Eli5: Why do you feel the burn after exercise such as lifting weights or a run after two days rather than immediately afterwards?
In: Biology
When you exercise, your muscles experience microscopic damage and inflammation. This leads to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which typically peaks around 48 hours after exercise. It’s believed that the delayed soreness is caused by the body’s inflammatory response to the muscle damage, including the release of chemicals that trigger pain sensations. Additionally, during exercise, your body releases endorphins, which can temporarily mask pain. However, once the endorphins wear off and the inflammation sets in, you start to feel the soreness. So essentially, it’s a combination of delayed inflammation and the temporary masking of pain during exercise that causes the delayed onset of muscle soreness.
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