I have always smiled at the so-called sports addiction. That is impossible. Well, there are. Now my environment and I realize how much running really influences my mood - positive, but also negative.
Photo: iStock / lzf
- Pregnant or jogger? Hello, mood swings!
- Can I just relax when I go jogging?
- Am I a junkie?
- The sports addiction and the runner's high
- Who walks with me, needs strong nerves
Running makes you relaxed and happy? Yes and no. As much as I love jogging for years, I can not fully endorse this thesis. Because since I trained for the half marathon, not only my attitude to running, but also changed my emotional state.
Pregnant or jogger? Hello, mood swings!
Sometimes I feel like I'm pregnant - or shivering in PMS. Because my mood has been fluctuating since I've become a hobbyist, well, far from professional, but at least regular runner.
On the one hand, there are days when I just do not feel like running. This is especially the case since sport has become a kind of commitment. Then my sofa calls me especially eagerly. On the other hand, I'm in even worse mood if I do not walk . If I put my legs up, my running shoes punish me with a reproachful look.
Can I just relax when I go jogging?
It usually helps in these moments, just to walk anyway. Then I complain, but at the latest after the run, I know that it was worth the effort. Sounds healthy but not even in my own ears. It's the feeling after the run that I just do not want to do without - or even can now?
Am I a junkie?
I asked myself this question last Sunday. I woke up with latent headache and sore throat and the memories of half a bottle of wine the night before. My eyelids were heavy as lead and consistently refused to sunlight. In the meantime, I had gone home earlier the evening before, had refused the schnapps and put off my friends for another party evening. Because with my thoughts, I was already on Sunday: I wanted to go running. However, my body signaled the exact opposite the next morning. Surprise: I still got up and walked. It was not very successful - but I could not help it.
If your thoughts are all about one thing and you need them to be happy, I would tell you: You have an addiction problem. Can sports be a drug?
The sports addiction and the runner's high
The experience of many runners shows that there actually seems to be a kind of craving for life around which the magical word "Runner's High" wafts. This is about the state of euphoria, which you reach after a certain number of kilometers and in which you should always be able to continue.
That's because the body spills its own drugs while walking. So the addiction can actually be scientifically explained: In sports more happiness hormones like serotonin should be released. But the stress reduction while running and the exhaustion can be responsible for the pleasant balance afterwards. Either way: the feeling is nice. And what happens when you get used to feelings? You want to have them more often. And get in a bad mood if they stay away.
That sports affect the mood is therefore not only normal but also good. Even if you - or at least I - often have to traverse contrary worlds of feeling for the euphoria.
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Who walks with me, needs strong nerves
If you really want to get to know me, you should go with me. There are two reasons for this: When I'm breathing and running, I can barely hide my true self . On top of that, in the course of a long run, I pretty much go through the whole mood spectrum that I have.
You want to experience me angry, grumbling, frustrated, stubborn, elated and euphoric at the same time in an hour? Go jogging with me. I only noticed that after walking with people I did not really want to share in my emotional world so quickly. But it did not go the other way: When I run, I give up control of my mood . And actually that's pretty nice for a controlled person like me.
Here you can read the other parts of the Laufkolumne:
- "I hate running groups - now I'm running with 8, 000 people"
- From the run-hater to the over-motivated
- How do you overcome your inner bastard?
- What does the magic word "no" do with my motivation
- "I hate running, now I train for a half marathon"
- The agony with the times: why speed can not be everything
- Half Marathon Challenge: Between ambition and exhaustion
