Latest / Why We Do What We Do / Mini: Why We Twitch

Transcript

Mini: Why We Twitch · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do? Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do. Many I'm your host, Abraham,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and I'm your host Shane. We are a psychology podcast.
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  Speaker 1: We talk about the things that humans and non human
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: animals do, and sometimes we talk about them even when
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  Speaker 1: they are involuntary things that we do. Matter of fact,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we kind of talk about that a lot, well not
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  Speaker 1: a lot, but like we've done it. Yeah, we'll do
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  Speaker 1: it some more.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and we'll keep doing that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we talked about it. We did a
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  Speaker 1: whole thing on Pavlov or maybe the experiments I forget
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  Speaker 1: which now I think it was Pavlov himself, though.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was Pavlov himself. Like it's been I
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  Speaker 2: mean it's been some time. It's been yeah, several years
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  Speaker 2: since we've done that, so.
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  Speaker 1: We might need to run that as a nostalgia. But nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: this discussion, but joining us on Patreon is one of them.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, leaving us a rating review. There are more
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  Speaker 1: ill that I'll talk about. These minis are a quick
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  Speaker 1: short dive into a topic. We're just going to do
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  Speaker 1: a quick overview of a thing and then get out
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  Speaker 1: of here. I think that's what I have to say
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  Speaker 1: before we start. Is there anything that I'm missing?
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  Speaker 2: Uh No, I think that's it all right.
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  Speaker 1: So you know how it happens. You're just doing your
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  Speaker 1: thing and all of the sudden you notice your thumb
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  Speaker 1: is making a small jerky movement all on its own.
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  Speaker 1: Or maybe it's your eyelid or your leg or your toes.
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  Speaker 1: Are you possessed? Maybe? But no, you are twitching though.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So we're going to ask the question of what
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  Speaker 2: is twitching and why does it happen? And what can
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  Speaker 2: we do to stop it or even maybe prevent it.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. So that's our mini quick dive into
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  Speaker 1: this topic today. This will be quick, I think, although
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  Speaker 1: we say that and then sometimes we run very long. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but we're ready to jump into this all right. Twitching
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  Speaker 1: or myoclonus, is an involuntary movement during which some rogue
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  Speaker 1: motor neuron fiber connecting to a group of muscles suddenly
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  Speaker 1: starts contracting, and this causes some part of your body
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  Speaker 1: to make small movements. They are usually repetitive, and they're
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  Speaker 1: usually not to a specific rhythm, but they do have
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  Speaker 1: a sort of rhythm to them, mostly because they're repetitive. Right.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes these are so small that you don't even notice
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  Speaker 2: that they're happening. But sometimes it is like an inescapable
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  Speaker 2: punishment where you feel as though you have lost control
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  Speaker 2: over at least part of your body. And most of
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  Speaker 2: the time these are harmless, mostly annoying, and just so
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  Speaker 2: everybody here knows here this is a kind of a
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  Speaker 2: fun fact. When it happens in your eye, it's called myochiama.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a fun word. I thought there would be
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  Speaker 1: names for like all these different body parts, and I
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  Speaker 1: tried searching for them and they might exist, but I
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  Speaker 1: didn't find them. So, yeah, myochinia is the I think
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  Speaker 1: this the eyelid, specifically upper or lower eyelid twitching.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm too familiar with that one. That one drives
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  Speaker 2: me nuts.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, they suck, all right. There are two
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  Speaker 1: types of twitchings goings ons. That's all the s is there.
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  Speaker 1: There is fasciculations and clonus. And fasciculations often affect the
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  Speaker 1: arms or legs, but may occur in other parts of
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  Speaker 1: the body. And during this kind of twitching, you have
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  Speaker 1: a single motor neuron that contracts uncontrollably, So it does
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  Speaker 1: seem like this happens in those in those locations you
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  Speaker 1: have this one it's contracting, and that's called the fasciculations.
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  Speaker 2: I think I notice those most in like my hands,
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  Speaker 2: like specifically my thumb, or I'll notice them in my toes,
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  Speaker 2: like in my feet like so like i'll notice if
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  Speaker 2: I like every now and again, it all show up
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  Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, that's weird. I don't notice it
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  Speaker 2: like in my larger muscle groups or anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, same, all right.
