About a little over year ago after not being particularly active for a number of years, I challenged myself to pick up running. I went from not even being able to run 5 minutes to now regularly being able to run 8 miles…with my longest ever run being 11 miles.
Somehow, I managed to be relatively consistent for a full year in doing this. I don’t run every day, but I generally try to run 3 times per week.
Honestly, I picked up running because I was going through a challenging time. Literally everyone and their mother…every mental health professional…every internet rando…says that exercise improves mental health.
Well it hasn’t for me. All running does is make me tired. I don’t get a “runner’s high”. It doesn’t clear my head of negative thoughts. I don’t get any of that shit.
If I am in a bad mood before the run, the run enhances the low mood. If I am a neutral mood before the run, my mood stays neutral. If I am in an unusually good mood before the run (uncommon), the run enhances my good mood. Running itself (and all forms of exercise really) is actually somewhat unpleasant to me.
Occasionally I’ve read people on the internet saying that you don’t get mood improvements until you’ve run farther. Well I’ve progressively run farther and farther and I’ve been doing this for longer than a whole ass year and not seen any discernible difference.
So what the hell am I doing wrong? I don’t understand.
Your not doing anything wrong.
Some interventions are more effective for some people.
Exercise is a good component of a healthy lifestyle, but it’s not the only component.
Diet can have a huge impact on mood too, more so then exercise, in my experience. There is exciting research emerging that low carbohydrate metabolisms have positive impact on mood and mental issues.
Have you started a mood journal? I would recommend it, so you can see if something improves your situation over time.
It doesn’t work for everyone. And I’m convinced half of the people who say it does is just placebo. It’s just the easy answer for everything, like “mindfulness”.
You’re not doing anything wrong in my opinion. Some of us just don’t get an endorphin boost from exercise.
I’m a marathon runner and I have never experienced a runner’s high or whatever these other people get from normal training.
There’s this chart about “types of fun” that finally made it click for me. Some people find the mundane training as “Type I” fun. Some of us have activities that are this and others that aren’t fun in the moment. For me, skiing is type I. Running is not.
I run as a discipline, it feels good looking back on my calendar of training and seeing the work I’ve put in. So I get Type II fun from it. I like to say “I run for the medals” and that’s mostly this concept. I don’t run for the fun, I train for the PR or the “win” or a medal. It’s seeing my work pay off, my discipline for months on end being paid out.
So it’s not the running, it’s achieving the hard goal I set. Anyway, I hope this makes you feel seen. It’s really frustrating to see all the hype about endorphins or whatever being a mood booster, but that’s not the reality for a lot of people.
Also good job on the consistency for a year! That’s impressive! Especially without the mood boost other people get!!
Weirdly, I despise things like running, and yet I have, one time experienced runners high (many years ago).
It’s a pretty interesting experience, and yet it wasn’t enough to get me to enjoy running.
non scientific vibes talk :
I feel similarly. The thing that worked for me is finding exercise I find fun (climbing) or tracking my quantifiable improvements (fitness goal, difficulty, or on a stationary bike , distance and calories burned).
try something else, perhaps more game oriented (football, basketball) or pay closer attention to your achievements within running and try to take pride in them.
It’s the same for me. Most of my family feels better when working out. For me, I just get tired and it feels like I’m torturing myself. I do get stronger very fast, which is handy when I need/want to be strong for something.
Working out for feels is simply not for everyone
Besides what others have said, there’s also the angle of what you need.
Like vitamins or supplements are only useful for people who are deficient in those things. Perhaps you’re just not wired for exercise to make a difference.
I despise working out. It’s fucking boring as hell. Give me a mountain bike and I’ll crank up hills and down until I can barely walk.
Yeah, this is one of those things where it just happens to not work for you. Running in specific; you may well get those nice chemicals and a sense of improved self worth from something else.
It’s pretty unusual tbh, but not so rare that it isn’t a matter that’s had some research into it.
Part of it is supposedly the physical; you just aren’t stressing the body enough to trigger the cascade of chemicals. And there’s nothing you can do about that part because you’re just one of those lucky buggers that can run without major physical effects in the short term.
But there’s also a mental side of things. If the exercise doesn’t distract you enough, you’re in a situation where all you can do is think, and your thoughts aren’t healthy, so you reinforce them.
It sucks, and I’m sorry you didn’t get relief from what is an amazing level of sustained effort on your part. But there are other forms of exercise that should help at least a little. You just have to avoid endurance sports like running. Strength training, maybe yoga, martial arts, anything where you’re doing something intense for a half hour to an hour with changes rather than sustaining an effort over the time.
Where are you running? If it’s in a city/highly populated area it could be affecting you.
Have you tried hiking/trail running?
I run in the local park! Tbh it’s not the prettiest of parks but it’s ok. Sometimes if I get there early enough, I get to see some animals like deer or the birds will be out sometimes with their babies.
The actual act of exercise is pretty miserable for most of us. It’s the hours in between exercises that for better, for me. I just generally feel better when I’m exercising more.
It sounds like you’re getting plenty of exercise, so it’s time to check into vitamins, meditation, mindfulness exercises and whatever else.
In your shoes, I would keep exercising, to keep that variable controlled while I tried the next change.
Try a different sport. I thought I was like you in that exercise didn’t improve my mental health. I was mainly jogging and going to the gym to lift weights. I switched to bike riding during the pandemic and it was like a light switch turned on in my brain. Now I make excuses to go biking instead of making excuses to not go to the gym.
It may be a different sport than biking but I would bet you can find one that will make you get that endorphin rush from exercise.
