The Two Sides Of “Runner’s High”
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
“Runner’s high” is the experience of euphoria that can come about from sustained exercise such as running. Popular wisdom holds that this is a matter of endorphins, which are indeed typically released when we exercise.
However, while that can certainly explain increased pain tolerance (due to endorphins’ activity on opioid receptors), blocking opioid receptors has revealed that this isn’t the primary mechanism of action for creating euphoria, which is unaffected by that.
So where is the euphoria coming from?
One high, multiple pathways
Firstly, regular 10almonds readers might remember How Nature Provides Us With A Surprisingly Powerful Painkiller.
That’s about how being out in nature (or even just viewing nature scenes) changes how we process pain, on a neural level. Not anything to do with expectations or emotions, but rather, physically, what the neurons of the brain do with the signals that are sent there.
The way endorphins work is a little different, and has more to do with blocking the transmission of pain signals. But, as we mentioned up top, blocking the opioid receptors doesn’t change the mood benefits of running.
Here’s the science for that, by the way: Exercise-induced euphoria and anxiolysis do not depend on endogenous opioids in humans
Readers who clicked through to read that (good for you, don’t just take our word for things!) will have noticed that an alternative is proposed as the primary mechanism of action, namely endocannabinoids.
Produced right there within each synaptic cleft (that is, the truly tiny gap between two connecting neurons), by specialist enzymes, endocannabinoids not only have analgesic properties, but also reduce anxiety—thus, directly improving mood.
Some of the same scientists from that other study, now with a lot more added to the team, went ahead and examined the effects of endocannabinoids, and in particular, anandamide (AEA), which binds to the same receptors as THC.
Firstly, you might be wondering why anandamide gets abbreviated to “AEA” when there’s only one “e” in the word and it’s at the end. That’s a good question, and the paper we’re citing doesn’t explain it at all, but so as to not keep it a mystery: it’s because anandamide is also called N–arachidonoylethanolamine. Still, anandamide does also get called “ANA”, but not in this paper, so we’ll stick to the “AEA” as used.
Now, with that out of the way…
Some highlights from their results:
- AEA rises throughout long-distance running : inexperienced long-distance runners, blood levels of AEA increased progressively at 14 km, 28 km, and around 43 km. Levels remained elevated even after 45 minutes of recovery.
- Running had a stronger effect than walking: when the same runners later walked the same route for the amount of time they had needed to complete the marathon, the increase in AEA was considerably smaller.
- Extreme distances produced a similar response: among ultramarathon runners completing 100 km, 160 km, or 230 km, AEA levels were significantly elevated after the race. Another endocannabinoid, 2-AG, also increased.
You can read this paper in full, here: Endocannabinoid dynamics across marathon and ultramarathon running: evidence from two field studies
But we know that not everyone will want to rush out to run a marathon, so…
Want to learn more about boosting your mood with exercise?
We recommend: Behavioral Activation Against Depression & Anxiety ← a tool for improving mood by changing behavior, creating a positive feedback loop to combat depression and anxiety—and exercise is one very good way to get started (albeit certainly not the only way!—see article for details)
On which note, yes, Running or yoga can help beat depression, research shows – even if exercise is the last thing you feel like
Lastly, there is, incidentally, One More Way Exercise Improves Mental Health ← and that’s often an overlooked one.
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Signs Of Lupus Not To Miss (Butterfly Rash Is Just One Thing Of Many)
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Different kinds of lupus can look quite different:
Things to recognize
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease where your immune system attacks your own body. In the case of systemic lupus, it usually affects your skin, joints, kidneys, lungs, heart, brain, and other organs, while cutaneous lupus refers specifically to lupus affecting your skin.
No matter what kind of lupus it is, though, the skin is the first likely place to notice the signs, so, let’s get into it:
- Lupus in general: lupus can cause a butterfly-shaped facial rash over your cheeks and nose, round scaly plaques, painful mouth or nose sores, widespread flaky rashes, purple-red bumps on your fingers or toes, deep painful nodules under your skin, and scarring hair loss on your scalp.