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  Speaker 2: Clonus forms tend to include rhythmic jerking or spasming of
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  Speaker 2: muscle groups, and tends to occur when people are sedentary
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  Speaker 2: and have low muscle tone.
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  Speaker 1: Right, so those are your two types. I was not
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  Speaker 1: one hundred percent clear how they decide to determine what
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  Speaker 1: the two types were like. It wasn't clear if there
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  Speaker 1: was different pathways to this, but I noticed that there
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  Speaker 1: are two types. I decided I would talk about them.
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  Speaker 1: If you know more about this, right, and let us know,
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  Speaker 1: and I'd be happy to share it. But this is
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  Speaker 1: a mini like, we're not doing a huge thorough investigation
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  Speaker 1: on this. It's just an overview of things because mostly
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  Speaker 1: the thing we're interested in is why how does this happen?
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  Speaker 1: As part of it, right, But there's also like why
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  Speaker 1: and what do we do about it? And there are
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  Speaker 1: some different tiers of causes, and you could sort of
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  Speaker 1: broadly lump this into like stuff that are there's basic
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  Speaker 1: causes that we can do something about, and then more
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  Speaker 1: serious causes that have like an underlying thing to worry about. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so the modifiable, easy to sort of manage causes, The
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  Speaker 1: stuff that we know you can do something about, includes
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  Speaker 1: a lack of sleep, a lot of caffeine, stress over exercising,
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  Speaker 1: too little exercising, some nutrient deficiencies such as vitamin D,
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  Speaker 1: magnesium B twelve, and calcium, any medications that might lower
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  Speaker 1: your potassium, and then dehydration. So those are all things
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  Speaker 1: that like, if we know what they are, if we
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  Speaker 1: know that that's sort of the condition that is creating
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  Speaker 1: the situation in which twitches occur, then that also tells
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  Speaker 1: us kind of what the treatment is. And we don't
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  Speaker 1: want to break for ads, but we kind of got to.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, all right, we're back.
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  Speaker 1: So we were identifying there are these preventable things that
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  Speaker 1: happen inside of twitches that we now know what they are.
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  Speaker 1: Lack of sleep one of the most, like the top
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  Speaker 1: tier one I saw for everything was like lack of
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  Speaker 1: sleep or no, it was actually stress. And then immediately
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  Speaker 1: under that was lack of sleep, and then immediately under
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  Speaker 1: that was a lot of caffeine consumption. Yeah for sure,
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  Speaker 1: for sure, yeah, which I think is why they called
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  Speaker 1: him tweak on South Park and he was always drinking
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  Speaker 1: coffee and yeah, twitching a lot, Yeah for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Now those are all kind of like examples of stuff
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  Speaker 2: that's like somewhat in our control or at least we
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  Speaker 2: can kind of like modify a little bit easier. But
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  Speaker 2: there are some more serious underlying conditions that include things
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  Speaker 2: like als or luke Gerrig disease, neuropathy or nerve damage, glaucoma,
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  Speaker 2: multiple sclerosis, Bells disease, Tourette syndrome, serotonin syndrome, pinched spinal nerves,
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  Speaker 2: kidney disease, or some horrible disease called Isaac syndrome, a
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  Speaker 2: relatively rare condition in which your nerves tell your muscles
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  Speaker 2: to move even when your brain tells them not to,
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  Speaker 2: resulting in twitching, sweating, cramps, stiffness, or causing your muscles
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  Speaker 2: to ripple as if something was moving underneath them, which
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  Speaker 2: is like really kind of like I've seen videos of this.
