Day 17 - Drug Party

What would you say if I asked you if you wanted to get high on a bunch of drugs? "No way, man, drugs aren't for me!" or "Sure, I try everything once!"

Well, despite what your thoughts/beliefs/concerns are about recreational drug use, the human body carries its own ability to flood your body with 'feel-good' hormones and endorphins. I personally am not a fan of recreational drug use, but I do in fact love the euphoric feeling that I can create on my own, naturally, within my body.

There is a great article that I read that discusses the phenomenon known as "runner's high". Now this phrase may be new to some, but I am sure that most of you have heard it before.

The article discusses the idea that the human body was built to be an endurance performer. We evolved this way in order to either hunt for our food, or to not become food for a predator.

By creating a natural 'feel-good' flood of hormones within the body, our own brain is signalling to the rest of our bodies that exercise is good, and that we should continue to do it. We call it exercise now-a-days, although our early ancestors call it "living".

I saw a documentary a while ago that theorized why humans evolved the way we did. We evolved as bipeds (two feet) for a number of reasons, one of which includes the fact that our brain is at the top of our bodies, for protection, rather than out front if we were on all fours.

The problem with being bipeds is the fact that when compared to other beings of comparable size, we are not very fast creatures. As it turns out, our early ancestors were not able to generate enough through two legs in order to chase down prey for food. However, we were/are great distance runners, so we would just out-endure our prey.

If we aren't very fast, then wouldn't our prey simply run away from us? Not exactly. Most animals lack the ability to sweat. Not only that, but when they switch from a trot to a gallop, their organs move in such a way that prevents them from panting. If they can't pant, then overheat. When they overheat, they need to take breaks.

So, because of this, our early ancestors would just simply need to keep their prey within eyesight, and run just fast enough to cause them to at least gallop. Eventually, the prey would overheat/become too tired to continue, then they would be easy pickings. If you wish to learn more about this, I was able to find the link to the documentary here.

So, as we have known for some time, exercise is good for you. What we now know, however, is that not only is exercise good for your cardiovascular system, lunges, muscles, connective tissues, and bones, but it is also good for your brain, and can cause a slew of 'feel-good' hormones in your body. Not only that, but your brain is trying to tell you something when you exercise. It is trying to reward you with these euphoric feelings because it wants you to get hooked an exercise more! Not ALL drugs are bad...

Quote of the day:

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."
~W.Rogers