- Discoid lupus: the most common skin-only form causes thick round scaly lesions on your face or scalp that can scar permanently, leave dark or light patches, and cause permanent hair loss if untreated.
- Tumid lupus: a rarer skin-only form causing firm raised plaques, often on your chest, that heal without scars or pigment changes.
- Chilblain lupus: causes itchy dusky-purple bumps on your fingers, toes, ears, elbows, knees, or nose after cold damp exposure.
- Lupus profundus: a deeper form affecting the fat under your skin, causing painful nodules that can heal with permanent hollows or indentations.
- Subacute cutaneous lupus: produces ring-shaped, scaly, sun-triggered rashes that can resemble eczema or psoriasis, and are more associated with systemic disease.
- Acute cutaneous lupus: includes the classic butterfly or malar rash triggered by sun exposure and is strongly associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.
One other thing to bear in mind is that many other conditions can mimic a lupus butterfly rash, including rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis, so facial redness alone doesn’t confirm lupus.
Since there is no proven cure for lupus yet, lupus generally requires long-term treatment to manage inflammation, prevent organ damage, reduce scarring, and limit permanent hair loss or other unwanted aesthetic effects.
Avoiding common lupus triggers where possible is good in general, for example UV light from the sun or tanning beds, smoking, vaping, infections, stress, surgery, illness, and some medications (always read labels and check for contraindications).
For more on all of this plus visual illustrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
For a much more in-depth treatment of lupus management, you might like this excellent book we reviewed a while back:
The “et al.” in question? Jemima Albayda, MD; Divya Angra, MD; Alan N. Baer, MD; Sasha Bernatsky, MD, PhD; George Bertsias, MD, PhD; Ashira D. Blazer, MD; Ian Bruce, MD; Jill Buyon, MD; Yashaar Chaichian, MD; Maria Chou, MD; Sharon Christie, Esq; Angelique N. Collamer, MD; Ashté Collins, MD; Caitlin O. Cruz, MD; Mark M. Cruz, MD; Dana DiRenzo, MD; Jess D. Edison, MD; Titilola Falasinnu, PhD; Andrea Fava, MD; Cheri Frey, MD; Neda F. Gould, PhD; Nishant Gupta, MD; Sarthak Gupta, MD; Sarfaraz Hasni, MD; David Hunt, MD; Mariana J. Kaplan, MD; Alfred Kim, MD; Deborah Lyu Kim, DO; Rukmini Konatalapalli, MD; Fotios Koumpouras, MD; Vasileios C. Kyttaris, MD; Jerik Leung, MPH; Hector A. Medina, MD; Timothy Niewold, MD; Julie Nusbaum, MD; Ginette Okoye, MD; Sarah L. Patterson, MD; Ziv Paz, MD; Darryn Potosky, MD; Rachel C. Robbins, MD; Neha S. Shah, MD; Matthew A. Sherman, MD; Yevgeniy Sheyn, MD; Julia F. Simard, ScD; Jonathan Solomon, MD; Rodger Stitt, MD; George Stojan, MD; Sangeeta Sule, MD; Barbara Taylor, CPPM, CRHC; George Tsokos, MD; Ian Ward, MD; Emma Weeding, MD; Arthur Weinstein, MD; Sean A. Whelton, MD
The reason we mention this is to render it clear that this isn’t one man’s opinions (as happens with many books about certain topics), but rather, a panel of that many doctors all agreeing that this is correct and good, evidence-based, up-to-date (as of the publication of this latest revised edition all so recently) information.
Want to learn less?
If the aforementioned 848-page opus seems a little too overwhelming, then you might prefer:
The Lupus Solution – by Dr. Tiffany Caplan & Dr. Brent Caplan ← a much slimmer tome; just 182 pages 🙂
Take care!
Share This Post
-
Banana vs Guava – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing banana to guava, we picked the guava.
Why?
Both are great, but it wasn’t close:
In terms of macros, bananas have more than 2x the carbs while guavas have more than 2x the fiber and protein; an easy win for guava.
