Can Weed Make Recreational Running Easier? These Runners and Scientists Are Racing To Find Out
On a cold winter evening in Brooklyn, New York, a group of runners gathered to begin their weekly group run. But before they started their jog, they did the one mandatory (though not enforced) activity that makes their squad unique: They got high.
The Brooklyn-based Rage & Release is a 400-member-strong community that provides an outlet for members to collectively exercise while stoned.
“It gives running a whole new feeling. I am more focused and connected to the experience,” says member Sam McKenna, who had arrived already high for the weekly jaunt and was waiting while others lit their joints. His crewneck was embroidered with “evergreen” across his chest. Another runner had “runnin’ high” emblazoned in neon green across her hat.
The Rage & Release community isn’t alone. In recent years, a growing number of recreational runners and marathoners have turned to weed to enhance their running experience. Runners say it reduces the pain that comes hand in hand with running long distances and helps foster a more holistic and meditative mind and body experience. In the lab, scientists are beginning to zero in on both the cognitive and physiological role that psychoactive compounds in weed play during exercise — something that could perhaps benefit every body in motion.
WHEN WEED AND RUNNING MIX
Runner's high occurs naturally in the body from prolonged exercise by switching on the endocannabinoid system — part of our flight response. Activating this system creates “euphoric and anti-anxiety effects following primarily aerobic type exercises like cycling or running,” Hilary Marusak, assistant professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Wayne State University in Michigan, tells Inverse.
Endocannabinoids kickstart this process by binding to cannabinoid receptors — CB1 and CB2 — which receive and translate chemical messages in our brains. In particular, the CB1 receptor produces that feel-good high, whereas the anti-inflammatory CB2 receptor is associated with pain reduction. In other words, your brain is happy, even when you don’t realize it when you’re doing strenuous exercise.
While the body naturally produces these endocannabinoids during exercise, researchers found that compounds in weed such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can bind to cannabinoid receptors and activate this system, too. “It's one of those weird systems where it was first named for the plant chemicals that [affect] our body's own system. We later discovered that we actually have our own naturally occurring system,” Marusak says.
But what happens when you combine naturally occurring exercise-induced endocannabinoids with THC? Both runners and scientists are trying to find out.
Continue Reading Here to Find Out