 What’s in it for me? Let science inspire you to get moving.

 
 The high we experience from physical exertion is an ancient mechanism helping us
persist, thrive, and socialize. 
 The human brain can get hooked on exercise in a way that resembles a drug addiction
– but with much more positive outcomes.
 Humans are hardwired to derive pleasure from synchronized physical activity. 
 Music is a performance-enhancing drug. 
 Exercise can fundamentally change our perception of ourselves. 
 “Green exercise” taps into the ancient human desire to connect with nature.
 Enduring physical hardships trains mental strength. 
 Final summary

What’s in it for me? Let science inspire you to

get moving. 
If you’re someone who works out regularly, you might have observed how the benefits of
exercising carry over into day-to-day life. Yoga, for example, can teach us to take a deep
breath in stressful situations. From dancing, we learn that a good mood can be infectious.
And a hard cardio session teaches us that a racing heart isn’t always a sign of fear. 

And that’s not all: a single good workout can instantly change your mood, make you feel
stronger and more confident, and bring you closer to the people you exercise with. The
mental health benefits of exercise are undeniable, and they apply whether your preferred
physical activity is running, weightlifting, or swimming; whether you’re an amateur or a pro
athlete. 

These blinks will shed light on how and why physical activity affects your mood, your sense
of purpose, and your self-perception – and show you that movement is a key factor in human
happiness. By the end, you’ll have all the more reason and inspiration to get moving. 

In these blinks, you will discover

 what’s really behind the “runner’s high”;

 why people get addicted to exercise; and
 how a hard workout can change your perspective on life. 

The high we experience from physical

exertion is an ancient mechanism helping us
persist, thrive, and socialize. 
As early as 1885, Scottish philosopher Alexander Bain described what we now call the
“runner’s high”: the feeling of bliss and elation that sets in after a prolonged period of
jogging. Bain likened this high to a spiritual experience, but others have compared it to being
in love, and the effects of all kinds of mind-altering drugs.

Curiously, from a neurological standpoint, the drug that the runner’s high comes closest to is
cannabis. Recent studies have shown that a long run greatly increases levels of
endocannabinoids in our brain. These are a class of chemicals, and cannabis mimics the
effects of them on the brain. Endocannabinoids are known for lessening pain, boosting mood,
and triggering additional feel-good chemicals and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and
endorphins.

Endocannabinoids also help protect us against anxiety and depression. The weight-loss drug
Rimonabant, for example, was designed to suppress appetite by blocking endocannabinoid
receptors. Instead, it brought about dramatic increases in anxiety and depression in clinical
trials, even leading to four suicides, and was permanently banned. Conversely, one recent
study showed that just 30 minutes of exercise can make people immune to the severe anxiety
induced by the drug CCK-4. In this study, the effect of exercise was equivalent to taking a
sedative like Ativan. 

And that’s not all: endocannabinoids also make us more social. In one experiment conducted
by researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome, people who exercised for 30 minutes
before playing a social game were much more generous and cooperative than people who
didn’t. Initiatives like GoodGym in London harness the social energy generated by physical
activity: they organize communal runs that send volunteers to do all sorts of social projects in
their communities, such as visiting socially isolated elderly people. 

Luckily for those of us who’d rather eat a broom than run a lap around the block, the runner’s
high is not confined to running. It is proven to appear after all kinds of moderately exhausting
physical activity that takes more than 20 minutes, whether that’s swimming, cycling, or
speed-walking. Thus, the explosion of brain chemicals from prolonged exercise might be
more accurately called a “persistence high.”Why would our brains make us feel so good
about exhausting our bodies? The latest theory traces this phenomenon back to our earliest
ancestors. It’s likely that the persistence high evolved to keep us hunting and gathering for
longer periods of time, making us more likely to find food and survive. And the increased
willingness to cooperate and share after physical exertion could also have had an
evolutionary benefit: it made hunters more likely to share their spoils with the tribe.
The human brain can get hooked on exercise
in a way that resembles a drug addiction – but
with much more positive outcomes.
When researchers first started studying the phenomenon of “exercise dependence” in the late
1960s, they ran into a big problem. No matter how much money they offered, they couldn’t
find any regular exercisers willing to see what would happen if they stopped exercising for a
while. And if they did sign up, participants tended to cheat and lie, pretending they hadn’t
worked out when they had.

This anecdote illustrates that the “persistence high” people get from endurance sports isn’t
the only way exercise can be likened to drugs. Because it activates our brain’s reward system
in similar ways to substances like cocaine and heroin – stimulating the release of feel-good
chemicals like endocannabinoids, dopamine, endorphins, and noradrenaline – regular
physical activity can be just as addictive as those substances. 

