Addiction happens. Do you drink coffee? Need an afternoon candy pick-me-up? Do you jog every morning? Walk the dog? Do you have a ritual you follow at work? Anything that you do everyday, without fail, is probably an addiction.

Some very unhealthy but highly addictive habits, like illegal drugs, release dapamine in the brain and then we crave the dapamine, so we return to the drug. But exercise releases dapamine as well. So how do we make exercise an addiction?

In an experiment by psychologist Virginia Grant, rats that were given a wheel to run on chose to run until dapamine was present in the brain. They were addicted. Once they ran they had the same amount of dapamine in their systems as another group of rats that were addicted to morphine. Morphine is very addictive and Grant's experiment showed strong evidence that exercise is just as addictive. The side effects of exercise are pretty wonderful: increased energy and stamina, lowered stress, better sleep, stronger and more toned musculature, increased cognitive abilities, healthier heart, decreased cholesterol and blood pressure, increased bone density and the list goes on...

"Virginia Grant's experiment shows STRONG EVIDENCE that exercise is just as addictive as morphine."

But it's not just the dapamines that make us feel good. Enter the endorphins, a class of hormone first identified in the 1970s. Coincidentally, this is about the same time that the term "runner's high" was coined. Many exercise for that burst of feeling good. You've probably felt it yourself. Have you ever taken a spinning class only to come home to be anxious to take the dog for a walk or the kids to the park? Next time you feel that, say "Hello" to your endorphins.

Endorphins are very similar to morphine in chemical structure and pain killing abilities. Not surprisingly, endorphin means morphine made by the body and morphine attaches to the same receptors as endorphins. That endorphins caused the high during exercise was supported when early research found that there were heightened levels of endorphins present in the blood stream during and after exercise.

Donna Kritz-Silverstein from UCSD found that those who exercised had a lower Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), or in real words, that they just weren't as cranky. She also found that exercise must be done on a regular basis to maintain the positive effects (gee whiz). That runner's high might actually last you a few days when it comes to improved mood but it is not going to last long term.

So now we need some real "What are you going to do?" advice. Let's start with your personality. If you are a chatter bug and love being with a herd, you are setting yourself up for failure if you decide that you are going to run every morning by yourself. You are going to need a group class of some sort, whether it is aerobics, spinning, yoga, martial arts or Pilates. I highly recommend a group if you have had trouble sticking with an exercise program in the past. You'll make friends that you'll look forward to seeing and they'll be disappointed when you don't show up.

For me, I am chatted out by the end of the day. If you are newly returning to exercise, the solo approach will only work if you relish time alone and if you are highly motivated. Solo work might be a transition you make later, after you are an exercise addict. In fact, let me introduce you to an exercise addict of great proportions.

John Chandler of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin is a streaker (get your mind out of the gutter). He has run every day for 25 years. He and others like him ask, "How many consecutive days can I do my sport?" Hence, a streak. When he had a mild stroke, he remembers saying to himself, "See, that's why I like to run first thing in the morning, because if you have a stroke later in the day, you got the run taken care of." His doctor agreed to do a minor surgery later in the day so he could get his morning run in. When his wife went into labor in the evening, he told her to turn the bedroom light on when it was time to go to the hospital. On August 9, 2006, Chandler, 51, a financial planner, estimated that he had run more than 54,000 miles since the streak began in 1981.

When people ask you about your New Year's resolution you can tell them that you strive to be an addict and a streaker.


Karena Lineback is the author of "OsteoPilates: Reduce Risk, Increase Bone Density, Look and Feel Great," contributing author to "Cancer Wellness" and the president of Pilates Teck.