There are lots of unexplained aches and pains in the world. In fact, everyone has suffered from sore muscles at one point or even several points in their lives. Many people attribute this muscle soreness to overexertion as well as injuries from physical activities like exercise. When your muscles need to work much harder to what they are used to, it is said to lead to microscopic damage to the muscle fibres that can then cause muscle stiffness or soreness.

Although it is the common culprit behind body pain, there are still many reasons why you feel those aches in your body. The truth is that even people who are living more sedentary lifestyles can get these sore muscles.

Stress

Several studies have revealed that people who lead more demanding and stressful lives have higher tendencies of suffering from pains and aches compared to those who don’t. If you are stressed, the body can produce stress hormones which can increase pain sensitivity and muscle tension. Muscle soreness brought about by stress could affect any group of muscles or muscle in your body. This soreness can then randomly shift to different groups of muscles or muscle in your whole body at any given time.

Pain and stress share a complicated relationship, and it could be hard to pinpoint how it started and how to stop this vicious cycle. Breathing and quality sleep can also react in a negative way when stress is present. Poor breathing functions and low quality sleep can lead to the development of stiffness and pain in the muscles. Determining the primary cause of stress and developing positive changes is the secret to feel better.

Strenuous Physical Activity or Exercise

Starting an exercise or workout routine can be very challenging since your muscles haven’t adapted yet to the greater demands of such activities. It is common and sometimes even reasonable to have this muscle soreness, especially if you introduce something new to the body. The minor pains and aches in the exercised muscle groups likely indicate that these muscles have adapted to your fitness routine and are now on their way to getting stronger. DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is the post-exercise pain in the muscles which start within 8 hours after exercise and reaches its peak at 48 hours after exercise. Mild cases of sore muscles are natural outcomes of almost all forms of physical activities, and this doesn’t mean that you have to stop whatever you are doing.

But, there are instances when DOMS symptoms can get very painful and make it hard to bend down or reach overhead. Such symptoms tend to improve after the 48-hour peak although this experience must tell you that you have to proceed with your exercise at a more modified intensity.

Influenza

Popularly known to many as flu; influenza is a type of viral infection which attacks the respiratory system. The common symptoms are cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever. You might also experience aches in the body and even severe pain in the muscles, often in the legs, arms, or back. Good thing that you can recover from the temporary muscle pain and flu with proper rest.

Mineral and Vitamin Deficiencies

Studies revealed that soreness of the muscles is usually a sign that you don’t have enough quantity of specific kinds of vitamins in your body. This has now become common practice for doctors to test for the levels of vitamin D as part of their patient’s yearly medical exams. Most often, they recommend taking vitamin D supplements that can help to maintain health. For many people, this is not a problem. You need to take the supplements on a daily basis then follow a good exercise routine to keep the muscles strong and flexible.

As always, chronic pain is a completely different thing. When you suffer from chronic pain, make sure that you discuss it with your doctor to see if your treatment plan can be improved by increasing your typical vitamin D doses.

Vitamin D is equally essential for maintaining the better health of bones. The lack of adequate vitamin D can have an adverse effect on the ability of the body to absorb calcium from the diet. What happens here is that the body is drawing the calcium it needs from the bones, and soon, this can lead to weaker bones. Osteopenia is the medical word for the onset of weaker bones, and the condition can progress to osteoporosis. Even though osteoporosis is considered to cause pain if a fracture is present, it is also possible that when your health poor, those muscles attached to the bones will not have enough support and they can become sore and weak.

Many other things can make you suffer from body aches and pains. But, with proper treatment, you can be free from these nuances in no time at all.