In the category of vitamins, bananas have more of vitamins B2 and B6, while guavas have a lot more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B5, B7, B9, C, E, and K, sweeping this round easily as well.
Looking at minerals, bananas have more magnesium, manganese, and selenium, while guavas have more calcium, copper, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, winning guavas’ third round in a row.
In other considerations, guavas also have more polyphenols, so that’s another round to guavas.
Adding up the sections makes for an overwhelming overall win for guavas, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?
Enjoy!
Share This Post
-
Beyond Balancing The Books – by George Marino, CPA, CFP
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
We hear a lot about the importance of mindfulness, yet how can Zen-like non-attachment to the material world go well with actually surviving (let alone thriving) in a Capitalist society?
Books that try to connect the two often end up botching it badly to the level of early 2000s motivational posters.
So, what does this book do differently? Mostly it’s because rather than a motivational speech with exhortations to operate on a higher plain and manifest your destiny and all that, it gives practical, down-to-earth advice and offers small simple things you can do or change to mindfully engage with the world of business rather than operating on auto-pilot.
Basically: how to cut out the stress without cutting out your performance.
All in all, we think both your health and your productivity will thank you for it!
Take Your Business (and Brain) “Beyond Balancing The Books” Today
Share This Post
-
A drug that can extend your life by 25%? Don’t hold your breath
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Every few weeks or months, the media reports on a new study that tantalisingly dangles the possibility of a new drug to give us longer, healthier lives.
The latest study centres around a drug involved in targeting interleukin-11, a protein involved in inflammation. Blocking this protein appeared to help mice stave off disease and extend their life by more than 20%.
If only defying the ravages of time could be achieved through such a simple and effort-free way – by taking a pill. But as is so often the case, the real-world significance of these findings falls a fair way short of the hype.
Halfpoint/Shutterstock The role of inflammation in disease and ageing
Chronic inflammation in the body plays a role in causing disease and accelerating ageing. In fact, a relatively new label has been coined to represent this: “inflammaging”.
While acute inflammation is an important response to infection or injury, if inflammation persists in the body, it can be very damaging.
A number of lifestyle, environmental and societal drivers contribute to chronic inflammation in the modern world. These are largely the factors we already know are associated with disease and ageing, including poor diet, lack of exercise, obesity, stress, lack of sleep, lack of social connection and pollution.
While addressing these issues directly is one of the keys to addressing chronic inflammation, disease and ageing, there are a number of research groups also exploring how to treat chronic inflammation with pharmaceuticals. Their goal is to target and modify the molecular and chemical pathways involved in the inflammatory process itself.
What the latest research shows
This new interleukin-11 research was conducted in mice and involved a number of separate components.
In one component of this research, interleukin-11 was genetically knocked out in mice. This means the gene for this chemical mediator was removed from these mice, resulting in the mice no longer being able to produce this mediator at all.
In this part of the study, the mice’s lives were extended by over 20%, on average.
Another component of this research involved treating older mice with a drug that blocks interleukin-11.
Injecting this drug into 75-week old mice (equivalent to 55-year-old humans) was found to extend the life of mice by 22-25%.
These treated mice were less likely to get cancer and had lower cholesterol levels, lower body weight and improved muscle strength and metabolism.
From these combined results, the authors concluded, quite reasonably, that blocking interleukin-11 may potentially be a key to mitigating age-related health effects and improving lifespan in both mice and humans.
Why you shouldn’t be getting excited just yet
There are several reasons to be cautious of these findings.
First and most importantly, this was a study in mice. It may be stating the obvious, but mice are very different to humans. As such, this finding in a mouse model is a long way down the evidence hierarchy in terms of its weight.
Research shows only about 5% of promising findings in animals carry over to humans. Put another way, approximately 95% of promising findings in animals may not be translated to specific therapies for humans.
Second, this is only one study. Ideally, we would be looking to have these findings confirmed by other researchers before even considering moving on to the next stage in the knowledge discovery process and examining whether these findings may be true for humans.
