Why Do We Twitch
- 12 years ago
Why Do We Twitch - as part of the news and politics series by GeoBeats.
Everyone experiences the sensation known as twitching, which is caused by small involuntary muscle movements in our bodies. Twitches happen to muscles in tiny groups that are linked with only one motor nerve fiber, which make the feeling centralized.
The vast majority of twitches are not particularly noticeable and are caused by stress, fatigue, or the effects of caffeine. Most common are twitches in the eye, leg, and thumb. Lots of people also experience twitching during sleep, which can cause the person to wake up. Scientists think this is an effect of our loss of motor function during sleep causing us to have a delayed response to an outside stimulus like a noise or movement.
There are cases where twitching can also be a symptom of a serious disease. In these cases twitching is only part of a much more serious health problem.
But since everyone twitches there are theories about our genetic predisposition to twitching. One theory posits that our ancestors, faced with daily struggles that involved life or death situations, were physically wired to react quickly to stressful situations and muscle twitches were necessary to keep them on their toes.
Everyone experiences the sensation known as twitching, which is caused by small involuntary muscle movements in our bodies. Twitches happen to muscles in tiny groups that are linked with only one motor nerve fiber, which make the feeling centralized.
The vast majority of twitches are not particularly noticeable and are caused by stress, fatigue, or the effects of caffeine. Most common are twitches in the eye, leg, and thumb. Lots of people also experience twitching during sleep, which can cause the person to wake up. Scientists think this is an effect of our loss of motor function during sleep causing us to have a delayed response to an outside stimulus like a noise or movement.
There are cases where twitching can also be a symptom of a serious disease. In these cases twitching is only part of a much more serious health problem.
But since everyone twitches there are theories about our genetic predisposition to twitching. One theory posits that our ancestors, faced with daily struggles that involved life or death situations, were physically wired to react quickly to stressful situations and muscle twitches were necessary to keep them on their toes.