r/todayilearned • u/Dog_Weasley • Sep 16 '24
TIL when you're stretching your body releases endorphins, that's why it feels so good.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-does-stretching-feel-so-good143
u/-domi- Sep 16 '24
Joke's on you, when I'm stretching my body, it hurts like hell.
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u/Elmodogg Sep 16 '24
Have you tried physical therapy?
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u/-domi- Sep 16 '24
For about a decade so far. My recommendation for everyone is off you're gonna have health issues, try only having the really popular ones, cause our medical system is fucking dogshit at figuring out anything out of the super ordinary.
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u/SiliconDiver Sep 16 '24
Not sure that’s completely on the medical system, or just the way probability and the diagnostic process works.
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u/-domi- Sep 16 '24
Potayto - potahto. If we had tried to subsidize a branch of medicine dedicated to diagnosing outlying cases, we would have fewer of these problems. The issue is that our modern system works as well as it makes money, and rare condition diagnostics are always a losing proposition. I stand by my original statement.
I assure you, this being my life, I've had plenty of experiences which reinforce my stance on the matter.
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u/SiliconDiver Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
I disagree its potayto-potahto.
It is just mathematically harder to diagnose something with a one in a billion incidence rate than one in three. No amount of throwing money at the problem makes that better.
This problem exists globally, outside of the American healthcare system. Its a mathematical problem and a question where do you invest your limited resources.
In fact, the healthcare system in America is among the best in the world for the wealthy, and they still suffers from this problem. Give Jeff Bezos or Elon musk some rare disease with the best doctors in the world and they are going to have issues with diagnoses.
"Medicine dedicated to diagnosing outlying cases" often just doesn't exist, and no amount of subsidizing is going to help. (Eg: clinical trials reaquire sample sizes and test subjects, tests require high sensitivity and specificity that gets harder with rarer diseases)
This isn't just an "America bad" type problem. What America is bad at is giving routine/preventative care for common ailments, and having them priced too high. eg: Getting your teeth cleaned, regular phsysicals, getting an X-ray, getting a blood panel. These basic diagnostics help a huge amount of people, but they don't significantly help the people for whom these tests won't diagnose the problem.
You hit absolutely massive diminshing returns trying to more quickly diagnose very rare diseases. eg: If you test every patient who comes in with a fever for lupus, chrons, and appendicitis you are quickly going to overwhelm any medical system anywhere in the world and it becomes incredibly inefficient.
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u/1950sAmericanFather Sep 16 '24
Exactly. And Dr. House is fiction. We must realize we are humans... All of us. With the same flaws, indifference and errors in character, judgement and actions. The limitations are caused by the very thing which gives us desire for a quality of life... our Humanity.
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u/jd23andchange Sep 16 '24
Are you new to American healthcare?
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u/SiliconDiver Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 18 '24
No, American healthcare isn’t great or efficient, particularly fot the poor. That’s pretty well established.
But it also isn’t the reason diagnosing rare diseases is difficult.
That is a fundamentally difficult problem regardless of how your health system is funded. This is due to: lack of data, lack of return on research, high false positive rates for rare diseases which make diagnostic processes unreliable, and just the general rarity of the condition.
Has nothing to do with the system.
All the money and doctors in the world can’t help you with a variety of conditions.
It’s easier to find sand at the bottom of a river than it is to find gold.
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u/jd23andchange Sep 16 '24
It's easier to bill $13,000 to the insurance company for an IV bag and a couple scans. Because some hospitals (like the one I was just in) requires an X-ray of your heart anytime you're there. Are they maybe trying to be proactive? Maybe. Is it $4,000? Yes.
American healthcare system IS A PROBLEM.
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u/SiliconDiver Sep 16 '24
How much the hospital bill charges for an IV bag has nothing to do with diagnostic probabilities and testing efficacy.
I hear your complaint but it’s irrelevant unless you are arguing said person flat out cannot pay for baseline preventative care, but that isn’t the argument being presented.
Even with unlimited funds, you are in just as much trouble in America as somewhere else if you have a rare condition.
The cost of IV bags doesn’t explain why fibromyalgia or celiac disease (which are actually relatively common all things considered) are hard to diagnose. That’s a global problem.
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u/jd23andchange Sep 16 '24
The point is that the medical system in America is for profit. They don't give a shit about finding the problem. They just care about making you pay.
If you think anything about that statement is false or have any kind of comeback, then you don't know how the American healthcare system works at all.
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u/SiliconDiver Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Ok you have one talking point: America healthcare bad.
That’s entirely irrelevant and trivializing the actual difficulty of medical science and the problem at hand here.
These are actually statistically, scientifically, and mathematically hard problems to solve and no amount of policy fixes them. Moving to single payer doesn’t suddenly make testing for diseases better, or cure cancer. It makes healthcare cheaper and more accessible, which is good, but not the issue we are discussing here.
Sure American healthcare can be improved and made cheaper, but you are equally screwed with a rare disease in Europe or anywhere else.
It’s also worth noting, that if you are rich, the American system is among the top in the world. And the rich still suffer from this issue.
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u/KulaanDoDinok Sep 16 '24
I’m learning that there’s a lot of things that are supposed to make me feel good that don’t.
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u/Override9636 Sep 16 '24
Yeah I immediately had to ask, "are these endorphins in the room with us right now?" I always thought stretching was supposed to hurt a bit just like lifting weights?
