Researchers Say Exercise High Is Good for 12 Hours

Yes, Virginia, runner’s high is for real, and yes I said yes I will yes, the afterglow of exercise can last much longer than some other widely advertised afterglows. HealthDay reports that researchers at the University of Vermont have found that the lovely mood improvement that often follows on the heels of exercise can last up to 12 hours. That finding, presented last week at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle, stemmed from research that randomly assigned 48 men and women to a control group that
did not exercise, or to a group that did. HealthDay reports that at the start of the study, all
participants completed a standard survey of mood, and that the survey was repeated at one, two, four, eight, 12 and 24 hours after the exercisers then
rode on a stationary bike for 20 minutes at moderate intensity. The researchers found that the mood of the exercisers was better than that of the sedentary group immediately after the workout, and also  up to 12 hours later. Wait, there’s more: exerciser’s high is an equal opportunity perk: Men and women seemed to benefit equally, and the fitness level of the participant didn’t seem to matter.
Read more from HealthDay.