The feeling known as "runner's euphoria" is familiar to anyone who does or has done sports. It is an incredibly positive phenomenon that makes you feel very good both physically and mentally, which also significantly raises your pain threshold and strongly reduces stress levels. Until now, it was thought that opioid receptors and the endorphins that activate them were responsible for the positive feeling associated with physical activity, a popular term for "endorphin ejection." However, a recent study in this area has shown that it is not endorphins but endocannabinoids that are responsible for the feeling of euphoria in athletes. Here are more details.
"Runner's euphoria" is not due to endorphins but to endocannabinoids, the study confirms!
Anyone who plays or has played sports knows that physical exertion is accompanied by the so-called "runner's / athlete's euphoria." Until now, such a state was attributed to the body's secretion of endorphins. However, a recent study by scientists from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf showed something quite different. German experts have concluded that all positive processes occurring during exercise are due to endocannabinoids!
In a nutshell, ENDOCANNABINOIDS are nothing but cannabinoids produced by our body(endogenous), they show effects like cannabinoids supplied from cannabis, the best example is anandamide - an organic chemical compound from the group of psychoactive endogenous cannabinoids that we find in all living organisms.
In the study, the researchers worked with athletes, who were tested during and after exercise. They found that even when the study participants had their opioid receptors blocked, meaning endorphins had no effect on their brains, they still experienced the same euphoria. The study also showed that these cannabinoids can have a big impact on anxiety and mood, even if our bodies produce them naturally.
The study, and its findings published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, is further confirmation of how the endocannabinoid system, and the cannabinoids themselves, play an important role in our lives, with the same effect on all vertebrates.