The Joy of Movement summary

When researchers first started studying the phenomenon of “exercise dependence” in the late 1960s, they ran into a big problem. No matter how much money they offered, they couldn’t find any regular exercisers willing to see what would happen if they stopped exercising for a while. And if they did sign up, participants tended to cheat and lie, pretending they hadn’t worked out when they had.

This anecdote illustrates that the “persistence high” people get from endurance sports isn’t the only way exercise can be likened to drugs. Because it activates our brain’s reward system in similar ways to substances like cocaine and heroin – stimulating the release of feel-good chemicals like endocannabinoids, dopamine, endorphins, and noradrenaline – regular physical activity can be just as addictive as those substances. 

Fitness trends come and go, but if you observe them closely, you will discover that many recent exercise crazes share a similar format: they supercharge an already existing activity by adding synchronized movement and community spirit.

Consider Tae Bo, for example, which adds elements of dance choreography to boxing, or SoulCycling, which brings a social, almost spiritual, element to the lone sport of indoor cycling.

Some exercise scientists could convincingly argue that when Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie broke the world record on the 2000 meter race during a US running competition in 1998, he was actually on a performance-enhancing drug. Earlier that day, Gebrselassie had managed to convince event organizers to play the pop song “Scatman” during the race – one of his favorite songs, and the song he had trained to. When he heard the familiar upbeat melody play over the giant stadium speakers, Gebrselassie was able to run faster than he ever had before.

The power of music to push us beyond our physical limits can hardly be overstated. Musicologists have long described music as ergogenic, or work-enhancing, and science is finding more and more evidence to back up this claim. One recent study found that people who listen to music during their workouts consume less oxygen than those who don’t. And even patients with high blood pressure last 51 seconds longer during a cardiovascular stress test when they are allowed to run on the treadmill to their favorite tunes. 

At Tough Mudder, an annual obstacle marathon that now happens all over the world, participants face terrifying physical obstacles with names such as “Arctic Enema,” “Boa Constrictor,” or “Ladder to Hell.” For the final obstacle on the course, “Electroshock Therapy,” participants have to run through curtains of wires electrified with up to 10,000 volts.

Why, you might ask yourself, would anyone subject themselves to such torture?

Now that you’ve learned about the numerous positive effects that movement has on our mental health, would you like to know what’s even better for your brain than exercise? 

Exercising outside! 

If running a marathon isn’t challenging enough for you, you can always sign up for an ultramarathon – that’s any marathon lasting over six hours, though some of them can last several weeks. The Iditarod Trail Invitational, for example, includes walking, biking, and skiing through Alaskan blizzards for up to thirty days.

Since 1980, the number of Americans who have completed such extreme endurance feats jumped from 650 to 79,000 in 2017. What draws people to these crazy adventures?