New Study Says Running Is Your Happy Secret Weapon
When sadness strikes, it's logical to want to lie in bed all day wrapped up in the comfort of blankets or stay on the couch eating ice cream while Netflix binging.
A new study, however, reports that doing nothing is the opposite of what you want to do when you're feeling like everything is the worst. Acute aerobic exercise, like running, is a more effective, scientifically proven mood-booster.
Published in the journal Cognition and Emotion, the study tested how moderate exercise affected the way individuals regulate negative emotions. The 80 participants (50% women) were induced to feel sadness when shown an upsetting scene from a movie, The Champ, then assigned to either jog (aerobic exercise) or stretch (anaerobic exercise) for half an hour. After observing surveys taken about subjects' emotional states before and after their workouts, researchers concluded that those who did run reported feeling less sadness at the end of the study compared to those who didn't exercise. Meanwhile, those who showed difficulty regulating emotion (agreeing with statements like "my emotions feel overwhelming," "I believe that there is nothing I can do to make myself feel better," and "I believe that I will remain this way for a long time") also felt less sadness after a 30-minute jog than those who did stretching.
So, next time you just can't, lace up your sneakers–people don't call it a runner's high for nothing.
