This is what stretching feels like for your muscle cells

Dear Diary,

Today my human did some exercise again and really worked out us cells. That felt great!

This time my human even stretched his body after the workout. So I visited my colleague, the muscle cell “Muscle-Molly”, to find out what stretching feels like for the muscle cells.

She describes stretching as if someone were slowly and gently loosening a tight rubber band. Stretching helps her to relax. But it's not always a good feeling. When we stretch, something happens in the muscle cells. The receptors that respond to pressure are activated and send signals that help repair the muscle cells and make them stronger. Our neighbors, the fibroblasts, start to build new collagen, a protein that makes our tissue strong and flexible.

Stretching also allows more blood to flow to the muscle cells, providing fresh oxygen and nutrients – i.e. energy – to get rid of waste.

After the stretching routine, Molly felt fantastic. Everything was more relaxed, less stiff and overall healthier. It's amazing how good regular stretching is. Hopefully our human will do it all the time now!

Stay cell fresh,

Zellis