Lick Your Wounds ... literally
Yesterday I wrote an article about why mouth wounds heal fast and it got me thinking does licking your wounds help them heal fast ? if you read the article you will know what I am talking about ...
Let's get to business ...
You may not notice but licking wounds and cuts help relieve and reduce pain. Why is that?
Does saliva contain painkillers that reduce the pain of wounds and burns?
Recently, researchers found a pain reliever in the human saliva. The strength of this 'painkiller' outweighs morphine which is one of the most powerful painkillers!
After scientists isolated the chemical produced naturally in human saliva and tested on mice, it was found that the strength of this substance is about six times stronger than morphine!
It is amazing that this substance, which has been called "Opiorphin," is produced naturally in the human body and is considered to be a very rare pain reliever outside the body and difficult to manufacture in large quantities. Therefore, scientists hope to harness this material for future clinical research for the manufacture of pain medication.
Since the human body is the factory that manufactures the Opiorphin, naturally the side effects of industrial drugs to relieve pain such as morphine, including addiction with long-term use, will be avoided.
But the new material, which scientists hope to benefit from in pharmaceutical manufacturing, will not have the bad effects of similar drugs, and will be effective and may outperform manufactured drugs.
Obirephine works by prolonging the body's defenses against pain caused by wounds, burns or painful blows. Scientists from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, have found that opiorphin helps to prevent the cracking of chemicals called enkephalins, thus activating drug receptors that prevent pain signals from reaching the brain.
The only problem that scientists may face in the use of Opiorphin in the production of painkillers is that the substance does not relief directly the pain, but protects chemicals from biodegradation in the body to prevent pain.
----------------------------------
Picture source
Intuitively I always thought this to be the case! Always nice when concrete evidence confirms one's vague inklings ;)
I read somewhere once that a dog licked a mans wound and after about 10 days of doing so it was healed, so I can believe that this could work too. amazing what science can come up with
Still there are potential health hazards in wound licking due to infection risk
defiantly, I read that your mouth is the dirtiest place on your body and carries more germs than a toilet seat. make's me wonder why we kiss other people but I'm not a germaphobe so I still do it. lol :)
that was a good read! so cool!!
Hello @fancybrothers
Been licking my wounds for years now, though it is only in wounds to the palms.
Nice post followed the link from twitter.
@ogochukwu
Thanks :-)