Am I Getting Addicted to Endorphins?

Autumn in the NY metropolitan area is now nearly snow-free and glowing with beautiful foliage.  The freak snow-storm is just a memory.  Some people just got their power back yesterday so the recovery process is still underway.  Life in the ER is now back to the usual state.

On Monday I had a patient who became belligerent and threatening.  The situation could have escalated to violence and and I was unable to diffuse his anger on my own.  I felt pretty upset by all this even though I've certainly experienced this type of individual many times in my career.  During the most stressful moments I found myself thinking about going to the gym later that night and working out to my hard rock and heavy metal tunes.  Indeed that night I did feel better when I was peddling away on the stationary bike.  My psychiatrist told me when I was starting to enjoy the exercise that the endorphins can be addicting.  

 I've been downloading a lot of rock and roll from Itunes.  I have real hard-driving tunes from Boston, Def Leppard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Thorogood, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Grand Funk,  Van Halen, Rush , Twisted Sister and other classic rockers.  Also newer stuff from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Enrique Iglesias.  Then there are my classic girl rockers like Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Blondie, Eurythmics, The Go-Go's , Kim Carnes and Laura Branigan.  The motivation is awesome and the distraction from my stressors is worth every drop of sweat (and there's a lot of that).  

So is it endorphins that keep me going to the gym?

  Who knows?

  Who cares?  

Love to all, 

Marlena of Mohegan