Runner's high, depression, drugs and addiction

This Sunday, after we finished a particularly long gruelling trail run in the heat and humidity, on the beautiful curves of Aruna Asaf Ali forest ridge, a couple of us drove to the Delhi border to get some breakfast beers. 

As expected after a little while when the slight fuzziness of the alcohol hit our brains and tongues started lolling, we started a conversation about the future races that we would be running and the culmination of this racing season.

Our discussion was focussed on ADHM and SCMM. Then suddenly cycling was discussed and Ashish suggested cycling from Manali to Leh. Now my memory is fuzzy since Kingfishers (plural) were nesting in my brain but someone mentioned (most likely Ashish) that we should stop running after SCMM and rest our bodies. As soon as he said that, everyone looked at him and smirked and then the smirks turned into laughter. Why were we laughing? We were laughing because this alleged promise to rest and time off running has been discussed or thought about individually but never implemented. None of us was willing to stop running even after the season was ending!

Before writing this blog, I had been researching on which drug best stimulates a runner's high (that so called endorphin rush) because, well, curiosity, My Dear Watson! The culmination of that blog would have been something like "the runner's high resembles XYZ drug so just ruminate immediately after a hard run and savour that feeling since it won't come again till you push your body."

I had been searching and hanging around on drug use forums and reading up research papers and random articles, to pin point the drug or chemical which would best mimic a runner's high.

I won't try to explain a runner's high in detail, but you know what it is. The processing of emotions and bodily chemicals involved after a run may be different for different people but ultimately I believe that the final feeling is that of serenity, calmness, completeness, heightened senses (yet in control) and euphoria. 

But after the time off running conversation which was supplemented by that early morning golden nectar of cereals, I started thinking why we were unanimously not willing to hang up our shoes and stop the weekly torture of unpleasant training sessions at unearthly hours in the Delhi weather.

That is when I realised the addiction part of running. Running, drugs and addiction. Yup, you heard it, you naughty serial runner you, and that is when I decided to delve into the addiction part of it.

Most of the individual user feedback was taken by me from www.bluelight.org where "experts" tried their best to nail the drug whose effects best mimic a runner's high. Rest of the information was from research papers, medical articles and random articles.

Now coming to the long and short of it, in the order of decreasing closeness to the feelings of a runner's high; the drugs or chemicals which produce the same feeling are the following:

1. Opioids (morphine, oxycodone, heroin etc.)
2. Cannabinoids (Marijuana/weed/grass)
3. 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan, also known as oxitriptan, is a naturally occurring amino acid and chemical precursor as well as a metabolic intermediate in the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin from tryptophan). 5 HTP induces serotonin production and serotonin is the calming chemical.
4. Nitrous Oxide (the giggle gas).
5. Amphetamines.
6. Others (rare mentions, therefore I'm treating these as inconsequential).

Running has been recommended to many, to fight depression. In fact the amount of endorphins released from running have led to the medical conclusion that running can be a substitute for anti-depressants. As another runner friend Akshay Khanna (no, not the actor, but an entrepreneur in Gurgaon), likes to say "Many of the best and fastest ultra marathoners around the world who have just exploded into the running scene come with a story and usually they are are ex-addicts". Have the the ex-addicts picked up a new addiction? Yes, if you believe in statistics.

What are endorphins? Endorphins are any of a group of peptide hormones that bind to opioid receptors and act as neurotransmitters. Endorphins reduce the sensation of pain and affect emotions. They are peptides which activate the body's opiate receptors, causing an analgesic effect. Analgesics as you know, are painkillers. So, endorphins are natural pain killers which are produced by our bodies. Running produces these in massive quantities and the harder you go the more the production. In fact the word endorphin is a combination of endo + morphine. Let us call it natural morphine.

Morphine and codeine (both opioids), most resemble the Endorphins in our body and bind to the same receptors in the brain.

A psychologist, Virginia Grant, performed a research on rats wherein the rats were allowed to feed for 1 hour every day and for the rest of the 23 hours they were left in two cages. One cage was empty and the other cage had running wheels in it. The rats in the first cage would eat enough to stay healthy whereas the rats in the second cage (which had a running wheel) would not eat enough but would run excessively and eventually ran themselves to their own death by starvation. It was postulated that the rats who ran themselves to death, did so because they were trying to endlessly produce (through running) the feel good chemicals like that of any addictive drug. An addictive drug causes a surge of dopamine in the brain, resulting in the building of the small proteins enkaphilin, dynorphin and substance. The rats were trying to create as much as possible.

At Tufts University, researchers found that when rats were given Naloxone (a drug used to counter an opiate overdose and induce immediate withdrawal symptoms), the rats who ran on an exercise wheel had a substantially higher withdrawal than the inactive rats. This again reinforces the endogenous opiate production from running and the consequent addiction to it.

The findings on the chemical production during exercise, has medical science also focussing on phenylethylamine (PEA). PEA is produced during running and it is known to reduce depression in a majority of subjects and even acts at the same speed as amphetamines. PEA is found in chocolates too (yes, now you have research patting your back and telling you I love you no matter what, while you devour that slab of chocolate....hehehe). 

It has been found that after exercise at 70% maximum heart rate, the level of PEA was around 77% higher than normal, with differences in percentages in different individuals.

Donna Kritz-Silverstein from UCSD, found that exercise on a regular basis can maintain the positive effects of general mood elevation from exercise. People who exercised had a lower Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A lower BDI means better mood in general and regular exercise can maintain a lower BDI.

There are studies to show that we are chemically programmed to run and not just from an evolutionary point of view to chase and catch prey. That chemical programming may be a reason why we feel like running regularly and every missed workout feels like a guilt trip. The bad moods and crankiness on missing a workout can be attributed to the absence of chemicals which are produced during a run and which we are programmed to seek. Basically a drug addiction, but fortunately a positive addiction (mostly).

David Raichlen did an experiment where he made dogs (somewhat distance runners) run and ferrets (not even remotely decent distance runners) run. It was found that the dogs produced the chemicals but the ferrets did not. Says Raichlen: "It suggests some level of aerobic exercise was encouraged by natural selection, and it may be fairly deep in our evolutionary roots." The idea of this research was to focus on the concept of "Wired To Run" i.e. we actively seek the chemical produce of running.

Robin Kanarek, psychology professor at Tufts University, says "Exercise, like drugs of abuse, leads to the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine, which are involved with a sense of reward," Kanarek said "As with food intake and other parts of life, moderation seems to be the key. Exercise, as long as it doesn't interfere with other aspects of one's life, is a good thing with respect to both physical and mental health."

So, as long as the addiction is healthy, keep running and remaining high for a short while everyday and then plan and seek your fix the next day. Chemistry 101 just gave you a thumbs up to never stop training, except when you're injured. Injuries are just shit. Shit nuggets in caviar.