These days, who doesn’t want to live “the good life,” one that’s happy and healthy (without the damaging effects of alcohol and drugs)? In this sense, much of what everyone is searching for is how to get high naturally. But what does that really mean and what are some examples?
For starters, a natural high is something that’s new, exhilarating, fulfilling, and easy to do. It’s not about introducing chemicals (drugs, alcohol, etc.) to create an artificial high. At the same time, activities on a natural high list are completely safe, non-addictive, and can be engaged in alone or with others. For many, in fact, a natural high is enhanced by the presence of others, since sharing enjoyable activities in itself helps produces feelings of wellbeing and satisfaction.
Finding a Natural High
The term “natural high” refers to an overall feeling of wellbeing and pleasure that doesn’t come from drugs, isn’t artificial, and doesn’t pose serious health risks or result in an overdose. Why would someone be interested in achieving a natural high? Aside from the fact that feeling good from healthy, non-drug activities is desirable, the effects are longer-lasting and produce health benefits beyond euphoria. There’s also no risk of losing memory about the activity like there often is following drug use. Feeling relief, happiness, and pleasure are other reasons to learn how to get high naturally and to regularly engage in activities that produce a natural high.
During any search for activities that produce a natural high, keep in mind that these are activities that drive euphoria and a sense of thrill-taking. Going for a casual stroll may make you feel good, yet adding brisk steps to the walk intensifies the workout and gets the body producing “feel-good” endorphins that are totally safe and an essential element in activities on the natural high list.
List of 25 Ways
Looking at the many ways to experience a natural high can be an exciting undertaking itself, for the range of activities is broad and there’s something for everyone in the following natural high list.
1. A Full Body Scan
Relaxing different parts of the body while practicing deep breathing for a few counts in and out and progressively moving up (or down) the body produces overall relaxation, reduction of stress, and a boost in mood. Researchers found that those with chronic pain experienced reduced pain after a mindfulness-based body scan. That’s helpful even beyond the other benefits of body scanning with mindfulness and almost certainly qualifies as to how to get high naturally.
2. Playing a Sport
Few things can be as rewarding as training to learn a skill and putting it to the test against others. Regardless of the payoff, pushing yourself to the limit is a primal thrill to us, and a great example of how to get high naturally. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is supporting research into how exercise (including team sports) contributes to overall wellbeing and may serve to prevent substance abuse and addiction. This is because exercise helps to stimulate the reward pathway in the brain, increasing mood-elevating neurochemicals that produce euphoria. Playing a game of baseball with family and friends at an outdoor picnic could well be a quick and easy way to experience how to get high naturally.
3. Mastering a Challenging Sport
In line with how to get high naturally from playing team sports, there’s also the euphoria-driving benefit of mastering a challenging sport solo. Whether learning first through instruction or relying on self-teaching, going through the stages of mastering the complexity and difficulty of a challenging sport is most assuredly on the natural high list. Such an activity releases the body’s natural endorphins that boost mood and produce overall well-being, as well as providing mastery of a skill that can always be put to good use.
4. Walk with a Friend
What better way to experience how to get high naturally than spending time outside walking with a friend? To gain an even better boost in mood, try stepping lively, increasing the pace, and accomplishing the goal of elevating heart rate, getting oxygen into the lungs with deep breathing, and releasing the body’s natural endorphins. What’s a natural high, indeed, and there’s no easier way to do it than a walk with a friend.
5. Tell Stories Around the Campfire with Your Kids
Among the activities that could easily populate a 100 natural high list is one that anyone with kids can enjoy— and likely should. Who doesn’t love being outdoors in nature, sharing a picnic meal, maybe camping in a state or natural park, making family memories? One of those endorphin-producing activities could well be having a campfire and participating in storytelling and joke sharing with the kids. This combines the love of outdoors, the benefits of being in nature, sharing activities with loved ones, and laughter into a single, free, easy-to-do activity on a natural high list.
6. Savor a Good Meal
Who doesn’t experience satisfaction and a measure of pleasure from eating something delicious? Coupling a well-prepared, tasty meal with the company of loved ones and family members increases the opportunity to feel first-hand how to get high naturally. To gain maximum satisfaction (and even greater pleasure), eat mindfully, savoring each bite and being fully present in the mealtime experience.
7. Spend the Night Under the Stars with a Loved One
Talking into the wee hours while stargazing with a loved one is sure to produce both intense, emotional feelings and terrific memories. That emotional intensity and the associated feelings of joy and wellbeing are classic elements of how to get high naturally.
8. Wriggle Toes in the Sand at the Water’s Edge
There’s something incredibly uplifting about walking along the sand at the water’s edge while wriggling toes and feeling the water splash all around the feet. What a completely unexpected rush and one that just begs to be on a natural high list.
9. Listen to Water Rippling, Waves Crashing Against the Shore
It isn’t even necessary to be physically at the water’s edge to feel how to get high naturally. Simply listening to water rippling or the waves crashing against the shore will suffice. The sounds are soothing, helping to release tension and stress and boost pleasurable feelings that can have a lasting effect.
