Does Rebounding Release Endorphins?
Rebounding is becoming increasingly popular as a fun, straight-forward, energising way to lose weight, boost fitness, and improve mood. Do endorphins have a role to play in this and can rebounding help release these important hormones? Rebounding can be a good way of getting a swift and effective endorphin release from the comfort of your own living room. It has also been linked with other mood enhancing factors and a host of physical health benefits. What’s not to love?
Today, we’ll be recapping what exactly endorphins are, what role they play in exercise and mood, as well as how rebounding can help stimulate and release them.
What are Endorphins?
You’ll often hear endorphins described as a ‘feel-good’ hormone, with people sometimes linking these internally produced chemicals to feelings of happiness, relaxation, and even euphoria.
Our understanding of the exact roles and functions of endorphins is still evolving to this day. However, it seems that one of their primary functions is to help the body cope with pain and to deal with short term physical stress. This pain relief can also feel like a mood lifter.
It can sometimes be difficult to separate out exactly which chemical or hormone is causing a ‘feel good feeling’ when it comes to exercise.
Since endorphins can often be released alongside serotonin, dopamine, and endocannibinoids, singling out which chemical is responsible for which exact feeling of happiness, wellbeing, or physical relief isn’t always easy!
Endorphins appear to be released both during times of physical stress, such as when we twist an ankle or push our muscles to the limit, and when we engage in various pleasurable activities, such as laughing, sex, or eating certain foods.
There appear to be complex links between the release of endorphins and a feeling of pleasure, pain reduction, and general mood.
What does seem certain though is that endorphins being released make you feel better in some form.
Whether this is through making pain more bearable or giving you a brief surge of pleasure, an endorphin rush is something you’re likely to enjoy!
Does Rebounding Release Endorphins?
It has been reliably shown that various forms of moderate to intense exercise can lead to endorphins being released. This in turn can help the body cope with physical pain, as well as giving a joyful boost to the brain!
The good news is that you don’t even need to do hours of exercise in order to enjoy these benefits. Just 20 – 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise a day can be enough to boost endorphin levels and improve mood!
Rebounding is an effective, invigorating form of aerobic exercise capable of releasing endorphins just like any other activity that gets your heart pumping.
In fact, although further scientific research is required, some people believe that rebounding may even release endorphins more swiftly than other forms of workout.
It may be that the act of brief weightlessness occasioned by rebounding, followed by the gravitational pull acting on the body as it comes back down, can encourage the release of endorphins alongside the elevated heart rate that comes with the workout.
This repeated up-and-down movement may stimulate endorphin production more swiftly than other forms of exercise.
There’s also something undeniably ‘fun’ about bouncing up and down. It’s an activity that children appear instinctively drawn to and, as we have seen with the increasing popularity of rebounders, something that adults are coming to embrace as well!
The scientific reasons behind why this gravity defying workout is so enjoyable still need to be looked into.
It may be that a boost of endorphin, dopamine or serotonin production could be responsible for people seeking out the mini-trampoline as a simple way of having fun and getting fit whilst doing so.
Can Rebounding Give You Runner’s High?
For many years, endorphins were thought of as being responsible for the much sought after ‘runner’s high’.
This is often described as a surging sense of well-being, revitalised strength, and physical confidence shortly after or during a relatively intense workout.
More recent studies appear to link this ‘runner’s high’ not necessarily with an endorphin rush but with an increase in endocannabinoids within the body.
However, the production of endocannabinoids during exercise is often accompanied by endorphins, so separating out the exact effects of each can be difficult.
Regardless of the exact chemical causes of ‘runner’s high’, users of rebounders also report feelings of breathless joy, surges of happiness, and a lingering sense of contentedness and peace both during and after the exercise.
Whatever mood boosting effects you’ve found in running, you may well find are waiting to be unlocked on the rebounder as well!
Does Rebounding Improve Your Mood?
Some links have been drawn between lower endorphin levels and conditions such as depression, anxiety, or general mood disorders.
Other chemicals linked to mood regulation and emotional wellbeing, such as dopamine and serotonin, also seem to play a part in our overall mental functioning.
Rebounding appears to be a reliable and safe method of boosting mood, confidence, and bringing a bit of energetic joy into your daily routine. One of the ways it may do this is by increasing our levels of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin.
Anecdotal evidence from numerous users around the globe report increased feelings of self-esteem, heightened awareness, improved confidence, reduce cortisol and generally more positive emotional wellbeing as a result of regular rebounding.
Although further scientific studies are required to confirm strong ties between elevated mood and mini-trampolining, there is plenty to suggest that rebounding can be a happiness booster for many people, particularly when incorporated into a daily routine alongside a healthy diet and other forms of exercise.
An ex-triathlete, fitness coach and writer with a Masters in Sports Physiology. Fitness is my passion and I've had my fair share of home fitness equipment tried and tested!