LYRICFLUENT
LYRICFLUENTThe Surprising Reason You Feel Awful When You're Sick Lyrics by Addison Anderson Addison Anderson
Below, you will find the lyrics for The Surprising Reason You Feel Awful When You're Sick by Addison Anderson.
It starts with a tickle in your throat that becomes a cough
Your muscles begin to ache
You grow irritable
And you lose your appetite
It's official: you've got the flu
It's logical to assume that this miserable medley of symptoms
Is the result of the infection coursing through your body
But is that really the case?
What's actually making you feel sick?
What if your body itself was driving this vicious onslaught?
You first get ill when a pathogen like the flu virus gets into your system
Infecting and killing your cells
But this unwelcome intrusion has another effect
It alerts your body's immune system to your plight
As soon as it becomes aware of infection
Your body leaps to your defense
Cells called macrophages charge in as the first line of attack
Searching for and destroying the viruses and infected cells
Afterwards, the macrophages release
Protein molecules called cytokines
Whose job is to recruit
And organize more virus-busting cells from your immune system
If this coordinated effort is strong enough
It'll wipe out the infection before you even notice it
But that's just your body setting the scene for some real action
In some cases, viruses spread further
Even into the blood and vital organs
To avoid this sometimes dangerous fate
Your immune system must launch a stronger attack
Coordinating its activity with the brain
That's where those unpleasant symptoms come in
Starting with the surging temperature
Aches and pains
And sleepiness
So why do we experience this?
When the immune system is under serious attack
It secretes more cytokines
Which trigger two responses
First, the vagus nerve, which runs through the body into the brain
Quickly transmits the information to the brain stem
Passing near an important area of pain processing
Second, cytokines travel through the body to the hypothalamus
The part of the brain responsible for controlling temperature
Thirst
Hunger
And sleep
Among other things
When it receives this message
The hypothalamus produces another molecule
Called prostaglandin E2, which gears it up for war
The hypothalamus sends signals that instruct your muscles to contract
And causes a rise in body temperature
It also makes you sleepy
And you lose your appetite and thirst
But what's the point of all of these unpleasant symptoms?
Well, we're not yet sure
But some theorize that they aid in recovery
The rise in temperature can slow bacteria
And help your immune system destroy pathogens
Sleep lets your body channel more energy towards fighting infection
When you stop eating, your liver can take up
Much of the iron in your blood
And since iron is essential for bacterial survival
That effectively starves them
Your reduced thirst makes you mildly dehydrated
Diminishing transmission through sneezes
Coughs
Vomit
Or diarrhea
Though it's worth noting that if you don't drink enough water
That dehydration can become dangerous
Even the body's aches make you more sensitive
Drawing attention to infected cuts that might be worsening
Or even causing your condition
In addition to physical symptoms
Sickness can also make you irritable
Sad
And confused
That's because cytokines and prostaglandin
Can reach even higher structures in your brain
Disrupting the activity of neurotransmitters
Like glutamate
Endorphins
Serotonin
And dopamine
This affects areas like the limbic system, which oversees emotions
And your cerebral cortex, which is involved in reasoning
So it's actually the body's own immune response
That causes much of the discomfort you feel every time you get ill
Unfortunately, it doesn't always work perfectly
Most notably, millions of people worldwide
Suffer from autoimmune diseases
In which the immune system treats normal bodily cues as threats
So the body attacks itself
But for the majority of the human race
Millions of years of evolution have fine-tuned the immune system
So that it works for, rather than against us
The symptoms of our illnesses are annoying
But collectively, they signify an ancient process
That will continue barricading our bodies against the outside world
For centuries to come
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