Kelly McGonigal

speaker

787 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 24 Jul

Kelly McGonigal’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The School of Greatness · The Real Reason Stress Is Hurting You | Kelly McGonigal · 24 Jul 2026 podcast

So.

you know, yoga, weightlifting, riding your bike, swimming, dancing, all of that stuff.

And the changes.

So first of all, if you ask people to describe it, one thing that stood out to me when I was like, I was all over Reddit, like the Reddit threads, like, what does a runner's high feel like?

Or looking at the scientific literature, I mean, people have written a whole dissertations, just asking people to describe a runner's high.

Two things stood out to me.

People feel powerfully optimistic.

So there's something about whatever happens in your brain chemistry that makes you feel hopeful about your ability to engage with life.

That was interesting.

And the other thing is people kept using the words loving and connected.

I feel like I'm in love with everyone I see.

I feel connected to everyone in my life and everything in the universe.

And so I got really interested in like what could be happening in your brain that would make you feel powerfully hopeful and also loving and connected.

And then I came across the research that it's not primarily the endorphin rush that people usually think the runner's high is.

To get an endorphin rush from exercise, a really powerful endorphin rush, I'll just give you like a spoiler.

If you want a powerful endorphin rush, because it definitely amplifies the pleasure of exercise, you need music, you need other people, or you need intensity.

Those three things.

That's what gives you like a rush of endorphins, endorphin rush, music, moving with other people or more intensity than what is required to get a runner's high.

You don't have to work that hard to get a runner's high.

Um, anyways, so the brain chemistry is actually endocannabinoids primarily in combination with dopamine and adrenaline and endocannabinoids, which of course lots of people know that's the brain chemical that cannabis mimics and endocannabinoids, um, in their natural function in your brain.

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