinoids after running explains the runner’s high and the reason why we still run today. 

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