We’ve all heard of runner’s high: the brief, euphoric feelings that come with an intense run. But a new study is delving into a different kind of “runner’s high” ― one that concerns marijuana and its effects on how exercise feels.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder recently found that using cannabis before a run can improve one’s motivation, make workouts more fun and increase the euphoria from runner’s high. The study, published Dec. 26 in the journal Sports Medicine, is the first of its kind to look at how commercially available cannabis makes a difference to the feel of exercise.
“Participants reported more enjoyment, positive affect, and more runner’s high symptoms when they ran for 30 minutes after using cannabis compared to when they ran for 30 minutes sober,” said Laurel Gibson, an author of the study and a researcher at the CUChange Lab at CU Boulder.
There’s one drawback, though: Weed use also makes exercise feel significantly harder.
“Participants who used a THC-dominant product reported more exertion during their cannabis compared to their sober run,” Gibson told HuffPost.
That’s likely due, at least in part, to the fact that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC ― the compound most commonly associated with psychoactive effects ― can increase your heart rate. “The more you feel your heart beating, the harder exercise can feel,” Gibson said.
In an earlier study, researchers at the CUChange Lab had found that 8 out of 10 marijuana users in states where cannabis was legal had used it before exercise or shortly afterward. That’s a surprising percentage, given that weed is usually associated with more stationary behavior: Many cannabis users can attest to having experienced “couch lock” ― an overwhelming desire to relax after smoking or taking an edible.
When she first moved to Colorado, Gibson herself was surprised at how many friends and acquaintances mixed the two activities. “I, along with many others, had theorized that cannabis legalization might worsen the obesity epidemic in the U.S., given the popular stereotype that cannabis use is associated with extreme sedentary behavior,” she said.
“But people reported that cannabis helped with things like motivation, enjoyment, and recovery,” she noted. “We wanted to see whether these findings would generalize to a controlled lab setting, and thus this study was born.”
How did researchers test this?
For the more recent study, Gibson and senior author Angela Bryan recruited 42 local runners who were already cannabis users.
The volunteers were asked to pick up a designated flower strain that contained either mostly cannabidiol (CBD) or a THC-dominant strain. (THC and CBD are active ingredients in cannabis, though only THC is known for its psychoactive side effects. Here, the CBD product that participants were assigned to use still had a small amount of THC.)
While sober, volunteers at the lab ran moderately on a treadmill for 30 minutes, answering questions periodically to assess their levels of enjoyment and pain, as well as how motivated they felt, how hard the workout felt and how quickly time seemed to pass.
On a separate visit, they repeated the test after using cannabis.
One fun fact about the study? Since marijuana isn’t legal at the federal level and can’t be possessed or distributed on college campuses, the runners used the weed at home, then were picked up in a mobile lab known as the “CannaVan” and brought to a research facility.
On average, participants enjoyed running more and noticed a more intense runner’s high when using compared to not using cannabis. But participants in the THC group said the same intensity of running felt significantly harder during the cannabis run versus the sober run.
In a previous study, Gibson and Bryan found that although runners enjoyed their runs more while high, they ran 31 seconds per mile slower.
“It is pretty clear from our research that cannabis is not a performance enhancing drug,” Bryan said in a university press release.
Although marijuana is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency and in much of the professional sports world ― U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was famously banned from competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics after testing positive for it ― there seems to be no competitive edge in toking up before a run, according to the study’s results.
What does this research mean for you?
All the participants in this study were cannabis users who exercise regularly, which means these findings don’t necessarily generalize to everyone, Gibson said. Plus, 42 participants make for a relatively small sample size.
“More research is needed on the potential harms and benefits of cannabis use during exercise before we can advocate for or against this behavior,” Gibson explained.
Cannabis is certainly not a performance enhancer from a strength or speed standpoint, but “it’s possible that it may lead to more motivation to exercise or a desire to exercise for a longer period of time,” she said.
If you find that pairing weed with exercise helps you enjoy exercise enough to do it more regularly, that’s great, said Whitney Ogle, an associate professor of kinesiology at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, who studies the effects of cannabis and exercise. (She was not affiliated with this particular study.)
“But it’s important for people who do use cannabis with exercise to check in with themselves to track how cannabis is actually impacting their performance and how it relates to their exercise goals,” Ogle told HuffPost.
“For example, I recently had an MMA fighter on my podcast who shared how taking time away from weed made him realize that it was actually making his form sloppy, decreased his reaction time, and negatively impacted his endurance during fights,” she said.
If you personally find that you’re running farther, but at a slower pace, when you’re high, and your goal is to increase your mileage, then you’re in line with your goals. If your goal is to run faster, maybe skip the edible before you run. You have to find what works for you, Ogle said.
“I usually say that cannabis is a tool in the toolbox,” she said. “Sometimes cannabis is exactly the tool you need to help you get out of your head so that you enjoy exercise, but sometimes you need different tools.”
