Some people get a great feeling when they go for a run, called a runner’s high.
It makes me wonder, are we meant to run?
Hey runners, Julia here for DNews
Some people say that running is good for you.
I firmly stand on the side of another DNews video in which we claim running marathons
might be bad for you so.
I just stay on my couch and marathon shows, just to be on the safe side.
Running is a high impact sport, you’d think it would do a number on your joints and bones.
But there’s plenty of people who love going for a long run and research shows that we
may be built for it.
Though there are some people in this world who take it to an extreme.
The Trans Europe Foot Race (TEFR) pushes running to it’s limits.
Over the course of 64 days runners will rack up over 4,500 kilometers.
With such a test of endurance, it’s no wonder scientists were interested in how this kind
of long distance running effects the body.
Over the course of the race, some of the runners had full body MRI scans every few days.
As you might expect and as other research shows, such high impact activity did a number
on people’s joints.
Within the first 2,000 kilometers almost all cartilage in their knee, ankle and hind-foot
joints showed significant degradation.
But here is the weird thing, even as the runners continued to run the other 2,000 or so kilometers
they had left…
their cartilage started to regrow!
Even their achilles tendon grew in diameter.
The researchers conclude that “The human foot is made for running.”
So is that true?
Are we made for running?
Well according to a 2004 Nature study, yes we are.
The researchers found certain physiological adaptations make us efficient endurance runners,
so efficient that we can outrun almost every animal on this planet.
This is what’s called the “Endurance Running Hypothesis”.
It’s the idea that around 2 million years ago, our homo erectus ancestors chased their
meals across the African savannah.
They didn’t have good enough tools to kill from a distance, so they did the next best
thing.
They hunted antelope or game by chasing them across a long distance until the animal collapsed
from exhaustion.
So what’s the evidence for this hypothesis?
Well one is the way we sweat.
We evolved to chase our food in a really hot climate.
Most animals release excess body heat by panting.
While this might help your dog cool down on a hot summer day, painting actually gets in
the way of breathing.
So panting and running never go well together.
For example, dogs can only run for about 15 minutes before they have to slow down.
By releasing our heat through sweating, panting doesn’t slow us down.
The 2004 Nature study pointed to the way our ligaments and tendons are built.
The researchers point to a specific ligament, the Nuchal ligament that helps stabilize our
heads.
Other running animals like horses, dogs, and rabbits have a version of this ligament, but
our early ancestors, like Lucy who lived 4 million years didn’t have it.
It only arose around 2 million years ago when we left the safety of the trees for the open
savannah.
Even our butts help us run according to some of the same researchers.
Most other running and galloping animals have tails.
It helps them balance.
While humans are famous for our lack of a behind appendage.
Our big bottoms make up for it.
No other ape has such large hindquarters and upper part of the gluteus maximus.
And according to research the butt doesn’t do much when we’re just walking.
It’s real power comes from when we break into a run.
So one of the researchers believes that the butt is "basically a substitute for a tail”,
it helps us balance when we run, Other evidence like short toes, large joints and slow twitch
muscle fibers adds more to the theory that we were built to run.
Even that ‘runner’s high’ might a gift from evolution.
In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers found that some animals
get a high from running and others don’t.
A runner’s high is basically a neurobiological reward.
Like other reward mechanisms in the brain, it’s caused from a release of Endocannabinoids,
the chemicals that make us feel good.
So the researchers measured the levels of these chemicals in the brains of humans, dogs,
and ferrets after exercise.
And like I said earlier, it seems dogs and humans are some of the only animals who partake
in endurance exercise, ferrets do not.
The researchers found that those endocannabinoids were released in dogs and humans but not the
lazier ferrets.
So not only are we built for running, we also enjoy it.
We get high from it.
Maybe I’ll go to hit the gym now.
Who I am kidding, the ferret is totally my patronus.
I’m just gonna go marathon some superhero shows.
So are you a ferret or a dog?
Do you enjoy running?
Or does it feel like torture?
Let us know down in the comments below