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Monday, December 01, 2003Exercise is as addictive as booze and fags . . . so says the British newspaper UK Guardian: The proposition that exercise can trigger a "high" based on brain chemistry has been around for decades. But there has been less research into what happens when the trainers are locked away and the tracksuit sent to the cleaners. Now a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has confirmed that not pumping iron or pounding the pavement could trigger telltale changes in neuronal activity. They watched mice manically sprinting on exercise wheels and then measured withdrawal symptoms when they are kept off the treadmill.Surprise surprise, this isn't anything new. When you exercise, your brain releases dopamine to the receptors in your brain. So after jogging or any type of strenuous exercise, you experience what is more commonly known as "runner's high," a high that is actually quite close to the high you get from using cocaine. The difference is that with cocaine, you are literally burning the dopamine receptors in your brain as well as using the dopamine that usually exists. With jogging, your brain starts producing more dopamine and relaxing the receptors in order to get more dopamine. Hence the fact that joggers do not expereince a "crash," while cocaine abusers do (because the brain is artificially using dopamine in the latter). Now I don't know about alcohol and nicotine as they seem to be two very different chemical processes at work, but there is a difference between artificial highs such as cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine and the more natural highs associated with jogging or exercise. No big news here, other than a poorly written conclusion to a scientific study that folks will inevitably use to justify drug abuse. I just like the title of the article. . . figure someone would take notice and get offended (or vice versa).
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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