A review explores how physical exercise modulates the endocannabinoid system, potentially explaining exercise-induced euphoria, pain relief, and mood improvements.
Exercise physiologists, sports medicine practitioners, cannabis researchers, and fitness enthusiasts.
Exercise activates ECSPhysical exercise increases endocannabinoid levels, potentially driving mood and pain benefits
What the researchers found
Physical exercise activates the endocannabinoid system, increasing circulating endocannabinoid levels and potentially contributing to the mood-enhancing, pain-relieving, and anti-inflammatory effects commonly attributed to exercise.
Why it matters
The runners high was long attributed to endorphins, but emerging evidence suggests endocannabinoids play a major role. Understanding this mechanism has implications for exercise prescriptions and cannabinoid therapy.
The numbers in context
The ECS is involved in brain plasticity, learning, memory, neuronal development, nociception, inflammation, appetite, digestion, metabolism, energy balance, motility, and stress regulation.
How the study worked
Review article examining the relationship between physical exercise and endocannabinoid system modulation.
Who was studied
Preclinical and clinical research on exercise-endocannabinoid system interactions.
What this study cannot tell us
Exercise-ECS research is still emerging; measurement of endocannabinoids during exercise is technically challenging; individual variation in ECS response to exercise is poorly characterized.
How to read the evidence
Review of emerging evidence; exercise-ECS relationship is supported but mechanistic details are still being elucidated.
When this study was published
Recent review capturing growing understanding of exercise-endocannabinoid interactions.
The bigger picture
If exercise naturally activates the same system that cannabis targets, this could explain both why exercise is therapeutic for many conditions that cannabis users report treating, and why cannabis might substitute for exercise motivation.
Replication
Growing evidence base supporting exercise-ECS connection; builds on foundational endocannabinoid research.
Funding
Not specified
Conflicts of interest
Not specified
Questions still open
- Does cannabis use blunt the exercise-induced ECS response?
- Could exercise be prescribed as an alternative to cannabinoid therapy?
- What exercise types most effectively activate the ECS?
Read the original research
The Endocannabinoid System and Physical Exercise.
International journal of molecular sciences, 24(3)
Citation
Matei, Daniela; Trofin, Dan; Iordan, Daniel Andrei; Onu, Ilie; Condurache, Iustina; Ionite, Catalin; Buculei, Ioana. (2023). The Endocannabinoid System and Physical Exercise.. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24031989