"Runner's high" Good for Your Heart:

It turns out that endorphins, those natural feel good chemicals produced during exercise, may be good for your heart health. They are usually associated with the "runner's high" or bodybuilders' "pump."

Recent research suggests that endorphins may also protect you from heart attacks. It is known that regular, vigorous exercise decreases your risk of hardening of the arteries, stroke, osteoporosis and even depression.

Yet, the mechanisms behind this has been unclear. Researchers at the University of Iowa studied rats undergoing exercise. When they blocked the endorphin receptors, the heart benefits of exercise seemed to be blocked, as well.

While this left the researchers with more work to be done on this subject, the lead researcher stated that in the future, it would be nice if they could harness the power of these chemicals for those with limited mobility, who have difficulty exercising.

You can read the original article at the right of this column or read the rest of my comments in my article Runner's high is good for your heart.

I have also recently written new articles Indian club exercises for golf fitness and Exercise helps women with fibromyalgia.