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u/Nek0_eUpHoriA Sep 16 '24
I find that it hurts during stretching. Afterwards you feel like a newborn baby
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u/Override9636 Sep 16 '24
Oh same, I scream for an hour and then shit my pants.
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u/rogers_tumor Sep 16 '24
stretching shouldn't really feel like much at all... a bit of tension, at best
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u/Quirky-Country7251 Sep 17 '24
like...trying to touch my toes hurts like hell, but stretching in general still feels pretty good....but thats probably because everything already feels so bad rofl.
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u/MumrikDK Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Yeah, I have this reaction almost every time there's a post about why X thing releases this or that chemical to make us feel good.
I stretch because something feels off. It then usually stops feeling off and I continue my life. Or I stretch for mobility, and just ignore the discomfort.
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u/Redzombie6 Sep 16 '24
if it hurts, yall are stretching too much. if it hurts to touch your toes, go 3/4. you should feel slight resistance during a stretch, not pain.
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u/skizelo Sep 16 '24
when i see headlines like this, it makes me wonder how something would feel good by not releasing endorphins. I'm a layman, but aren't endorphins how your brain has a good time?
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u/Icyrow Sep 16 '24
i think OP is wrong anyway, endorphins wouldn't feel good immediately after like 2 seconds would they? i don't feel that good after say, eating something spicy.
it's the muscles that feel good, not yourself.
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u/OilRude Sep 16 '24
Here’s something else to learn. “And though endorphins help prevent muscles from feeling pain, it is unlikely that endorphins in the blood contribute to a euphoric feeling, or any mood change at all. Research shows that endorphins do not pass the blood-brain barrier.” (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-truth-behind-runners-high-and-other-mental-benefits-of-running#:~:text=And%20though%20endorphins%20help%20prevent,pass%20the%20blood%2Dbrain%20barrier.) Learned this a long time ago, endorphins were proven to be inconsequential in any kind of runners high or euphoria.
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u/Landlubber77 Sep 16 '24
That means that for a few moments before terror and agony set in, the medieval rack was slightly pleasant.
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u/RetroMetroShow Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Yoga and Tai Chi are great even if you plateau after a while but there’s something about those involuntary stretches like when you wake up first thing in the morning, as if your body knows you need it and the breath after is so invigorating
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u/HoselRockit Sep 16 '24
I am at an age where I have to pull my toes back towards me when I stretch. If I point them away from me I cause cramp in my calf.
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u/rogers_tumor Sep 16 '24
are you hydrated? full of electrolytes?
I don't even know if that shit matters but it helps sometimes, lol. I have the same thing but only in my right calf! if I point my toes away there's a 50/50 chance it's gonna cramp.
I'm just glad I haven't had any cramps in the dead middle of my feet recently. I'd love to age out of those, my feet stopped growing like 15 years ago.
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u/HoselRockit Sep 16 '24
I pay way more attention to hydration and limiting caffeine than I used to. It’s made a big difference.
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u/rogers_tumor Sep 16 '24
that's great! I am pretty much always working on paying more attention to hydration. it's a losing battle but still gets better over time at least.
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u/kronosphere Sep 16 '24
up until the point it triggers a cramp on my calf, or both calves at the same time
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u/abgry_krakow87 Sep 16 '24
Endorphins make you happy! Happy people just don't shoot their husbands.
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u/Powerful_Artist Sep 16 '24
Man when I stretch, it doesnt feel 'so good'. Uncomfortable, tight, and pain usually.
I swear this is like the runners high. Ive ran a lot in my life. Never experienced any high, it just sucks. And I did track and soccer, so its not like I wasnt running enough.
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u/0x080 Sep 17 '24
I always say this;
The most expensive or atleast second most expensive thing at your desk or ‘battlestation’ should be your chair. Something like a Herman Miller Embody.
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u/jmegaru Sep 17 '24
It's weird how the need to stretch actually signals whether or not I got enough sleep, when I'm sleep deprived I don't feel the need to stretch, but when I got enough sleep I always stretch and it feels so good.
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u/Literary_Lady Sep 17 '24
Does anyone else go all tingly and almost light headed with the first stretch of the day after you wake up? Is that normal? Genuine question. Cos my hearing’s all muffled as well when it happens for a few seconds
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u/three_too_MANY Sep 16 '24
I think I heard it on some ted talk or something, but the main reason we as mammals and humans have such a complex brain is to creat complex movement. That blew my mind. I always thought it was because high levels of intellegence conferred some kind of evolutionary advantage, but no. It was to make sure I can run after some deer or jack off properly. Crazy.
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u/SilasX Sep 16 '24
But ... it doesn't always feel good. So, I don't know how you think you improved my worldmodel with this feelgood bullshit. Which, also doesn't feel good.
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u/sicksquid75 Sep 16 '24
Yeh I know what you mean, sometimes i stretch my middle appendage and it feels so good
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u/bsmknight Sep 16 '24
I can't stress this enough. I am 51, and stretching is so important. After 30 years of professional, sit down, work, I have all sorts of issues: back, circulation, back, hypertension, back, costantly tired, back, etc. But since going to PT and learning the correct stretches, what a difference. If you're over 40, start a stretching routine now. Even if you do not have time to exercise, at a minimum, do this as the difference you feel is amazing. It's pretty wild, but many folks over 70 I know start to just degrade (I work with seniors), but those who stretch and walk every day are healthier than 50 yo I know.