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How Exercise Effects Your Mood

Why Isn't Running Fun

If everyone starts running and thinks: "Wow, I have the physical ability to move faster. My lungs are filling up and I can keep going. I feel alive, I am human and made to run"
instead of : "How long should I run? Am I going to get tired before I'm finished? I don't know if I'll have time to keep this up on a weekly basis",
it would become more of a lifestyle than an exercise. I always feel weird when I'm running somewhere to get there faster instead of walking, but why? Why is exerting that extra energy making me so self-conscious like it's going to attract attention? Because the only time someone is running in a non-exercise situation is to get away from cops and trouble. The thought negativity needs to change for it to affect mood.

When I run, I think about how a cheetah feels when it just jets out into a sprint, or any other animal just using their natural ability..and eventually I start to feel good about using mine
 
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I wish it did affect my mood positively, but I went for a 5mile run this morning finished it and I felt a little bit burnt out but not really good/happy.

A couple hours later im the typical negative, cynical bar steward i always am. maybe its time for a change in meds?
 
Bighooter, maybe you've become used to the runner's high at five miles? I used to get the biker's high after only two or three miles--Now I don't notice it until mile four or five.
 
There might also be the possibility that you didn't push yourself hard enough in that 5 miles to get that runner's high.
You can't be doggin it out there.
 
Exercise gives me a high that reminds me of stims

For instance, when doing sit ups/crunches really heavily, I sometimes get up and get an euphoric feeling plus clarity of mind plus see colors shine (This feels like acid, no kidding). Or after being on the gym bike for an hour or two, damn I can't stop smiling I actually laugh sometimes. (This feels like being on coke, No one can beat me, no one, I'm Mr. awesome).
I know this are endorphins acting on my brain, in fact it's not really hard to understand why coke and exercise should feel alike (up to some extent). I just find it extremely rewarding since I have exercised very little in my life and now I got serious.
What are your thoughts? Does it really resemble as much as I think? What about sex? I'm kind of in a self imposed dry spell.
 
from what i remember Aroebic exersize stimulates endorphins and Anareobic (sp?) exersize stimulates dopamine which could explain the Stimulant high you're feeling. this is also why some people relate "runners high" to a mild Opiate high.

i do more cardio (aroebic) and i love the runners high, its not so much as i high but more of a really nice mood lift :\
 
endorphins. lovely, gorgeous endorphins.

if i work out too late at night i can't sleep
 
ah, yes, "runner's" high is one of my favorites. anytime i'm in a slump, a good sweat will bring me back to focus and get my head on straight.
 
ah, yes, "runner's" high is one of my favorites. anytime i'm in a slump, a good sweat will bring me back to focus and get my head on straight.

Ah... it has been ~5 years since I took advantage of said "runner's high." I would safely say that I had an addiction to running in those days. If I missed a day of running, I would work twice as hard the next day. I also can remember that I slept excellent following each run.

I need to get off these stims and get my ass outside again.
 
^euphoria gives me.... running?? ;)



Merging threads.... cleanin' up the house peeps! <3

On with the exercise-induced happiness....
 
Thanks euphoria, so much opinions I hadn't seen!
I love the idea of being made to run, it makes total sense when you think of it. I have been thinking about the usual drawing with the monkey, the Australopithecus, the homo erectus, and so on with the fat guy in the end, and I mean, that's what's really going on, our lifestyles nowadays are not those of the incredibly fit vitruvian man, but those of the fat guy sitting on his couch. We are designed to move, to be constantly enduring physical challenges. We have to strive to keep that up even if our jobs, flats, cities are not made for it because we're probably underevolving but until we actually adapt to the couch there will have to pass a lot of generations.
 
I haven't had a good run ages, well not that kind of run anyway :) I'm in quite good physical shape, but not the best mentally, which causes not enough exercise lately. But there's no doubt about the old endorphins. Works wonders!
 
I haven't exercised outside of work-- purely anaerobic exercise-- and I've been in a terrible mood/mindset for months.

Time to buy another pair of running shoes and get back into this thing called life...
 
^get outside asap!!! :)

i found a really good article on why exercise could be so beneficial to your mood-

Exposure to stress and the stress hormone corticosterone has been shown to decrease the expression of BDNF in rats, and, if exposure is persistent, this leads to an eventual atrophy of the hippocampus. Atrophy of the hippocampus and other limbic structures has been shown to take place in humans suffering from chronic depression. This suggests that an etiological link between the development of depression and BDNF exists. Supporting this, the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, voluntary exercise, caloric restriction, intellectual stimulation, curcumin and various treatments for depression (such as antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy and sleep deprivation) increase expression of BDNF in the brain. In the case of some treatments such as drugs and electroconvulsive therapy this has been shown to protect or reverse this atrophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor
 
If i do HARD cardio for 45 minutes or more i get a morphine/cannabis like high that is very relaxing and makes me smile....however i loose motivation to go on with the rest of my day.

IF i do HARD weight training for 45 minutes or more i get a high almost identical to about 20 mg of oxycodone. I feel great, and have an energy boost.
 
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