For self-described exercise junkies, for example, missing a single workout can increase
anxiety and irritability. And after several missed workouts, many of them report signs of
depression and insomnia. They also show the same attentional bias as other addicts: when
shown images of people working out, the brain of an exercise junky fires up in the same way
as when you show cigarettes to a smoker. 

However, there are some important ways in which exercise dependence differs from other
habit-forming addictions. First of all, it takes our brain longer to get hooked on exercise than
on drugs, because the chemical changes that physical activity effect in our brain are less
intense and happen more slowly.

For example, mice who are made to exercise each day for two weeks do not show symptoms
of exercise addiction afterwards. But after six weeks, something in their brain seems to flip,
and even with no one forcing or rewarding them, they can hardly stop running. Similar
studies on humans show that we tend to get hooked on exercise after exercising four times a
week for six weeks. 

As with other drugs, regularly getting “high” on physical activity slowly changes the
chemical structure of your brain. But the great thing is that instead of making you less
sensitive to its positive effects, as happens with chemical drugs, regular exercise makes you
more sensitive to them. This happens because exercise increases the receptors for
endocannabinoids in your brain and makes dopamine cells more responsive. This is why, in
stark contrast to drugs, the more exercise you do, the better you feel about it. 
Humans are hardwired to derive pleasure from
synchronized physical activity. 
Fitness trends come and go, but if you observe them closely, you will discover that many
recent exercise crazes share a similar format: they supercharge an already existing activity by
adding synchronized movement and community spirit.

Consider Tae Bo, for example, which adds elements of dance choreography to boxing, or
SoulCycling, which brings a social, almost spiritual, element to the lone sport of indoor
cycling.

Since the beginning of history, humans have gathered to move together. First, in all kinds of
social, pagan, or religious rituals; nowadays, in group exercise classes. As anthropologists
have observed all over the world, moving in unison seems to make people feel more
connected – to each other, but also to something bigger than themselves. French sociologist
Émile Durkheim called the joyful self-transcendence humans can derive from moving
together “collective effervescence.”

Synchrony seems to be a key factor in producing such collective joy. In fact, synchronizing
physical activity with others seems to be an ancient human reflex. When we feel close to a
person, for example, our breathing, heartbeats, and even brain activity tend to automatically
align themselves. And we are actually better at synchronizing with another person’s slightly
irregular beat than with a perfect computer-generated rhythm.

The reason why this has such a powerful effect on our psyche can be explained through a
process called proprioception, by which our brain senses what our body is doing in space.
When we move, our body is constantly sending feedback to our brain about the movement.
And when we see others performing the same movements that we feel ourselves doing, our
brain assimilates these sensations into a very satisfying perception of oneness. As your fellow
humans begin to seem like a part of yourself, you also become more likely to share and
cooperate with them.

The bonding effect of moving in synchrony can be demonstrated in babies as young as

fourteen months old. One study showed that babies are more likely to help a stranger pick up
dropped pencils after they had bounced to music in sync with that person. 

Transcending our individual limitations and increasing mutual trust seem to be the main
functions of synchronized movement, and it’s probably why humans employ it in so many
social, religious, or military rituals. Whether it’s a hunter-gatherer tribe performing a dance
ritual, or college students in a pilates class, synchronized movement helps us leave our egos
behind and bond with people we are not related to. 
Music is a performance-enhancing drug. 
Some exercise scientists could convincingly argue that when Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie
broke the world record on the 2000 meter race during a US running competition in 1998, he
was actually on a performance-enhancing drug. Earlier that day, Gebrselassie had managed to
convince event organizers to play the pop song “Scatman” during the race – one of his
favorite songs, and the song he had trained to. When he heard the familiar upbeat melody
play over the giant stadium speakers, Gebrselassie was able to run faster than he ever had
before.

The power of music to push us beyond our physical limits can hardly be overstated.
Musicologists have long described music as ergogenic, or work-enhancing, and science is
finding more and more evidence to back up this claim. One recent study found that people
who listen to music during their workouts consume less oxygen than those who don’t. And
even patients with high blood pressure last 51 seconds longer during a cardiovascular stress
test when they are allowed to run on the treadmill to their favorite tunes. 