We generally require a larger body of evidence before we get too excited about any new research findings and even consider the possibility of human trials.
Third, even if everything remains positive and follow-up studies support the findings of this current study, it can take decades for a new finding like this to be translated to successful therapies in humans.
Until then, we can focus on doing the things we already know make a huge difference to health and longevity: eating well, exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress and nurturing social relationships.
Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Almonds vs Pistachios – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
It was closer than you might think!
In terms of macros, almonds have a little more protein and a little more fiber, as well as slightly more fat (healthy fats!), while pistachios are higher in carbs. A moderate win for almonds on the macro front.
In the category of vitamins, pistachios have more of vitamins A, B1, and B6, while almonds have more of vitamins B2, B3, and E. We could claim a slight victory for pistachios, based on the larger margins, or else a slight victory for almonds, based on vitamin E being a more common nutritional deficiency than vitamin A, and therefore the more useful vitamin to have more of! On balance, we’re going to call this category a tie.
Looking at minerals, almonds lead with more calcium, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, while pistachios boast more copper, potassium, and selenium, though the margins are more slender for pistachios. Thus, a moderate win for almonds here.
In other considerations, almonds have slightly more polyphenols, assuming they haven’t been blanched (which removes most of the polyphenols), so that’s another modest win for almonds.
Adding up the sections gives an overall win for almonds, but of course, do enjoy either or both (unless you have a nut allergy, in which case, please don’t), because diversity is good and both are excellent in their own right!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts!
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Reasons Why Your Mitochondria Are Getting Destroyed
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Dr. Ashley Froese tells us 13 of the biggest mitochondria-killers:
When those “power plants” get shut down…
How well mitochondria are doing might seem like a trivial issue, since after all, they are so very small, and we humans have bigger things to worry about, right?
But, when it comes down to it, the energy they have is the energy we have. If you don’t recharge your phone battery, your phone dies. If you run your phone battery into the ground and do all the worst things for its longevity, it gives up the ghost entirely much sooner than it otherwise would have done. So it is with mitochondria too.
So, with that in mind, much like you might engage battery-preserving settings on your phone, here are 13 key factors when it comes to mitochondrial health:
- Bad sleep: skipping deep sleep prevents mitochondrial detox, repair, and fusion, leaving your cells overloaded with oxidative waste
- Chronic stress: constant cortisol output forces mitochondria into permanent max-output mode, creating excess oxidative by-products and blocking recovery
- Sedentary lifestyle: lack of movement turns off the signalling that builds new mitochondria, shrinking your overall energy capacity
- Overtraining: daily high-intensity exercise without sufficient rest drives chronic oxidative stress and prevents repair, overloading your system instead of allowing mitochondrial growth
- Sugar spikes: rapid glucose surges overload mitochondria with unburnable fuel, driving inflammation and insulin resistance
- Seed oils: unstable omega-6 fatty acids combine with high glucose to accelerate lipid peroxidation, damaging cellular and mitochondrial membranes
- Low protein intake: insufficient amino acids (including especially glycine and cysteine) impair mitochondrial enzyme repair and energy transport, forcing the body to break down muscle
- Micronutrient deficiencies: low levels of B vitamins, magnesium, and CoQ10 stall the electron transport chain and leak energy as heat instead of ATP
- Statins: these reduce CoQ10 production, impairing ATP synthesis and contributing to fatigue and muscle weakness
- Metformin: this mildly inhibits respiratory chain complex 1, slowing the mitochondrial “assembly line”; may stimulate biogenesis but remains controversial
- Fluoroquinolone antibiotics: drugs like levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin interfere with mitochondrial DNA, sometimes causing prolonged fatigue
- SSRI medications: SSRIs can bind mitochondrial complexes, jamming energy production and increasing oxidative stress, which may contribute to brain fog in some users
- Environmental toxins: pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals inhibit cytochrome oxidase and deplete glutathione, leaving mitochondria vulnerable to oxidative damage
PS: yes, the video says 15 things, but we count 13!
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
7 Ways To Boost Mitochondrial Health To Fight Disease
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
