According to researchers, and referencing studies dating back to 2003, scientists have singled-out a post-exercise molecule present in the blood that creates a happy, mellow state of being.

Photo: iRunFar.com / Alex Nichols
Tom Caughlan running with Scott Jurek and Anton
Krupicka at the Ponderous Posterior 50k.

After testing mice and college kids alike, the molecule is called a cannabinoid, and under the right stimuli your body creates its own source to reduce pain and anxiety.

Sound like a familiar ailment reliever? Maybe this is why the barefoot craze was such a craze... they're all high.

Read the full story in the New York Times' "Phys Ed" department, by Gretchen Reynolds. And in the meantime, here's the compelling connection to your old friend from college, Mary Jane.

And be sure to pay attention to the comments in the NYT story, they're almost as entertaining as the story itself. Don't harsh their mellow, man!

"In a groundbreaking 2003 experiment, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that 50 minutes of hard running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bicycle significantly increased blood levels of endocannabinoid molecules in a group of college students. The endocannabinoid system was first mapped some years before that, when scientists set out to determine just how cannabis, a k a marijuana, acts upon the body."