Endorphins?

[asterroc]

I really don't get this concept of "endorphins" as regards exercise.

I live on top of a hill, so this afternoon I started off by going down it until it ran out, then I went back up it. Thirty minutes and a mile or so later, I was a bit worse for wear, and thinking about other more interesting things I could be doing. It wasn't horribly boring as I took a route I hadn't taken before, but it wasn't terribly interesting either. I didn't feel particularly good about it, and there was no sense of satisfaction for having completed the task, as it was entirely pointless in the first place. Archery I'll get satisfaction from hitting the target. Climbing I'll have the accomplishment of going UP. Even ultimate frisbee I have fun interacting with friends and can learn new things such as playing defensively and "forcing home." But walking is... well, it's something I perfected by age three. Where's the challenge in that? What's so terribly exciting about something I do every day?

As I was told yesterday, "you live in your head."

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, only strenuous exercise produces noticeable endorphins.

This might be why as an asthmatic I also don't really know what they're talking about. But I do sometimes get them from low-impact aerobics like dancing and skiing.

[tiurin.livejournal.com]

You definitely need strenuous exercise. Try running that mile in under 10 minutes, and you'll almost certainly get some endorphins going. Go up and down that hill three times in 30 minutes? You'll get the runner's high.

Some of my happiest moments have come when I'm half delerious after wrestling for 15 minutes straight.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Some of us (am I remembering right, zandperl?), however, cannot actually run for 10 minutes because we will quickly stop being able to breathe.

I kept telling people that running hurt, and everyone assumed I was just out of shape until I took my first asthma screening test at age 21. By this point I've become seriously averse to nearly all forms of exercise, even the ones that I can do with the proper medication. I'm kinda bitter about this.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

In high school I ran a mile in 14 minutes. I walked it in 13. The reason why is that when I tried to run the whole mile, even at the mildest jog physically possible and still a jog not a walk, I ran out of breath and had to either stop or slow significantly. Enough so that if I paced myself and fastwalked it I did better.

Last fall, age 26 I told my doctor that I thought I might have exercise induced asthma. This is because I'd noticed myself being consistently dizzy when I exerted myself too hard. One time after playing a game of pick-up frisbee I was not only dizzy, I had tunnel vision for a full 20 minutes while lying on my back to try and recover. After talking with my doctor we decided that it was probably mild (i.e., no hospital), and that I could take all sorts of really uncomfortable tests to confirm it rigorously including running on a treadmill while I took drugs to CAUSE an asthma attack, or the doctor could prescribe me an inhaler and I could try it. If it worked, I had asthma, if it didn't, I didn't and no harm done.

After walking a half hour today, the second half uphill, I was dizzy. One puff of albuterol later and I was reminded that there's "I can't stand up" bad dizzy, and then there's "whee, I'm flying!" ok dizzy, and I also realized that I could breathe again. Funny, I hadn't noticed myself stopping.

You definitely need strenuous exercise. ... You'll get the runner's high.

For the most part my body shuts down (breathing, pain, fatigue) before the endorphins kick in. I might be physically capable of pushing myself further, but I don't think it's a good idea. Instead, I need something that keeps my interest enough that I'm willing to push myself gentler but longer.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I have exercise-aggravated asthma which means that it's detectable while I'm at rest. A good blow-test confirmed it. Apparently you can totally detect asthma in lots of cases without waiting for an attack - there's a characteristic wheeze that comes out when you try to blow really hard. I guess it helps to go to someone who specializes in asthma and allergy.