The Joy of Movement: How exercise helps us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage

drug. Exercise causes the brain to release many of the same neurochemicals as addictive substances, including dopamine, noradrenaline, endocannabinoids, and endorphins. With repeat exposure, running also flips the molecular switch of addiction. In laboratory studies with rats, running ten kilometers a day for one month had an effect on dopaminergic

numerous studies have shown that for regular exercisers, missing a single workout can lead to anxiety and irritability. Three days without exercise induces symptoms of depression, and one week of abstinence can produce severe mood disturbances and insomnia.

The latest research even suggests that lactate, the metabolic by-product of exercise that is commonly, but erroneously, blamed for muscle soreness, has positive effects on mental health. After lactate is released by muscles, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain, where it alters your neurochemistry in a way that can reduce anxiety and pro

In The Runner’s High, Dan Sturn describes tears streaming down his face during mile seven of his morning jog. “I flew closer and closer to the place mystics and shamans and acidheads all try to describe. Each moment became precious. I felt simultaneously all alone and completely connected.”

On a typical day, the Hadza engage in two hours of moderate to vigorous activity, like running, and several more hours of light activity, like walking.

Many athletes have learned to exploit this benefit. In carefully controlled experiments, adding a soundtrack helps rowers, sprinters, and swimmers shave seconds off their times. Runners can tolerate extreme heat and humidity longer, and triathletes can push themselves farther before reaching exhaustion. Moving to music even leads athletes to consum

This neurological change—a boost to the reward system—looks a lot like what happens when people develop an exercise habit. And the ultimate result is not so different from what humans experience when they form close attachments. By harnessing the brain’s capacity to fall in love, regular exercise helps us joyfully commit to a relationship that enri

These instincts are buried in our DNA and spring to life in each of us, as fundamental to our survival as the abilities to breathe, digest food, and pump blood to

In many ways, exercise is the drug. Like highly addictive substances, regular exposure to exercise will over time teach the brain to like, want, and need it.