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Not Everyone Can Get Runner’s High
New research suggests that a shortage of the mu-opioid receptor can inhibit runner’s high and increase the risk of depression.
In 1977, Candace Pert and her colleagues at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine discovered the endorphin receptor and found opiate receptor binding sites for endorphins in the brain, a viral science story that made frontpage news. The word “endorphin” comes etymologically through the words “endogenous” (originating from the brain) and “morphine”, so endorphins are usually referred to as “the body’s own morphine.”
Runner’s high is an experience that people ask me a lot about when I tell them I’m a runner. “Do you get runner’s high?” is a pretty frequent question I get — and sadly, I’ve never gotten it. I’ve been running for 10 years now up to 85 miles a week, and have run multiple marathons. I have never once felt “high” from running. It must be really nice to get high from running, and I wish I could actually experience it.
The runner’s high is an experience where endorphins are released with aerobic exercise. Christopher Bergland, the author of The Athlete’s Way: Sweat and the Biology of Bliss, refers to the binding of endorphins to mu-opioid receptors as the reason why exercise relieves pain like morphine:
