Why do i have the shivers


Causes, Treatment, When to Seek Help, and More

Why do we shiver?

Your body regulates its responses to heat, cold, stress, infection, and other conditions without any conscious thought. You sweat to cool the body when you get overheated, for example, but you don’t have to think about it. And when you get cold, you shiver automatically.

A shiver is caused by your muscles tightening and relaxing in rapid succession. This involuntary muscle movement is your body’s natural response to getting colder and trying to warm up.

Responding to a cold environment, however, is only one reason why you shiver. Illness and other causes can also make you shake and shiver.

Read on to learn more about shivering.

There are many things that can make you shiver. Knowing what can trigger a shiver will help you know how to respond.

Cold environment

When the temperature drops below a level your body finds comfortable, you may start to shiver. Visible shivering can boost your body’s surface heat production by about 500 percent. Shivering can only warm you up for so long, though. After a few hours, your muscles will run out of glucose (sugar) for fuel, and will grow too tired to contract and relax.

Each person has their own temperature at which shivering starts. For example, children without much body fat to insulate them may begin shivering in response to warmer temperatures than an adult with more body fat.

Your sensitivity to cold temperatures can also change with age or because of health concerns. For example, if you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), you’re more likely to feel cold more acutely than someone without the condition.

Wind or water on your skin or penetrating your clothing can also make you feel colder and lead to shivering.

After anesthesia

You may shiver uncontrollably when anesthesia wears off and you regain consciousness following surgery. It’s not entirely clear why, though it’s likely because your body has cooled considerably. Operating rooms are usually kept cool, and lying still in the cool operating room for an extended period of time can cause your body temperature to decrease.

General anesthesia can also interfere with your body’s normal temperature regulation.

Low blood sugar

A drop in your blood sugar levels can trigger a shivering response. This can happen if you haven’t eaten for a while. It can also happen if you have a condition that affects your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, such as diabetes.

Low blood sugar can affect people in different ways. If you don’t shiver or tremble, you may break out in a sweat, feel lightheaded, or develop heart palpitations.

Infection

When you shiver, but you don’t feel cold, it could be a sign that your body is starting to fight off a viral or bacterial infection. Just as shivering is your body’s way of warming up on a chilly day, shivering can also heat up your body enough to kill a bacteria or virus that has invaded your system.

Shivering can actually be a step toward developing a fever, too. Fevers are another way your body fights off infections.

Fear

Sometimes, shivering has nothing to do with your health or the temperature around you at all. Instead, a spike in your adrenaline level can cause you to shiver. If you’ve ever been so afraid you started trembling, that’s a response to a rapid rise in adrenaline in your bloodstream.

You probably don’t remember a time when you didn’t or couldn’t shiver. That’s because the only time in your life when you don’t shiver is at the beginning.

Babies don’t shiver when they’re cold because they have another temperature-regulation response. Babies actually warm up by burning fat in a process called thermogenesis. It’s similar to how hibernating animals survive and keep warm in the winter.

If you see a baby shivering or shaking, it could be a sign of low blood sugar. Your baby may simply be hungry and in need of energy.

In older adults, a tremor may be mistaken for a shiver. There can be several causes of tremor, including Parkinson’s disease.

Some medications, such as bronchodilators used for asthma, can also cause shakiness.

As you get older, you may also become more cold sensitive. This is due, in part, to a thinning of the fat layer under the skin, and a decrease in circulation.

Shivering may be a symptom of an underlying condition, so you shouldn’t ignore it. If you feel especially cold, and putting on a sweater or turning up the temperature in your home is enough to warm you up, then you probably don’t need to see a doctor. If you notice that you’re getting colder more often than you once did, tell your doctor. It may be a sign you should have your thyroid checked.

If your shivering is accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever or other flu-like complaints, then see your doctor immediately. The sooner you identify the cause of your shivering, the sooner you can start treatment.

If you notice a tremor in your hands or legs that’s clearly not a cold-related shiver, report these symptoms to your doctor.

The right treatment plan for your shivering and other symptoms will depend on their underlying cause.

Cold environment

If your shivering is a response to chilly weather or wet skin, then drying off and covering up should be enough to halt the shivers. You may also need to set your home’s thermostat to a higher temperature if age or other conditions are making you more sensitive to the cold.

Make a habit of bringing a sweater or jacket with you as you travel.

Infection

A virus usually needs time to run its course. Often, the only treatment is rest. In some serious cases, anti-viral medications may be appropriate.

If you have a fever, gently sponging your skin with lukewarm water can help cool down the body. Be careful not to put cold water on your skin, as it can cause you to shiver or make your shivering worse.

A bacterial infection will usually need antibiotics to knock it out completely.

If you get the chills because of an illness, be careful not to overheat with too many blankets or clothing layers. Take your temperature to make sure you’re not running a fever. Lighter covering may be best.

Low blood sugar

Eating a high-carb snack, such as a peanut butter sandwich or a banana, can often be enough to get your blood sugar levels back on track. In general, you don’t want to go too long without eating. This is especially true if you’re prone to drops in your blood sugar or have trouble keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range.

If this a problem, be sure to keep a granola bar or similar snack handy at all times. That way you’ll have something on hand to eat if you feel your blood sugar dropping.

Postsurgery

Usually, a few blankets tucked around you after surgery is enough to warm you up and put an end to the shivering. If you’re uncomfortable or concerned about the shivering, let your nurse or doctor know.

When shivering is a response to feeling cold, grabbing an extra blanket or pulling on a sweatshirt can usually still your muscles and warm you up. A hot cup of tea or coffee can also help.

If you’re sick, remember that shivering may be the start of a fever, so be careful not to get overheated. And if you notice that you, your child, or an aging parent are trembling, but it doesn’t seem to be caused by one of the traditional causes of shivering, notify a doctor. Shivers, chills, shakes, and tremors are all symptoms of something, so take them seriously.

Causes, Treatment, When to Seek Help, and More

Why do we shiver?

Your body regulates its responses to heat, cold, stress, infection, and other conditions without any conscious thought. You sweat to cool the body when you get overheated, for example, but you don’t have to think about it. And when you get cold, you shiver automatically.

A shiver is caused by your muscles tightening and relaxing in rapid succession. This involuntary muscle movement is your body’s natural response to getting colder and trying to warm up.

Responding to a cold environment, however, is only one reason why you shiver. Illness and other causes can also make you shake and shiver.

Read on to learn more about shivering.

There are many things that can make you shiver. Knowing what can trigger a shiver will help you know how to respond.

Cold environment

When the temperature drops below a level your body finds comfortable, you may start to shiver. Visible shivering can boost your body’s surface heat production by about 500 percent. Shivering can only warm you up for so long, though. After a few hours, your muscles will run out of glucose (sugar) for fuel, and will grow too tired to contract and relax.

Each person has their own temperature at which shivering starts. For example, children without much body fat to insulate them may begin shivering in response to warmer temperatures than an adult with more body fat.

Your sensitivity to cold temperatures can also change with age or because of health concerns. For example, if you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), you’re more likely to feel cold more acutely than someone without the condition.

Wind or water on your skin or penetrating your clothing can also make you feel colder and lead to shivering.

After anesthesia

You may shiver uncontrollably when anesthesia wears off and you regain consciousness following surgery. It’s not entirely clear why, though it’s likely because your body has cooled considerably. Operating rooms are usually kept cool, and lying still in the cool operating room for an extended period of time can cause your body temperature to decrease.

General anesthesia can also interfere with your body’s normal temperature regulation.

Low blood sugar

A drop in your blood sugar levels can trigger a shivering response. This can happen if you haven’t eaten for a while. It can also happen if you have a condition that affects your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, such as diabetes.

Low blood sugar can affect people in different ways. If you don’t shiver or tremble, you may break out in a sweat, feel lightheaded, or develop heart palpitations.

Infection

When you shiver, but you don’t feel cold, it could be a sign that your body is starting to fight off a viral or bacterial infection. Just as shivering is your body’s way of warming up on a chilly day, shivering can also heat up your body enough to kill a bacteria or virus that has invaded your system.

Shivering can actually be a step toward developing a fever, too. Fevers are another way your body fights off infections.

Fear

Sometimes, shivering has nothing to do with your health or the temperature around you at all. Instead, a spike in your adrenaline level can cause you to shiver. If you’ve ever been so afraid you started trembling, that’s a response to a rapid rise in adrenaline in your bloodstream.

You probably don’t remember a time when you didn’t or couldn’t shiver. That’s because the only time in your life when you don’t shiver is at the beginning.

