Runner High facts

While investigating facts about Runner High, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Rodents living outside of captivity still enjoy running in wheels because it gives them a self-rewarding "runner's high"

Eating spicy food can give you a high. The compound Capsaicin, which makes hot peppers hot, causes your brain to release endorphins and dopamine which gives you a similar feeling to a “runner’s high.”

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 15 of the best facts about Runner High I managed to collect.

1. The runner's high is now thought to be a product of endocanibinoids, your body's version of the THC found in marijuana, and not endorphins, your body's opiods. Endorphins are too large to pass the blood-brain border, and mice bred without canibinoid receptors don't enjoy running.

2. 'runner's high' may be the result of increased uptake of anandamide (of the endocannabinoid system) through the blood-brain barrier. This is the same system affected by THC found in Marijuana.

3. “runner’s high” is produced by an endocannabinoid and equatable to THC.

4. Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea etc) and Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner etc) were in the same high school class, but didn't know each other.

5. Capsaicin in hot peppers is responsible for releasing endorphins, and is capable of producing an effect similar to a "runner's high"

6. A high school track runner who had a chance to go to states refused because she was assigned the number 666

7. High mileage runners experience reduced lifespans akin to those who don't run at all.

8. James Hogue, a con man, a thief, a liar, a long distance runner, a college drop out, a self-taught orphan, a reader of philosophers, a fake high school student, and (for a brief time) a Princeton undergrad - a man of so many stories and identities a documentary was made about him in 2003.

9. For 5,500 years, "buffalo runners" of the Blackfoot tribe dressed up as coyotes and wolves to drive buffalo from a grazing area to "drive lanes", running them off a 36 ft high cliff. At full gallop, the buffalo would fall from the weight of the herd pressing behind them.

10. The "runner's high"cc is caused by an endocannabinoid, anandamide

What is true about runner high?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

The French presidential front runner, Emmanuel Macron, is married to his former high school teacher who is 24 years his senior.

Dutee Chand, a female Indian runner banned from competing in international women's events, due to high testosterone levels. - source

Shower thoughts is similar to a runner's high and is called Transient Hypofrontality - source