Costas Karageorghis has made a career out of the performance-enhancing powers of music:
his job is to curate workout playlists for some of the world’s best athletes. A trained sports
psychologist, he explains that the best workout songs usually have a strong, energetic beat, a
tempo of 120 to 140 beats per minute and motivational lyrics that include words such as
“work,” “go,” or “run.” Eminem’s “Till I Collapse,” for instance, estimated to be the most
popular workout song of all time, ticks almost all of these boxes.

Such positive, familiar songs have the power to deliver us an extra burst of feel-good
chemicals like adrenaline, dopamine, and endorphins during our workout. Upbeat melodies
and inspirational lyrics can also help us frame physical discomfort in a more positive way.

Humans’ deep-seated urge to move to music has even led to medical miracles. Famous
neurologist Oliver Sacks liked to tell the story of a woman whose leg was paralyzed after a
complex bone fracture. Doctors believed that the communication between her leg muscles
and her spinal cord had been cut completely, yet when she heard her favorite Irish jig, her
foot spontaneously started tapping. Accessing muscle memory with music therapy, the
woman learned to walk again.

Exercise can fundamentally change our

perception of ourselves. 
At Tough Mudder, an annual obstacle marathon that now happens all over the world,
participants face terrifying physical obstacles with names such as “Arctic Enema,” “Boa
Constrictor,” or “Ladder to Hell.” For the final obstacle on the course, “Electroshock
Therapy,” participants have to run through curtains of wires electrified with up to 10,000
volts.

Why, you might ask yourself, would anyone subject themselves to such torture?

Well, facing our fears by overcoming physical challenges can completely transform our
understanding of what we are capable of – and become a tremendous source of
empowerment. The self-stated goal of the people who come up with the Tough Mudder
obstacles is not to torture people, but to create challenges that encourage them to overcome
common phobias – of height, cold, of confined spaces – and provide them with a sense of
confidence, bravery, and comradery.

Psychologically, the key to transforming fear into courage seems to be giving subjects an
element of control. When rats are shocked by an experimenter with no control over when or
for how long the shocks are delivered, they become helpless, traumatized, and depressed. But
when they are given the ability to turn off the shocks by turning a wheel, they bravely learn to
do so – and become more resilient to future stress in the process.

Similarly, humans grow with their challenges. DPI Adaptive Fitness in Fairfax, Virginia, is a
gym specializing in training those with physical constraints or disabilities. When trainees first
come in, their trainer encourages them to set themselves a goal so high that many believe
they will never achieve it. For example, when Joana Bonilla first arrived at DPI, she had just
lost the use of her legs due to the autoimmune disease lupus. She thought she would never be
able to drive again. With her trainer, she set the goal of being able to throw 100 punches in 30
seconds, which would help her develop enough upper body strength to heave herself from her
wheelchair into a car. After just three months of training, Joana was able to meet the goal,
and just a few weeks later, she bought a new car.

Since your body is constantly sending feedback to your brain, mastering an uncomfortable,
impossible-seeming physical challenge can literally transform your sense of self. Performing
a powerful feat, for example, sends a message to your brain that you are powerful. In this
way, exercise can challenge even our most deeply held beliefs about ourselves – as many DPI
trainees can attest.

“Green exercise” taps into the ancient human

desire to connect with nature.
Now that you’ve learned about the numerous positive effects that movement has on our
mental health, would you like to know what’s even better for your brain than exercise? 
Exercising outside! 

Nature has the power to fill us with wonder and awe, give us a sense of belonging, and make
us more alert. Combined with physical activity, it has tremendous positive effects on our
mental health. For example, within just five minutes of “green exercise," as it’s sometimes
called, people report major positive changes in their mood and outlook. 

If you’re wondering why, just remember that the human brain evolved over a long period of
time, most of which humans spent outdoors running, walking, and foraging for food.

Indeed, brain scans show that our default brain state is different outdoors than it is indoors.
Indoors, where Americans now spend an average 93 percent of their time, our default state
shows activation in the brain areas responsible for memory, language, and social interaction,
and slightly leans toward negativity – which is why we’re more likely to engage in
rumination, self-criticism, or worry indoors. 

But when we’re in nature, our default brain state more closely resembles the calm,
disengaged state achieved by experienced meditators. We experience less anxiety, are more
aware of our surroundings, and slip into a state researchers call soft fascination. 

Psychologist Alexandra Rosati believes that these two different states of the human brain –
indoors and outdoors, ruminating and mindful – correspond to two different types of
cognition that were crucial to our ancestors’ survival. The ruminating state is the outcome of
the evolution of social cognition, our ability to think about other people and cooperate within
small groups. The mindful state derives from foraging cognition, our ability to be alert when
hunting and gathering for food. Naturally, the latter is brought out best when we are outdoors.