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  Speaker 2: It's really bizarre looking.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's so bad, like you like you have
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  Speaker 1: an a inside you. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, ooh, it's so bad. It can even continue after
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  Speaker 2: you've been put under general anesthesia, which is like a
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  Speaker 2: nightmare scenario.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this sounds so awful. It's like you're unconscious and
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  Speaker 1: your body is still twitching. Yeah, I mean, fortunately you're
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  Speaker 1: not conscious for it, but like, yeah, what a brutal syndrome.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure people would argue, like multiple sclerosis
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  Speaker 1: is worse, and I'm sure they're right, but I'm just like,
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  Speaker 1: I've never heard of Isaac's disease until this, and it
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  Speaker 1: just sounds so yucky. Yeah, for sure, all right, so
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  Speaker 1: as I described for treatment, most of the time you
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  Speaker 1: can treat these by altering the conditions that give rise
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  Speaker 1: to them. So if you're dehydrated, drink water. If you're tired,
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  Speaker 1: get more rest. If you're out of shape, start exercising more,
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  Speaker 1: but not so much that you overdo it. If you're stressed,
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  Speaker 1: try and find opportunities for relaxation. Probably practice some mindfulness
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  Speaker 1: here and there, stuff like that, like those ones seem
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  Speaker 1: if we know the cause, we know the cure is
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  Speaker 1: at least the true for a few of these.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, supplements may help if you are i bplicitly
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  Speaker 2: missing some important nutrients, but could actually make things worse
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  Speaker 2: if you're not. So if you're like kind of flooding
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  Speaker 2: your system with nutrients that you don't need, that can
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  Speaker 2: actually create some other complications that you probably want to avoid.
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  Speaker 1: Like most things in life, the recommendation is don't overdo it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good. Yeah. In moderation, my friends, in moderation.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and you know, I think there are things that
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  Speaker 1: you don't necessarily need to moderate, Like you don't need
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  Speaker 1: to moderate black tar heroin intake zero is enough times for.
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  Speaker 2: That are fair.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, when we're talking about like things that
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  Speaker 1: often most of these are necessary for survival or like
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  Speaker 1: well being in health, point being, don't overdo it with nutrients. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: So for those more serious conditions, treating the underlying condition
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  Speaker 1: is key to like getting the twitching under control as well. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if you are someone who has multiple sclerosis,
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  Speaker 1: you want to be working with your doctor to get
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  Speaker 1: the kind of treatments that are necessary to help with that,
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  Speaker 1: which will also probably help with the twitching. But getting
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  Speaker 1: after the main underlying condition is key. However, if the
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  Speaker 1: twitching persists, you may need medications. Some might prescribe muscle
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  Speaker 1: relaxers that will not actually always do the trick, it
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  Speaker 1: turns out, but that might for some people. They also
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  Speaker 1: recommend physical therapy in some instances, and even sometimes surgery
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  Speaker 1: if the twitch.
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  Speaker 2: Is bad enough, right, and that surgery may include like
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  Speaker 2: cauterizing nerve like connections and stuff like that. So, like
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  Speaker 2: it's a little bit they can be a little bit dicey. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: So you know the more extreme cases where like somebody's
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  Speaker 2: quality of life is really suffering as a result of this,
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  Speaker 2: you know exactly, Yeah, I guess all that's to say is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you're welcome for us making sure that you
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  Speaker 2: are incredibly aware of your body today, So happy hyper
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  Speaker 2: attention to your bodily movements today and every day. So
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  Speaker 2: you're welcome for that gift.
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  Speaker 1: That's right. So that's why twitching happens is those kinds
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  Speaker 1: of things. Most of the time, it's not that serious,
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  Speaker 1: but if you're concerned about it, of course, go see
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  Speaker 1: a doctor and then yeah, go about the rest of
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  Speaker 1: your day being extremely nervous about every little movement that
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  Speaker 1: you make and being super conscious every time your body
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  Speaker 1: does something. You're welcome and.
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  Speaker 2: Every thought that goes, Am I sleeping enough? Should I
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  Speaker 2: drink water? Like?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good luck? Am I twitching? Am I? Am I
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  Speaker 1: stressing myself about being stressed about twitching? Uh huh yeah,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: we'll put that all right. If you would like to
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• 10:55
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• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, we love talking to you.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: We do. Thank you so much to my team of people,
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  Speaker 1: without whom I could not make this podcast. But I
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  Speaker 1: think that's what we have to say about twitching. Is
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  Speaker 1: there anything that I forgot or that you would like
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  Speaker 1: to add? Shane, I got nothing else today. Oh we
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  Speaker 1: do this in a reasonable amount of time. I'm so
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  Speaker 1: proud of us.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look at us.
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  Speaker 3: Go.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: This is Abraham, this is Shane. Why we do what
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  Speaker 1: we do? Mini is out?
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Bye.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: You've been listening to Why we do what we do.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: going to wwdwwdpodcast dot com. Thanks for listening, and we
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: hope we have an awesome day one.