From Canadian Running Magazine Archives: The Science Behind Why Running Transforms Your Brain
- Kristy McConnell, R. Psych.
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
Ever wondered why that morning run feels like hitting the reset button on your entire day? Or why your best insights often arrive around kilometer 8 of a long run? The answer lies in the remarkable ways running literally rewires our brains.
In 2019, I explored this fascinating intersection of neuroscience and running, diving deep into research on neuroplasticity, bilateral brain processing, and the runner's high. What I discovered challenges the view of exercise as merely physical training, revealing instead how running activates both brain hemispheres, grows new neural pathways, and connects us more deeply to ourselves and our environment.
I'm excited to share this piece with you again, as the insights feel even more relevant today as we continue to understand the profound connections between movement, mental health, and human resilience.
The original article as published in Canadian Running Magazine, 2019
Inspire and Rewire: Our Brains on Running
The Surprising Connection Between Neuroplasticity, Human Attachment, and the Runner’s High
By Kristy McConnell, R. Psych.
The benefits of running on our physical and mental health are well known. We also know that the mind isn’t separate from the body, and now see that our overall health involves integration of both. But is this as far as it goes? If we limit the study of running’s impact on the brain to the inputs and outputs of the mind and body, we are defined by the many metrics provided by our GPS watches. Running is so much more than that.
Running is a dynamic relationship between many complex systems both within the brain and outside in the environment around us. Running is about interconnectedness. Dan Siegel, M.D., best-selling author, UCLA professor and neuropsychiatrist, and pioneer of Interpersonal Neuropsychology, states that energy flow is not housed within the skull and skin alone, and therefore, it cannot be studied and researched in a linear way. When it comes to running, we cannot simply stick an electrode-cap on a runner, put them on a treadmill, account for every possible external variable and create the elusive runner’s high or the right VO2 max for a 2-hour marathon.
The interactions between our nervous system and the outside world is precisely what makes us human. As British scientist Daniel Wolpert suggests that the one answer to the question of why we have a brain is to “produce adaptable and complex movements.” If the reason we have a brain is to move and adapt, then we need to consider all of the interactions that occur inside and outside of the human body. Denying the interaction of multiple systems involved is like saying that 50 km per hour winds will not impact marathon finishing times.
The Internal Experience of Running
“Running is my meditation, mind flush, cosmic telephone, mood elevator and spiritual communion.” Lorraine Moller, Olympic Marathon Runner
Simply put, the act of running- left, right, repeat- stimulates bilateral processing, which accesses both the right and left hemispheres of the brain at the same time. This is important because each area of the brain has many different roles, functions and ways of interacting, and when more areas of the brain are engaged and working together, it creates space, awareness and harmony. Running provides a great practice ground for this kind of integrative processing and is an optimal time to ‘stretch’ the brain through a process called neuroplasticity. This is your brain’s ability to create new neural connections or pathways. Running also stimulates neurogenesis, which prunes neurons away that are no longer useful. Negative thinking be gone!
While running we often check-in with our body. We send breath to muscles that are protesting, we notice if our gate is off, and pay attention to when the swing of our arms is engaging our shoulders too much. The hippocampus is a structure in the brain that helps to interpret these cues. The act of noticing, being curious and attending to our body and environment during a run can generalize to other areas of our lives. This same area of the brain also helps to collect personal memories that become a part of our autobiography. Running has also been found to enhance synaptic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex a place close to the hippocampus. This area is associated with cognitive flexibility, body regulation, and attuned communication. Attunement is the felt sense of self and others. It is the ability to connect with your rhythm and the rhythm of others or your environment. In this way, running can help build the connections that make us more attentive to our own thoughts, as well as being attuned to others.