10. Create a Garden and Care for It
Digging in the soil is a physically rewarding activity that offers psychological benefits as well. To feel how to get high naturally, devise a plan for a garden and get busy creating one that can be enjoyed through the season and beyond. Set aside time to tend to it, as gardens need attention and tender loving care.
11. Pick Flowers and Arrange a Bouquet
Not only is picking flowers and arranging a bouquet a satisfying activity, but it can also drive intense emotional feelings of pleasure. Sharing the fruits of a home garden with others with a personally created floral arrangement allows the feel-good emotions to last as long as the bouquet does.
12. Watch the Sunset— Preferably with Others
The end of the day is an excellent time to take time for self-care and unwind. A simple way to feel what’s a natural high is to watch the sunset. Even better, watch it with others so everyone can marvel at nature’s bursts of color as the sun goes down.
13. Visit the Wilderness or Take in a National Park
Feel the grandeur of a wilderness setting, or experience how humbling and awe-inspiring a visit to one of America’s national parks can be. Being out in nature calms stress levels, reduces anxiety, and boosts mood from the natural release of endorphins. With visitors to national parks increasing every year, no wonder this grounding technique is on a natural high list.
14. Get Up Early to Watch the Sunrise
What’s a natural high got to do with getting out of bed at the crack of dawn to check out the sunrise? First, it’s an extraordinarily breathtaking visual display that most people don’t get to experience. Second, while it does mean getting out of bed at an earlier time, the reward for doing so is worth the effort. Witnessing nature’s wonder and beauty is awe-inspiring and drives a sense of pleasure that deserves to be on a natural high list.
15. Pet a Cat/Take the Dog Outside for a Romp
Cat owners are well aware of the pleasure they get from petting their feline family members. Yet, taking the family dog outside for a romp also helps drive the sense of euphoria and wellbeing just as much as petting a cat. It’s a bond and a shared activity whereby each participant gives and receives pleasure.
16. Eat a Bit of Dark Chocolate
While it’s wise to limit the consumption of sweets, one sweet-tasting treat that is well-documented in its ability to boost mood and produce a natural high is dark chocolate. Do eat it in small portions, though, since just a little will do the job.
17. Luxuriate in a Full-Body Massage
How can a solitary activity like a massage elicit a natural high? Relaxing the tension, melting away stress, easing sore or overworked muscles (from intense exercise, for example), and luxuriating in the feel-good touch of the expert massage technician is an activity that should be on everyone’s list of how to get high naturally. It doesn’t have to be an expensive salon massage. Try massage schools in the area and request a longtime practitioner or an instructor. This is inexpensive and something that can be done several times a year (or monthly, budget permitting).
18. Walk Through Snow, Using all Senses to Enjoy It
Finding joy in all seasons, including winter, includes taking part in many wintertime activities, like tobogganing, sledding, ice skating or ice hockey, downhill or cross-country skiing. Yet, it doesn’t have to be an activity that’s a recognized sport to produce a natural high. In fact, the easiest way to achieve a natural high is to go outside and walk through the crunchy snow, using all the senses to enjoy it. Hear the crunch, feel the sensation of the snow beneath the feet or how cold it feels in the hand making a snowball, take in the natural beauty of the snow itself. There’s also the unique smell of newly-fallen snow. It’s instantly recognizable. While it’s not recommended to eat snow, there’s no harm in touching a bit to the tongue. What does snow taste like? Intriguing question. Still, early morning or under the moonlight walk through snow can be both memorable and on the natural high list.
19. Practice Yoga
Research into the practice of yoga reveals that the combination of breathing technique and body posture produces dramatic results in lowering tension and stress, wiping away anxiety and other forms of psychological distress, and contribute to overall wellbeing and elevated mood. This is a convenient and popular way to feel how to get high naturally.
20. Listen to Music
Music can wipe away negative thinking, elevate mood, produce feelings of overall wellbeing, and drive a sense of euphoria that’s completely natural.
21. Do Deep-Breathing Exercises
Anyone ever experiencing an elevated heart rate that’s not due to intense physical exercise should take advantage of the quick, easy, and effective grounding technique of deep breathing. Breathe in through the nose, hold for a count of five, exhale through the mouth for a count of five, and repeat five times. The exercise dramatically lowers heart rate and is a calming, relaxing way to get high naturally.
22. Tickle the Funny Bone
The health benefits of laughter are well-known, based on a large body of research into the healing effects, both physiological and psychological, of laughing. Besides, laughing out loud feels really good.
23. Take a Long Run That Pushes the Limits
It’s called “the runner’s high” for a reason. Yet, even non-professional runners and everyday people can feel how to get high naturally by engaging in a long run and/or one that pushes the limits. Be sure there’s no physical impediment that precludes going for a run and get out there and get those endorphins into high gear.
24. Intimate Relations with a Partner
A sexual relationship is an expression of closeness and commitment and a healthy, beneficial, and 100- percent natural high. To get lost in the ecstasy of release and sexual intimacy is one of the most basic ways that people have gotten high naturally since the dawn of human history.
25. Weightlifting
Release the body’s natural endorphins through lifting weights. Start with the easy weights (2-5 pounds) and work up to heavier weights on weightlifting machines. This can be at a home gym, in the backyard, or at the gym.
