Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26438875›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015

A runner's high depends on cannabinoid receptors in mice.

Johannes Fuss, Jörg Steinle, Laura Bindila, Matthias K Auer, Hartmut Kirchherr, Beat Lutz, Peter Gass

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06213883 (Characterizing Acute Exercise Response in Restrictive Eating Disorders), which is not on this map. Cited by 97 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
97citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
14.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06213883 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Characterizing Acute Exercise Response in Restrictive Eating Disorders

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonRan2023 to 2025Enrolled74ConditionsEating DisordersArmsBiobehavioral Response to in-lab exposure to physical activity
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

97 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 216 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Do Endocannabinoids Cause the Runner's High? Evidence and Open Questions.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2023
    Pooled it
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  17. The Neurochemical Orchestra of the Runner's High: A Narrative Review of Neuromodulatory Mechanisms with a Focus on Endocannabinoids.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2026
    Review
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  20. Overlapping pathways of migraine and the endocannabinoid system: Potential therapeutic targets.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026
    Review

37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Johannes FussDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, University Medicine Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany; jo.fuss@uke.de.
Jörg SteinleDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, University Medicine Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 68159 Mannheim, Germany;
Laura BindilaInstitute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany;
Matthias K AuerDepartment of Clinical Neuroendocrinology, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, 80804 Munich, Germany;
Hartmut KirchherrMedizinisches Labor Bremen, 28357 Bremen, Germany.
Beat LutzInstitute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany;
Peter GassDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, University Medicine Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 68159 Mannheim, Germany;
Heidelberg University · DECentral Institute of Mental Health · DEJohannes Gutenberg University Mainz · DEMax Planck Society · DEUniversity Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Exercise is rewarding, and long-distance runners have described a runner's high as a sudden pleasant feeling of euphoria, anxiolysis, sedation, and analgesia. A popular belief has been that endogenous endorphins mediate these beneficial effects. However, running exercise increases blood levels of both β-endorphin (an opioid) and anandamide (an endocannabinoid). Using a combination of pharmacologic, molecular genetic, and behavioral studies in mice, we demonstrate that cannabinoid receptors mediate acute anxiolysis and analgesia after running. We show that anxiolysis depends on intact cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) receptors on forebrain GABAergic neurons and pain reduction on activation of peripheral CB1 and CB2 receptors. We thus demonstrate that the endocannabinoid system is crucial for two main aspects of a runner's high. Sedation, in contrast, was not influenced by cannabinoid or opioid receptor blockage, and euphoria cannot be studied in mouse models.

Indexed as

Physical Conditioning, AnimalRunningAnimalsBehavior, AnimalMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLReceptor, Cannabinoid, CB1Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB2Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB1Receptor, Cannabinoid, CB2anandamideanxietyendocannabinoidexerciserunning

Identifiers

PMID26438875
PMCPMC4620874
OpenAlexW2122443470

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.