Drop those hands. It's more than an itch that's keeping you scratching
Posted 01.31.2008 at 4:51 pm
1 Comment
Scratching: permanently scatterbrained
The team subjected 13 study participants to repeated scratching while monitoring their brain activity with an MRI machine. Scratching effectively dampened the activity in areas of the brain associated with unpleasant feelings. But it also boosted activity in brain areas linked to compulsive behaviors, which may explain why we can't stop. The participants in the study weren't subject to an itching sensation, though, so there may still be some questions to resolve.
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As someone who has scratched plenty of itches, I can say this rings true to me. Originally I heard that itches were the body's way of telling its owner that some top-layer skin needs to come off (which may be partially true) but not all itches are created equal either, so there has to be plenty of brain activity going on with scratching as well. With athlete's foot, for example, I could scratch an area until it's bleeding without feeling anything but ecstasy (until the next day of course) whereas scratching is both painful and damaging as a hemorrhoids treatment (http://www.dermaremedies.com/hemorrhoids-removal-hemroids-treatment.html) from the first touch. Scalp itches tend to be in the middle, as they seem to go away almost immediately with a good scrape or 2.