[ELI5] Why does stretching feel so good?
In: Biology
Why is this marked NSFW.. unless you’re talking about a certain kind of stretching….
But in the non NSFW sense: why it “feels” nice to stretch is because it’s releasing tension that otherwise can’t be released by simply just relaxing the muscles and tendons completely.
Muscle and tendons can tense up and become super tight to the point where it’s painful (usually called a muscle knot) and without going into the biochemistry of it all, our brains think that tension is basically the same thing as inflammation (and sometimes it is)
when something is swollen and/or inflamed it hurts, when that swelling goes down or that inflammation goes down we feel good.
Same thing with stretching. Stretching gets rid of that tension hence our brain likes it
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