If scratching is bad for you why does it feel so good?
Basically that (scritch scritch)
If you have an insect bite or acne or a rash or a wound that’s healing or whatever, when it starts healing, it gets very itchy. But the doctor will say don’t scratch. But if scratching makes it worse why does my body want me to scratch?
When you body itches, you should scratch it. I just now, self-consciously, rubbed my upper lip. It felt like it itched, I rubbed it, it stopped itching.
When some sort of condition mounts a massive overload of the itch sensation, you shouldn’t scratch it. The skin on my lower legs is very dry, at night, I scratched it, and scratched it, and scratched it some more – wait, why it now wet, and sticky, and my fingers smell like … blood? Oh, I see, I’ve scratched myself, in my sleep, until I’ve broken my skin and bled. Shoudn’ta oughta done that.
The problem, as Arkcon put so… expressively, isn’t the scratching per se but that it can lead to hurting yourself. Someone with that very dry skin should use body milk, instead of scratching: it will eliminate the itch in a way which doesn’t cause harm. The open wounds caused by heavy scratching are both a possible source of infection and a possible future scar.
I have found through trial and error, that sometimes the blade of my pocketknife is more effective at scratching than my fingernails. If used carefully, it doesn’t break the skin.
boars bristle type brushes are may favorite scratching tool.
www.google.com/search?q=boars+bristle+brush
I think that most often scratching is a good idea.
We just don’t pay any attention to those sorts of scratches.
It’s just not a good idea to scratch compromised skin.
Lots of animals scratch themselves. The question would perhaps be - what is the reason so many animals do this - and why, in general, should it be more beneficial than not? Best answer I can come up with is that it is a reflex that is useful to dislodge insects or other irritating objects. But in our cosseted sanitised lives this isn’t so much of a useful thing, so we are left scratching things that we should avoid scratching.
Your premise is incorrect, scratching isn’t necessarily bad for you unless you over do it. If a doctor is telling you not to scratch anymore then you have overdone it and should heed his advice. It feels good because it does relieve pain to a point and relieving pain feels good in and of itself. Like many things that feel good people tend to over do it. I recall an addict telling me that if one pill makes you feel good then two must make you feel great, which leads to additive behavior.
At least you didn’t scratch yourself all the way through your skull and into your brain. :eek:
Right. Responding to itching by scratching is adaptive for the purpose of getting rid of ectoparasites like ticks, mites, fleas, etc. Possibly also to get rid of plant irritants like prickles and small thorns. It feels good because it’s beneficial to get rid of these irritants. If you didn’t try to get rid of parasites by scratching you could end up covered by them.
And whether or not a parasite irritates you is a bit of an arms race between your body and the parasite. The parasite is better off not triggering the itch, but your body wants to make sure that it detects parasites so it may maintain a “low-tolerance” response to irritants, so that other irritants may end up triggering it inappropriately. (Mosquitoes have won this duel to some extent. When they bite, they inject an anesthetic so you don’t feel it. By the time their saliva triggers an immune response and causes itching they are long gone.)
It’s the exception that proves the rule: Nothing that feels good is ever bad for you. Except scratching.
Sometimes a sharp slap on the affected area will give temporary relief.