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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Jakeman on January 1, 2005, at 16:21:22
This article may motivate me to get more exercise :-)
"Researcher Locates Source of ‘Runner’s High’ Experienced By Athletes"Study suggests the high experienced by athletes is similar to the buzz marijuana users experience.
A new study conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Irvine suggests that a class of chemicals known as cannabinoids may be the missing piece of the “runner’s high” puzzle long sought by scientists.
“Exercise is good for the mind. For the millions of people who exercise, this is not a secret,” said Arne Dietrich, the study’s principal investigator and a former visiting professor at Georgia Tech. “It helps reduce stress, lowers anxiety, suppresses pain, produces a feeling of well-being and can even lead to a euphoric state. To scientists, however, the process that leads to this last phenomenon—popularly known as the ‘runner’s high’—remains an elusive mystery.”
A critical clue in the mystery may have been found, however. As published recently in the journal Neuroreport, Dietrich’s research team has found very high levels of a naturally occurring cannabinoid called anandamide in runners and cyclists who exercised at moderate intensity for an extended period.
Anandamide produces effects similar to those of THC, the psychoactive constituent of marijuana, leading researchers to speculate that “runner’s high” may not be caused by endorphins released by the human body – as previously thought—but by a naturally occurring cannabinoid high.
“The body’s ability to produce cannabinoids is currently an intense area of research”, said Dietrich, who studied them as a visiting professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Applied Physiology this past year. His one-year stay at the Institute was made possible through the College of Sciences Faculty Development Program.
“Cannabinoids that are produced naturally by the body are called endocannabinoids,” Dietrich said. ”The body’s endocannabinoid system has evolved primarily for pain modulation—that is, pain or stress activates the system naturally. This activation, in turn, helps the body to modulate the pain.”
“I was aware of the limitations of the endorphin theory for explaining the runner’s high, and I thought that Dr. Dietrich’s novel hypothesis fit well within recent endocannabinoid discoveries,” said Professor Phil Sparling, co-director of the Exercise Physiology Lab and Dietrich’s host at Tech..
“This natural analgesic system is independent of and complimentary to the body’s opioid system,” he said, and it performs other natural functions such as vasodilation, bronchodilation and sedation.
“Because anandamide and THC bind to the same receptor in the body, all these are also primary effects of smoking or ingesting cannabinoids from outside the body,” Dietrich said.
For their study, researchers asked 24 young men to either run, cycle or sit. If they ran or cycled, participants began with a five-minute warm-up, then built up to a 70-80 percent heart rate, which they sustained for 45 minutes, followed by a cool-down.
In those subjects, investigators documented a dramatic endocannabinoid increase in their body, providing the first evidence that exercise activates the endocannabinoid system. “Numerous follow-up studies are necessary to understand the precise nature of this increase,” Dietrich said, but it remains an exciting discovery for him and his team.
"Since exercise is physical stress—albeit healthy stress—and because it produces muscle break-down, I thought exercise might activate it. This is what we found,” he said. “No other study has ever considered this possibility, which is why the results are so significant.”
Dietrich believes the human body begins to produce high levels of endocannabinoids – and thus a natural “runner’s high”—during moderate-to-intense exercise that produces prolonged stress and pain.
“Once the endocannabinoid system is highly activated, it causes a naturally induced high, as the endocannabinoids produce the same effect than when it is activated unnaturally—by smoking THC for instance,” he said.
It does not appear that this effect causes any harm to runners and athletes who experience it after intense exercise, however.
“In exercise, there is a reason why the endocannabinoid system is activated,” Dietrich said. “One has to deal with a physical stressor, and the endocannabinoid system fulfills its purpose. Smoking marijuana is a different story. This is an unnatural abuse of the system - not intended to be used this way by evolution.”
Dietrich believes this study might provide a possible mechanism to explain why the “runner’s high” might be caused, and it suggests that exercise might be useful to help in the treatment of chronic pain or glaucoma, both of which are treated in some parts of the country in clinical experimental trials using plant-derived cannabinoids such as THC.
“Our work raises many questions,” Dietrich said. “We need to characterize which types of exercise best activate the system, at what intensity, and at what duration,” he said.
“We also need to know: Are there sex differences? Why and when is the system overwhelmed? Can it be used to maximize performance in some way? How does this effect decision making – for example, at the end of a marathon race, or in a combat situation? Our findings produce entirely new avenues of research never considered previously,” he said.
Dietrich is an assistant professor of psychology at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, where he also directs the Department of Psychology’s Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory. His experience at Georgia Tech was part of the College of Sciences Faculty Development Program, which Dean Gary Schuster said provides an exciting way for the Institute to help advance science throughout the state.
http://www.gatech.edu/news/item.php?id=230
http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/geninfo/Exercise_Piomelli.pdf
Posted by samplemethod on January 5, 2005, at 0:02:55
In reply to Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by Jakeman on January 1, 2005, at 16:21:22
just wonderin what the precursors are to the cannabinoid substance.
