Why do muscles ache after exercise?

Now we all advocate healthy living, so more and more people are joining the ranks of athletes. Although exercise is good for your health, some people will feel sore after exercise. So why is this? In fact, the main reason is that you don’t exercise regularly, and it is a normal physiological reaction after suddenly doing a lot of exercise. So you don’t have to make a fuss about this situation. The following editor will explain in detail why muscles are sore after exercise.

Good health is a prerequisite for our happy life, and exercise is an important way to stay healthy. Therefore, more and more people are beginning to pay attention to exercise. However, the muscle soreness after exercise makes many people eventually give up exercise. How to alleviate this symptom?

Various forms of human body movement are mainly completed by muscle contraction. Muscle contraction requires energy, which is mainly provided by the decomposition of carbohydrates in muscle tissue.

In the presence of sufficient oxygen, such as when the human body is at rest, the carbohydrates in the muscles are directly broken down into carbon dioxide and water, releasing a large amount of energy.

However, when the human body is engaged in strenuous activities, skeletal muscles urgently need a large amount of energy. Although respiratory movement and blood circulation are greatly enhanced at this time, they still cannot meet the muscle tissue's demand for oxygen, causing the muscles to be in a state of temporary hypoxia. As a result, sugars break down into lactic acid, releasing relatively little energy.

When lactic acid accumulates in the muscles, it stimulates the nerve endings in the muscles and produces a feeling of soreness. The accumulation of lactic acid increases the osmotic pressure in the muscles, causing the muscle tissue to absorb more water and produce local swelling.

For people who exercise regularly, their muscles can get more sufficient oxygen during exercise, and less lactic acid is produced by the breakdown of sugars, so there will be no obvious pain in the muscles.

Nowadays, we are usually busy and have little time for exercise, so we may feel very tired and have sore muscles after doing some exercise suddenly. In fact, this situation will not occur as long as I do sufficient preparation before exercise.