Flipping the Internal Script, One Run at a Time
If running enhances our ability to attune to the inside and outside world, then it should come as no surprise that it can also help create positive communication networks. David Raichlen and colleagues at the University of Arizona showed that endurance athletes are also able to dampen down the default mode network (DMN) while running. This was also shown to be the case with meditation. The DMN is the internal voice in your head that comes online when we are distracted or our minds are wandering. For some, their internal dialogue can be quite critical. Running, like meditation, provides the opportunity and time to practice flipping the internal script from negative to positive, from cutting to compassionate. We ‘tune in’ to the positive, and ‘tune out’ the negative. Indeed, we can be a lot nicer to ourselves and others after a good sweat session. Marathon and ultramarathon finish lines are the perfect place to see this in action; coming together in support of the human spirit rising above fear and doubt to surpass all expectation.
The External, Relational Experience of Running
“If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon.” ~Kathrine Switzer
Any runner will describe their relationship with the sport as complicated, as if it were a teenage romance. Sometimes we need a break, and other times we’re elated after a brief encounter. Many of the brain structures used for running are the same used to connect with others and the physical world. The brain is extremely complex. The brain is interconnected with many systems, including engaging with our world socially through relational experiences. An example of the interplay of the social environment and its impact on running is the Breaking2 project. Nike spent millions of dollars working to create the optimal external and internal environment necessary to have a team of runners defeat the 2 hour marathon barrier. The pressure was intense, and although Kipchoge came so close, he came in at 2:00:25. One cited reason by Kipchoge for not quite making 2hr mark is something that many first-time and veteran marathoners will understand. Kipchoge stated that he “missed the crowd.” Running is a human experience, with human nature and mother nature.
The limbic area of the brain helps us gauge events, such as running or interacting with others or our environment. It is also an area of the brain that helps with motivation, exploration and creating those intense feelings of joy, sadness, and empathy (think Gary Robbins, Barkley Marathon, 2017). Evolution of mammals also put the limbic system in charge of attachment to caregivers. Oxytocin, a hormone that is a neurotransmitter in the brain, may help facilitate human attachment and has been found in higher levels during long distance runs. Altshul, an early writer of the therapeutic running experience, described fusion or flow as ‘oneness with the environment or with the motion of running itself.’ And just as running increases the connections among us, it also connects us with our ultimate caregiver, mother nature. Research has shown decreased cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress, when people spend time in nature. Edward Wilson, a biologist, suggested that humans seek connection with nature; that it is innate within us. Ultrarunners who often spend their hours and days in the woods, would likely attest to this. Their internal experience is relational with the landscape around them. Yet, while running improves our ability to connect with ourselves, others, and the environment, as well as helps to process our experiences in the world, how does this apply to the act of running itself, namely, the seemingly transcendent effect of the famous ‘runner’s high?’ Let’s break that down.
Chasing the Runner’s High and Well-Being: State Versus Trait Change
“Runner’s High: A euphoric sensation experienced during running, usually unexpected, in which the runner feels a heightened sense of well-being, enhanced appreciation of nature, and transcendence of barriers of time and space.” ~Michael Sachs
Scientists consider the merits of any activity thought to increase health by whether it creates in-the-moment change, or state change, versus long-lasting differences, or trait change. For example, meditation has proven to change the brain during the meditative practice, but also has a long-term positive effect on the brain. The runner’s high can be seen as the state change we all hope to experience: that in-the-moment euphoric presence that is a rare gift that both running and mother nature provides, while running’s ability to generally improve feelings of well-being and mental health can be viewed as the additive trait change.
Abraham Maslow, who is famous for the Hierarchy of Human Needs, has described peak experiences as those where we feel we are performing at our best, could go forever with ease, are fused with the environment around us, and are curious, creative, spontaneous, and expressive. For years, researchers chased the runner’s high in a lab, mistakenly thinking that controlling the internal variables of the runner, such as physique, cadence, shoes, speed, and duration would lead to the right formula. But math is human-made. As we’ve learned, our interactions within ourselves and with our environment during a run cannot be defined solely by inputs and outputs. Endocannaboids are thought to be a key runner’s-high neurotransmitter that supports pain-sensation, memory and mood. Vybarr Cregan-Reid in his book, Footnotes: How Running Makes us Human, suggests that for endocannaboid to activate within the brain, the run needs to be immersive, not instrumental, longer than 40 minutes, not too fast, and in a green space. What remains clear is that the runner’s high, as it relates to in-the-moment change, continues to be an unique experience, personal to each runner.
