Exercise is like smoking pot

[moeburn]

Due to its highly lipophilic properties, anandamide crosses the bloodâ??brain barrier readily, avoiding the principal problem that plagued the endorphin hypothesis. Activation of central CB1 receptors by exogenous cannabinoids such as THC causes intense subjective experiences similar to those reported by endurance athletes such as analgesia, sedation (postexercise calm), anxiolysis, and a sense of well being.http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/geninfo/Exercise_Piomelli.pdf

Summary: Your body produces its own chemical similar to THC, called "anandamide". These guys found out that anandamide is released while exercising. This explains why runners get high after running several miles.

Thanks, science!

[napolitana869]

cool. I wonder if its hard to feel both the thc induced high and the feeling produced by anandamide at the same time because one or the other filling up the majority of the receptors.

[Matt the Funk]

Dude! Anandamine is also produced in high(or lower amounts, I forget) in schizophrenics. It is the bodys natural cannaboid. It helps block dopamine from going to the brain or something. Anyways I plan on reading up and studying on how it effects the brain. Nice link too!

[Dreadmantic]

Wow...sweet

[Dest]

interesting.... i always wondered what that feeling was after i would run sprints at lacrosse or run a mile or something like that

[halfassedjediknight]

no wonder i got the munchies after that long jog today! :) joooookes!

[ZeldaG.]

lol when i read the title of the thread i thout you was gonna say:

cannabis is like exercise cos when you smoke your heart starts to beat faster, the same happens when you exercise so it must be the same!!! :smokin:


lol

[mrdevious]

So is anandamide a name for a type of cannabinoid? I actaully read something about this a couple weeks ago, suggesting that cannabinoid receptor stimulation was more predominantly responsible for the runners high, as opposed to endorphines. It's cool to see another journal article suggesting the same. Though I imagine endorphines still play some role. This has also made me wonder, with a tokers high cannabinoid tolerance, wouldn't we be considerably less susceptable to the runners high?

[Matt the Funk]

So is anandamide a name for a type of cannabinoid? I actaully read something about this a couple weeks ago, suggesting that cannabinoid receptor stimulation was more predominantly responsible for the runners high, as opposed to endorphines. It's cool to see another journal article suggesting the same. Though I imagine endorphines still play some role. This has also made me wonder, with a tokers high cannabinoid tolerance, wouldn't we be considerably less susceptable to the runners high?

Suppossedly in another article I read anandamide is a cannabinoid, and it is the body's natural anti-psychotic. It does something to the dopeamine receptors in your brain. Here is the article http://www.marijuana.org/ocregister5-18-99.html .

[pass the chicken]

not to be the parinoid stoner on the thread but is it possible that this is just the get active and the stop smoking campaigns rolled together into one pretty package? you know trade smoking for running?

[pass_the_dubbie]

not to be the parinoid stoner on the thread but is it possible that this is just the get active and the stop smoking campaigns rolled together into one pretty package? you know trade smoking for running?
I dunno....What would you rather do, sit and chill out with a nice spliff or bowl...or go running, get all hot and sweaty and exert all the energy?

[thcbongman]

This is no surprise to me, I ran a lot of endurance, and cross-country races. After a certain point, you simply feel so good you don't wanna stop until your legs give in. That's why I was always so damn good endurance running, I love getting high from it :)

The toke after....mmmmmmmmm

[notransfer]

i felt baked recently after running a mile then playing mad basketball...i sat down and i was in a haze

[WeThePeople]

when i used to be a health and excersise nut before i was 17 i was serious into riding bmx i went to comps all over the place and the amount of time i would spend on my bike day after day, i felt soooo good i was always happy never tired i could always sleep never depressed its amazing what alot of excersise and good food can make u feel then i tried pot it made things better but after a year its all i wanted to do and i got really lazy now i feel like shit alot of times and i look like shit

[biohazard]

i dont ever feel high after exercising... i work out 5 times a week for an hour and go to muay thai classes twice a week for 1.5 hr. i feel REALLY high right after i exercise and then spark a nice bowl though :)/

[mfqr]

Wait..

So if this is right, then athletic trainers and track people, are always stoned? I'm pretty stoned right now, but it doesn't look like those people at the Olympics are blazed.. Althought, that might be funny.

They aren't blazed from smoking ganja, or at least I don't think they are. They probably have "runner's high," which is different. I don't think Anandamide reduces the constriction on the veins in one's eye, like Cannabis, and causes bloodshot eyes. So I don't see why you'd think that they'd have to look baked after they run...

[napolitana869]

i dont ever feel high after exercising... i work out 5 times a week for an hour and go to muay thai classes twice a week for 1.5 hr. i feel REALLY high right after i exercise and then spark a nice bowl though :)/

I wonder if you get higher or high faster because your brian already has a head start from the work out.

[Inferius]

I didn't see this thread, but I came to the same conclusion last night.
Anandamide is also responsible for removing unnecessary short term memories.
I was analyzing my mental state after a hard day of work last night, and I realized that my memory functioned very similar to being high.
Also, the brain emits Dopamine as a pain killer which is also a big contributor to the runners high as well as the marijuana high, i'm pretty sure.

[moeburn]

Ok, no, exercise does not release endorphins or dopamine. Nobody ever said it released dopamine, so I don't know where you got that idea, but it was a very popular belief that it released endorphines. However, modern research has since debunked this endorphin theory.

Infact, the very beginning of the article states why they were studying this in the first place:


...with the demise of the endorphin
hypothesis[2,3]

And the title of one of their references:


Runner’s high? Endorphins? Fiction say some scientists.

I am not, in any way, trying to say that smoking pot is as healthy as exercising, but they might give similar mental pleasure.

I do both, regularily. I run 20 minutes every day, which is enough to give me a mild sedating feeling (not quite the runner's high that kicks in WHILE running), and it helps reduce pot tolerance.

[1234abcd]

smokin pot takes the place of exercise unless your an "in shape" stoner, or maybe you are a "spare tire" stoner. muahaha

[moeburn]

yea it might give u a "high" but does that compare to a high from weed or any other substance ...... i think not

Compare in the type of feeling? Probably not. Compare in intensity? Oh hell yes. I've only touched upon the runner's high, and it makes your body feel like you can run 10 more miles.

From what I've read, other people's personal accounts of the runner's high describe dissociation, or a feeling of floating above their body, watching their muscles move. Other people have said it is like your body is someone else's, your mind just tells it what to do. There are also cases (mine included) of colorful, pattern-like hallucinations.