Babies don’t shiver when they’re cold because they have another temperature-regulation response. Babies actually warm up by burning fat in a process called thermogenesis. It’s similar to how hibernating animals survive and keep warm in the winter.

If you see a baby shivering or shaking, it could be a sign of low blood sugar. Your baby may simply be hungry and in need of energy.

In older adults, a tremor may be mistaken for a shiver. There can be several causes of tremor, including Parkinson’s disease.

Some medications, such as bronchodilators used for asthma, can also cause shakiness.

As you get older, you may also become more cold sensitive. This is due, in part, to a thinning of the fat layer under the skin, and a decrease in circulation.

Shivering may be a symptom of an underlying condition, so you shouldn’t ignore it. If you feel especially cold, and putting on a sweater or turning up the temperature in your home is enough to warm you up, then you probably don’t need to see a doctor. If you notice that you’re getting colder more often than you once did, tell your doctor. It may be a sign you should have your thyroid checked.

If your shivering is accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever or other flu-like complaints, then see your doctor immediately. The sooner you identify the cause of your shivering, the sooner you can start treatment.

If you notice a tremor in your hands or legs that’s clearly not a cold-related shiver, report these symptoms to your doctor.

The right treatment plan for your shivering and other symptoms will depend on their underlying cause.

Cold environment

If your shivering is a response to chilly weather or wet skin, then drying off and covering up should be enough to halt the shivers. You may also need to set your home’s thermostat to a higher temperature if age or other conditions are making you more sensitive to the cold.

Make a habit of bringing a sweater or jacket with you as you travel.

Infection

A virus usually needs time to run its course. Often, the only treatment is rest. In some serious cases, anti-viral medications may be appropriate.

If you have a fever, gently sponging your skin with lukewarm water can help cool down the body. Be careful not to put cold water on your skin, as it can cause you to shiver or make your shivering worse.

A bacterial infection will usually need antibiotics to knock it out completely.

If you get the chills because of an illness, be careful not to overheat with too many blankets or clothing layers. Take your temperature to make sure you’re not running a fever. Lighter covering may be best.

Low blood sugar

Eating a high-carb snack, such as a peanut butter sandwich or a banana, can often be enough to get your blood sugar levels back on track. In general, you don’t want to go too long without eating. This is especially true if you’re prone to drops in your blood sugar or have trouble keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range.

If this a problem, be sure to keep a granola bar or similar snack handy at all times. That way you’ll have something on hand to eat if you feel your blood sugar dropping.

Postsurgery

Usually, a few blankets tucked around you after surgery is enough to warm you up and put an end to the shivering. If you’re uncomfortable or concerned about the shivering, let your nurse or doctor know.

When shivering is a response to feeling cold, grabbing an extra blanket or pulling on a sweatshirt can usually still your muscles and warm you up. A hot cup of tea or coffee can also help.

If you’re sick, remember that shivering may be the start of a fever, so be careful not to get overheated. And if you notice that you, your child, or an aging parent are trembling, but it doesn’t seem to be caused by one of the traditional causes of shivering, notify a doctor. Shivers, chills, shakes, and tremors are all symptoms of something, so take them seriously.

GOSEILLS. How skin expresses emotions / All about our skin Teana Labs

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Goosebumps. How Skin Expresses Emotions

Goosebumps, goosebumps, hair on end .. . This unusual reaction of our body has so many names! But we are always talking about one thing - the pilomotor reflex. It is this reflex that scientifically describes the raising of hairs above the surface of the skin. What are the reasons? It's not just about emotions.

Where do ants come from?

Pilomotor reflex, also known as PMR (or piloerection) is a contraction of the hair muscles under the influence of skin irritation or various psycho-emotional states.

Our skin is able to become covered with small bumps and raise hairs not only when we are cold. There is also a direct connection between the wave of goosebumps and emotions.

There is a scientific opinion that VMR exists exclusively in mammals, and even then, not in all. This reflex helps angry furry animals to express their readiness to attack (uplifting wool as a sign of impending danger). When the hairs rise, the figure of the attacker becomes larger and more terrifying than it really is.

Interesting: a very striking example of PMR in wildlife can be observed in the porcupine, whose quills serve as a direct means of defense and attack. When it becomes necessary to protect itself from other individuals, its needles literally stand on end, ready to “shoot” at any moment.

