Goosebumps appear when the arrector pili muscles contract, pulling the hairs into an upright position. On areas of the body that do not have much hair or that only have light hair, a person might notice only the erect hair follicle and not the hair itself.
Erect hair follicles look swollen and slightly bigger than usual. This enables them to hold the hair upright, and it also causes goosebumps. When the hair stands up, it offers more insulation. Many people notice goosebumps when they are cold. They may also appear when someone thinks about being cold, such as when they witness a cold scene in a movie.
Some people also get goosebumps when they have chills that they associate with an illness or fever. Some emotionally intense experiences cause the body to release certain chemicals that can trigger goosebumps. Adrenaline , a chemical that the body releases as part of its fight-or-flight response, can trigger goosebumps.
For this reason, many people notice goosebumps when watching a scary movie, experiencing a distressing event, or when they are anxious about something. Likewise, intensely pleasurable experiences, such as listening to music or the gentle touch of a loved one, can cause the brain to release dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that plays a role in motivation, reward, and pleasure.
Experiences such as this can also cause goosebumps. Certain drugs may also cause goosebumps. For example, a study identified two sisters who experienced goosebumps after taking a medication called milnacipran hydrochloride. Taking drugs that stimulate activity similar to those chemicals in the body that normally cause goosebumps may also trigger the phenomenon. For example, a person experiencing an adrenaline-like rush when using methamphetamine may also have goosebumps.
Scientists generally agree that, in normal circumstances, goosebumps are involuntary. This is because the arrector pili muscles, which cause goosebumps, are smooth muscles. People cannot typically control smooth muscles, unlike skeletal muscles, which they voluntarily use, for example, to move their legs and flex their arms. However, there is some limited evidence to suggest that a small number of people may be able to exert control over the arrector pili muscles.
This enables them to trigger goosebumps voluntarily. A analysis details a few cases of people who supposedly have control over their goosebump reaction. Goosebumps are an involuntary reaction: nerves from the sympathetic nervous system — the nerves that control the fight or flight response — control these skin muscles.
In the animal kingdom, a threatened animal has a similar reaction, causing fur to be puffed out a bit. This makes the animal appear bigger and more dangerous. Perhaps the most dramatic example is the porcupine, which puffs out its quills when sensing danger. This can make a threatening adversary think twice before attacking. That may explain why the sympathetic nervous system controls goosebumps — the reflex is tied into the fight or flight response.
Researchers studying mice recently linked goosebumps to the regeneration of hair and hair follicles. It seems that the nerves connected to the tiny muscles responsible for goosebumps also connect to hair follicle stem cells, which are the cells responsible for hair growth.
So, in response to cold, the nerve tells the tiny muscles in the skin to contract causing goosebumps and the same nerve activates hair follicle stem cells for new hair growth.
They may do this in several ways. Each of these might be more important for furry animals than for humans. Goosebumps may be one of those leftovers from our evolutionary ancestors like the coccyx, or tailbone that serve no important purpose. The new discovery linking goosebumps with hair follicle stem cells might be explained as a longer-term response to cold, at least for animals with fur: they get goosebumps or the animal equivalent in the short run to conserve heat, and thicker fur to keep warmer in the long term.
Most people associate goosebumps with unpleasant situations, such as feeling particularly cold or feeling afraid. Yet there is more to it than that. The arrectores pilorum are hooked up to the sympathetic nervous system, and the sympathetic nervous system has input from many parts of the brain, including those involved with motivation, arousal, and emotion. So other stimuli may cause goosebumps, for instance:.
Though rare, goosebumps can be a sign of a seizure disorder called temporal lobe epilepsy, a disorder of the sympathetic nervous system, or other brain disorders. They are also common during heroin or other opiate withdrawal. In fact, one explanation for the origin of the expression "quitting cold turkey" is that goose bumps that develop during withdrawal from heroin mimic cold turkey flesh.
They are a universal but poorly understood phenomenon, but our understanding is improving. And the recent discovery linking goosebumps with hair follicle regeneration could lead to more than just a better understanding of goosebumps; it could lead to new ways to fight baldness or improve tissue healing.
Or they may serve a more important role than we currently understand and continue to puzzle us for years to come. The impact of the rise in parental age on kids and parents.
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