“It’s possible that scratching may suppress the emotional components of itch and bring about relief,” Yosipovitch said.

But they also found why one scratch often begets another.

Scratching increased activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex, a pain center, and in the prefrontal cortex, which is linked with compulsive behavior.

“This could explain the compulsion to continue scratching,” Yosipovitch said.

I tried something new for lunch today, the delicious Amy’s Organic Black Bean Vegetable soup. Their inspiration was a soup in Puerto Escondido, Mexico and this is probably the most Mexican black bean soup I’ve ever eaten from a US company. Astonishingly it has no tomatoes! Amy’s also makes excellent pizza by the way, I’m notoriously addicted to their Pesto.

P.S. A few hours after eating the soup I feel very sick in the way I do with an allergic reaction Maybe it was the corn, though I tried to avoid it, but I haven’t eaten anything else unusual today. I hate eating something that’s technically perfectly healthy and becoming ill afterwards. It’s very frustrating to never know what’s safe to eat or not. …this is why I eat certain french breads, ice creams and yogurts – I can rely on them to not make me sick.