How to use exercise to get a natural high
Every once in a while I write something which results in epic amounts of vitriol that questions my lineage, like this article about how smoking pot can make you fat. It’s gone to archive now so you can’t see the 400+ comments that were largely about how much I suck.
I’m perfectly fine with people smoking pot, but the facts don’t lie: if you’re a regular user, it can lead to increased body fat. There is new research on this front for weed-lovers who want to cut back: Aerobic exercise cuts cannabis cravings. Cool, no? There have been a number of interesting studies to show how lots of exercise reduces the rewarding effects of drugs.
This is just more (awesome) evidence about how regular exercise stimulates the same reward pathways as do not just drugs, but alcohol and yes, food! When you eat highly palatable food, the reward pathways in your brain go berserk with feelings of how awesome it tastes. It is a rush not dissimilar to that obtained via drugs, alcohol, or even gambling.
But the super cool thing is that while all those other things are bad for you (junk food, gambling, drugs etc.), exercise can be like your healthy form of methadone to wean you off destructive and/or unhealthy behaviors.
Exercise burns calories, this is true, but I agree with Dr. Sharma (the author of the cannabis cravings post) that the real benefit of exercise when it comes to weight loss is how it can improve the food you eat.
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