Runner’s High Study: Cannabis Consumption Enhances Euphoria

Consuming cannabis before running enhances the so-called runner’s high. Participants in a recent study reported increased positive feelings after using cannabis. These findings suggest that cannabis may improve motivation for physical activity, explaining why cannabis users tend to engage in more exercise. The study also highlights the role of endocannabinoids in the runner’s high experience.

Cannabis can increase the perception of the so-called runner’s high experienced after running and other physical activity. According to data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, consuming cannabis before running is associated with a greater sense of pleasure and tranquility.

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The Runner’s High

Study participants ran just over 6 kilometers and reported a “more positive exercise experience” when they ran immediately after consuming cannabis compared to those who did not consume it.

The authors reported, “Participants reported feeling more positive affects, pleasure, tranquility, and runner’s euphoria symptoms (e.g., euphoria, lack of effort) when they ran after consuming cannabis ad libitum (as needed). These findings are consistent with previous cross-sectional studies suggesting that cannabis consumption in the context of physical exercise can enhance the enjoyment of running.”

They concluded, “Since feelings of positive affect, dissociation, and pleasure during exercise are positively associated with an individual’s ability to initiate and maintain a regular exercise regimen, it is possible that cannabis consumption may actually facilitate motivation and commitment to exercise in certain cannabis consumers. These findings could partly explain why cannabis consumers are more likely to meet minimum physical activity guidelines and have a lower body mass index, and why cannabis consumers who consume cannabis during exercise engage in more exercise on average than consumers who do not engage in this behavior.”

Data published in 2022 by researchers from Wayne State University strongly suggest that endocannabinoids are responsible for the experience known as the “runner’s high.”

“Physical exercise reliably increases endocannabinoid levels in the body [and] […] human and animal studies indicate that endocannabinoids – not endorphins – are the primary actors in runner’s high,” writes Hilary A. Marusak, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the university. “This natural chemical stimulation may better explain some of the beneficial effects of exercise on the brain and body.”

Several previous studies into cannabis in sports have highlighted the relationship between cannabis consumption and increased physical activity in both young and older individuals. However, this is the first time a link with an enhanced runner’s high has been established.

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(Featured image by Rosemary Ketchum via Pexels)

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