Left, Right, Repeat: Bilateral Movement and the Runners High
A particularly interesting explanation of runner’s high and trait change, or long-lasting feelings of wellness could be associated with how pounding the pavement, right-left, is a bilaterally stimulating activity. Drumming, dancing, and other bilateral activities, including one type of mental health treatment, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy, activate both hemispheres of the brain for more efficient and integrated processing of information. The right hemisphere is connected with preverbal, holistic, symbolic, spatial, subjective processing, while the left hemisphere is more verbal, analytic, abstract, rational and objective. The ability to create long-lasting changes in the brain towards greater awareness may be linked to the bilateral stimulation inherent to running. We process information more efficiently because we use both hemispheres; we see the forest for the trees. This improved efficiency has also been linked to a more robust insula, a part of the brain that helps to anticipate the future from a more empathetic and wide-angle lens perspective. The insula has also been linked to greater athletic performance because it helps predict what competitors are going to do and in response sends messages to the right muscles to engage in a way that gives them an edge. You may just be able to say that running not only makes you a better competitor, it also makes you a more compassionate human being! What reason do we have no to run?
Left, right, left, right. The sun is crisp and orange as it rises in the east prairies. To the west the mountains are making their quiet but formidable presence known. Left, right, left, right. My mind is filled with gratitude. In the present moment I am grateful for what my body is able to do. I breathe the cool morning air into my lungs, and it provides the necessary oxygen to my heart. Left, right, left, right. Rich, oxygenated blood is pumped to my muscles. I send my breath there. I am thankful for the ground below me and the path in front of me, wide and expansive. Left, right, left, right. As I let my mind wander I notice, all at once, the connectedness within myself and the bond to my outside world. Nature is my nurturer. My heart and mind are curious, creative, and compassionate. Left, right, left, right.
Article references below.
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References from the article:
Brockett, A. T., Lamarca, E. A., & Gould, E. (2015). Physical Exercise Enhances Cognitive Flexibility as Well as Astrocytic and Synaptic Markers in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Plos One,10(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124859
Hanson, N. J., Short, L. E., Flood, L. T., Cherup, N. P., & Miller, M. G. (2018). Cortical neural arousal is differentially affected by type of physical exercise performed. Experimental Brain Research, 236(6), 1643-1649. doi:10.1007/s00221-018-5247-x
Siegel, D. J. (2012). Pocket guide to interpersonal neurobiology: An integrative handbook of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton.
Cregan-reid, V. (2017). Footnotes - how running makes us human. Ebury Publishing.
Sachs, M. L., & Buffone, G. W. (1997). Running as therapy: An integrated approach. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Acute changes in endocrine and fluid balance markers during high-intensity, steady-state, and prolonged endurance running: unexpected increases in oxytocin and brain natriuretic peptide during exercise in European Journal of Endocrinology Authors: Tamara Hew-Butler, Timothy D Noakes, Steven J Soldin 1 and Joseph G Verbalis 1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1530/EJE-08-0064 Page(s): 729–737 Volume/Issue: Volume 159: Issue 6 Online Publication Date: Dec 2008
Altshul, V. A. 1978. The ego-integrative (and disintegrative) aspects of long distance running. Current Concepts in Psychiatry 4(4):6-11.
MaryCarol R. Hunter, Brenda W. Gillespie an Sophi Yu-Pu Chen Frontiers in Psychology (2019) doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00722
Sachs, M. L., & Buffone, G. W. (1997). Running as therapy: An integrated approach. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
