What happens when we get side stitches and why do they hurt?
In: Biology
When you breathe your body cells combine air and a sugar called glucose. When this happens a reaction occurs giving you energy to move around.
When you do exercise your body needs to make more energy. To do this you need more air and so your breathing rate increases. If that’s not enough air then your cells only manage to process with a less effective reaction that produces a substance called lactic acid. This is what burns when you get a stitch.
After you finish exercising you will continue to breath quickly while you ‘catch your breath’. While you’re still breathing quickly your body uses the extra oxygen to finish breaking down the lactic acid and pay pack the oxygen debt.
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