People who feel connected to nature tend to spend more time in this foraging condition, and
perhaps, as a consequence, experience greater life satisfaction, purpose, and happiness. They
are also less likely to be depressed and anxious. 

The Green Gym initiative in the UK makes use of the joy we derive from movement and
nature by sending volunteers to do nature-based activities with a social focus, such as
planting community gardens. Researchers at the University of Westminster showed that after
eight weeks of the program, Green Gym volunteers showed a 20 percent increase in their
cortisol awakening response – the hormonal boost that gets us up and going in the morning,
and which is often suppressed in depressed people.

Enduring physical hardships trains mental

strength. 
If running a marathon isn’t challenging enough for you, you can always sign up for an
ultramarathon – that’s any marathon lasting over six hours, though some of them can last
several weeks. The Iditarod Trail Invitational, for example, includes walking, biking, and
skiing through Alaskan blizzards for up to thirty days.

Since 1980, the number of Americans who have completed such extreme endurance feats
jumped from 650 to 79,000 in 2017. What draws people to these crazy adventures? 

For Shawn Bearden, host of a popular podcast on ultrarunning, endurance sport was a way
out of his depression. He explains that training his body to endure such extreme physical
hardship is a way to cultivate mental strength that carries over to other parts of his life. For
example, during the race, Bearden tries to focus on the present moment and draws strength
from thinking about his loved ones – skills that have also helped him manage his depression. 

Endurance athletes like Bearden do not necessarily seek out their sport because they are
extremely resilient, but because the sport trains them to become extremely resilient. In fact,
histories of depression, addiction, and anxiety are common among the world’s top
ultrarunners. 

In 2015, when researchers followed athletes competing in the Yukon Arctic Ultra, they found
that the athletes’ ability to soldier on through extreme conditions was linked to very high
levels of the hormone irisin. Irisin is best known for helping our bodies burn fat as fuel, but it
also stimulates the brain’s reward system, acting as a natural motivation-booster and
antidepressant. Irisin in the bloodstreams of participating athletes was highly elevated before
the marathon, and climbed even higher during it. 

Irisin belongs to a class of proteins called myokines, which are manufactured by our muscles
during physical activity. Myokines are known to boost our physical and cognitive
performance, alleviate pain, reduce depression and inflammation, and even kill cancer cells.
Because they can protect the brain from some of the neurodegenerative symptoms of
conditions such as depression and Parkinson’s, scientists have started calling these beneficial
proteins “hope molecules.”

Exercising at such high intensity and volume as extreme endurance athletes can stimulate
intense bursts of myokine release. But you don’t need to be an ultrarunner to harness the
positive powers of the hope molecules: a single hour of biking is enough to release about 35
different myokines into your bloodstream. 

As these blinks have hopefully shown, the myriad benefits of physical activity are available
to all of us. As humans, we are hardwired to find happiness in movement.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks:

For humans, the benefits of exercise extend far beyond improving our physical health.
Because of our evolutionary history as hunters and gatherers, human brains are
hardwired to derive happiness, meaning, and a sense of belonging from physical activity
– especially if that physical activity takes place to music, in nature, or alongside others.
The many different brain chemicals released during exercise have been shown to reduce
anxiety and depression, alleviate the physical and mental symptoms of various illnesses,
and make us more likely to trust and support each other.

Actionable advice: 

Just move!

If you take away a single piece of inspiration from these blinks, let it be this: get moving! No
matter your age, your fitness level, or your physical constraints, you too can experience joy
from moving your body – you just need to find the right activity to do, at the right dose, and
for the right amount of time. If sweating in the gym is not for you, why not plan a weekly
walk in the park? Or if walking is not an option for you, shake it out to a good song once in a
while. 

What to read next: The Willpower Instinct, by Kelly McGonigal

Now that you know all about the amazing mental benefits of regular exercise, you’re
probably getting ready to harness them. And as the Joy of Movement taught you, once you’ve
been active for about six weeks, you’ll gain a momentum that will make it hard to stop
moving ever again. But how can you push yourself past the point where exercise turns from
chore to pleasure?

Luckily, author Kelly McGonigal’s previous book can help you harness the strength to do
exactly this. Through a signature blend of psychology, neuroscience, and economics, The
Willpower Instinct explores the mechanisms of self-control and gives tips and tricks on how
to use them to your advantage. If you’re looking for that extra bit of willpower to start
exercising, check out our blinks to The Willpower Instinct.