Joint Compression Releases Serotonin, or Why My Dog Is So Happy

Emma. She's a happy dog.

Don't worry. This isn't one of those sappy "What I Learned From My Dog" posts. Just the facts, here.

Our golden retriever is nine, maybe ten years old. We've had her for about nine months now, and the thing that most intrigues me about her is her full-on embrace of everything: food, humans, the kitties, sleeping, riding in the car, sniffing at random objects, and most especially chasing balls.

Ribbon yarn ball--yummy

This ball used to be round and bouncy.
Kind of like my butt twenty years ago...

She is obsessed with balls of all sorts. Tennis balls. Soccer balls. Yarn balls. Beach balls. She carries them around. She sleeps with them. She drops them at our feet and gives us the NO ONE HAS PLAYED WITH ME IN DAYS look. She drags them out from under couches.

So what does this have to do with exercise? Everything. My senior citizen of a canine chases, lunges, leaps completely off the ground in pursuit of a ball. She is totally focused. She jumps into the air with her whole body, then crashes back down on all four legs. As long as my throwing arm holds out--an hour is our record--she is willing to chase and capture.

I see this wonderful old dog slamming into the earth from a mighty leap, and my brain yells at me, "Joint compression releases serotonin." Serotonin is believed by many researchers to play a major role in mood regulation. I suffer from bouts of major depression. Serotonin is a big deal for me.

So I run, compressing my joints with each footfall. My dog chases and leaps. When I want to cut a run short, or slow my pace to a crawl, I think of my happy old dog and her willingness to run and leap and give life her best shot.