Biting your own lower lip

[geezer]

Here's a totally random question. Why the heck do a lot of people bite their lower lip when they get really angry or intense, like just before a fight? I do it involuntarily. People who know me see me do it, even though I'm not even conscious of it myself. I thought it was just a personal ideosyncracy and a bad habit. I sure as heck don't want to take a punch to the point of the chin and bite through my own lip, so I've I've tried to learn to substitute an alternate habit of pulling my lips tight across my teeth. It's not so much of a problem sparring, since the mouthguard helps keep it from happening, but at other times I still find myself slipping back into the old lip-biting expression. Today I was watching a video of Escrima master Carlito Bonjoc. Looks like he has the same reflex.

Or check out the face on Bernini's famous Baroque statue of David as he is preparing to launch that stone at Goliath:

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=bern...0&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1259&bih=927

So it's not just me. Anybody else have this habit? Is it hard-wired or what?

 

[Cyriacus]

Perhaps the Pain helps bring on Non-Epinephrine? (I know full well i probably spelt that wrong, but I dont feel like opening a 22nd Tab and looking it up)

 

[Dirty Dog]

Pain triggers endorphine release (which in turn decreases the awareness of pain). It also helps people to focus.

 

[Monroe]

I bit right through my lower lip when I was 9yo and stuck my tongue through it. (I'm accident prone with the scars to prove it.) Can't see the scar, as I have a full lower lip, it's tucked away. I still bite my bottom lip sometimes.

If it's any reassurance, it didn't hurt at all at first. Adrenaline took care of that. It stung later, but the tetanus shot in my **** hurt more.