Eating something before running may help with the high
Posted by linkadge on January 5, 2005, at 18:37:06
In reply to Re: Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by samplemethod on January 5, 2005, at 0:02:55
I don't know of any precursors per se. But I do know that chocolate also contains anandamide compounds. This is why some marajana users eat chocolate before exercising.
Hence, going for a long run, then eating chocolate and smoking marajana would be a tripple whammy. Although, I think too much anandamide can make you paranoid!!
Linkadge
Posted by gromit on January 7, 2005, at 21:00:53
In reply to Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by Jakeman on January 1, 2005, at 16:21:22
When I was younger I used to train pretty hard, running, weight training etc and I've never experienced any "runner's high". It did give me strength and endurance which was helpful in the things that did give me a kind of high. Vertical skateboarding, basketball, football, skiing etc. I wonder what the difference is, maybe adrenaline?
At one time I was a very heavy marijuana user, all day every day for over 10 years. That was over about 12 years ago but I have had a couple relapses since then. Each time it was like a switch flipped in my head, something came on that wasn't on before. You might think I was just high but golf scores don't lie, recordings don't lie. After a few weeks those effects are gone though, and I start fiending for more. So this is something I really can't control and shouldn't do.
Any ideas on substances that might have a simular effect that are OTC or something I might be able to convince a doctor to prescribe?
Thanks
Rick
Posted by Jakeman on January 7, 2005, at 23:37:05
In reply to Re: Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by gromit on January 7, 2005, at 21:00:53
> When I was younger I used to train pretty hard, running, weight training etc and I've never experienced any "runner's high". It did give me strength and endurance which was helpful in the things that did give me a kind of high. Vertical skateboarding, basketball, football, skiing etc. I wonder what the difference is, maybe adrenaline?
>
> At one time I was a very heavy marijuana user, all day every day for over 10 years. That was over about 12 years ago but I have had a couple relapses since then. Each time it was like a switch flipped in my head, something came on that wasn't on before. You might think I was just high but golf scores don't lie, recordings don't lie. After a few weeks those effects are gone though, and I start fiending for more. So this is something I really can't control and shouldn't do.
>
> Any ideas on substances that might have a simular effect that are OTC or something I might be able to convince a doctor to prescribe?
>
>
> Thanks
> RickI don't know of anything comparable that is currently available, but as the study below suggests, it is something that researchers may be iinnvestigating.
Jakeman"Anandamide hydrolysis: a new target for anti-anxiety drugs?"
Trends Mol Med. 2003 Nov;9(11):474-8.The major psychoactive constituent of cannabis, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, affects emotional states in humans and laboratory animals by activating brain cannabinoid receptors. A primary endogenous ligand of these receptors is anandamide, the amide of arachidonic acid with ethanolamine. Anandamide is released in selected regions of the brain and is deactivated through a two-step process consisting of transport into cells followed by intracellular hydrolysis. Pharmacological blockade of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), which is responsible for intracellular anandamide degradation, produces anxiolytic-like effects in rats without causing the wide spectrum of behavioral responses typical of direct-acting cannabinoid agonists. These findings suggest that anandamide contributes to the regulation of emotion and anxiety, and that FAAH might be the target for a novel class of anxiolytic drugs.
Posted by gromit on January 8, 2005, at 0:31:09
In reply to Re: Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by Jakeman on January 7, 2005, at 23:37:05
Posted by Chairman_MAO on January 11, 2005, at 16:52:54
In reply to Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by Jakeman on January 1, 2005, at 16:21:22
"Not intended by evolution".
This is a way of dressing up a value judgement as a scientific fact. What an idiot. Anyone who actually understands evolution knows that it has no intentions!
Posted by Questionmark on January 31, 2005, at 7:14:04
In reply to Re: Runner's High and Marijuana, posted by Chairman_MAO on January 11, 2005, at 16:52:54
> "Not intended by evolution".
>
> This is a way of dressing up a value judgement as a scientific fact. What an idiot. Anyone who actually understands evolution knows that it has no intentions!Heh. Yeah, i was basically thinking the same thing when i read that.
But still, although there is an apparent bias, he might have had a decent point in his flawed articulation of it. For instance, he probably meant that "humans did not evolve to benefit from the intake of exogenous cannabinoids"-- which is probably the case, though it is not to say that humans cannot DERIVE any worthwhile benefit from ingesting exogenous cannabinoids, which it seems Dietrich would probably disagree with.
But, now that i think of it, i can't even say why this really matters that much, aside from pure intellectual curiosity. i guess... ah, i dunno. i'm sick, and tired, and am sounding like a moron. so that's all.
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