Goosebumps can't be controlled?

In humans, every hair on the body is located in the so-called hair bag. And each hair follicle is attached to a small, smooth muscle called arrector pili. When the muscles contract, it seems to pull the hair up, and it partially comes out of its hair bag, forming a tubercle. This is how goosebumps are made!

Important: a person cannot control the work of smooth muscles and the sympathetic nervous system, since they are part of the autonomic nervous system that controls the internal organs.

What do goosebumps affect?

The sympathetic division of the nervous system is responsible for excitation. It is activated as soon as we are overwhelmed with emotions, or overcome by fear. But also goosebumps appear from the cold and pleasant or, conversely, unpleasant sensations. In this case, the excitement will also have an emotional aspect, since the cold causes fear and fear for life, and we want to either run away from certain sensations, or so that they never end.

With the help of small smooth muscles, the life of the hair follicle is maintained. In the place where the muscles are attached to the bulb of the hair, stem cells are formed. They are necessary to renew the follicle itself and hair growth. As soon as goosebumps begin to run through the body, nerves transmit a signal of excitation to the muscles, and then an interesting thing happens with stem cells - they turn into hair follicles and give rise to hairs.

Thus, the more we experience goosebumps, the stronger the hair sits under the skin and the better its quality.

Important: where hair does not grow, there is no "goosebumps" effect. The detachment of the muscle from the hair follicle and its replacement with adipose tissue leads to the fact that the stem cells disappear, the hair falls out and the person goes bald. There is no hair muscle, and there will be no PMR: goosebumps no longer appear on bald places.

So experiencing strong emotions is good for hairline. If you get goosebumps from beautiful music, empathy for the characters in a movie or book, then you can be congratulated - blood flow and muscle stimulation are great for health and beauty.

To the magazine

Why do people get goosebumps when listening to pleasant music

Who gets goosebumps when listening to beautiful music, how does this goosebumps relate to human cognitive abilities, who are asmrtists and why watch videos of people tapping on wood, says the science department of Gazeta.Ru.

“This music gives me goosebumps,” probably each of us has heard or said these words in our lives. At the same time, we hardly thought about where these goosebumps come from. Scientists decided to answer this question: a team of psychologists from Eastern Washington State University found out why some people experience pleasant sensations when listening to music, such as a slight tingling of the skin or goosebumps (scientists call them the French word frisson , which means “trembling”, “shudder”). The same sensations can occur when watching a moving scene in a movie or when making physical contact with a loved one. The results of the work of scientists were published in the journal Psychology of Music.

According to research, not all people get such goosebumps.

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From previous work on the subject, scientists knew that most people can accurately name the moment in a piece of music during which they experienced shaking. Typical examples of such cases are an unexpected musical harmony or a sudden introduction of a voice (for example, a solo). This was explained by the fact that such musical surprises cause a charge of positive emotions.

Study authors Mitchell Colver and Amani El-Alayli suggested that people who get goosebumps while listening to music have a strong trait of "openness to experience" - one of the five aspects of personality included in the "Big Five" model along with extraversion , neuroticism, goodwill and conscientiousness. Scientists note that people in whose character the “openness to experience” trait is especially pronounced have a good imagination, strive to acquire new knowledge, quickly memorize new information, and also, as a rule, have a rich vocabulary.

The Big Five model arose as a result of the development of the work of psychologists Gordon Allport, Hans Eysenck and Raymond Cattell. The "Big Five" suggests that each person is a carrier of the traits listed above, independent of each other. All of them are manifested in the character of an individual to varying degrees -

knowing which one, , one can predict a person's behavior in certain situations, build a correct psychological portrait of him, and also detect a personality disorder.

Previous studies have studied musical goosebumps using fMRI, a functional MRI, a type of magnetic resonance imaging that measures hemodynamic responses (changes in blood flow) caused by neuronal activity in the brain or spinal cord. fMRI made it possible to study the process of the appearance of trembling in stages.

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The current experiment involved 113 students who completed the full version of the NEO-PI-R questionnaire used in the Big Five testing method (the full version includes 240 questions). The subjects then listened to five pieces of music that most often give people goosebumps, selected from previous studies. They included the following compositions: "John Passion" by Bach (first 2 minutes 11 seconds of the piece), "Piano Concerto No. 1" by Chopin (first 2 minutes 18 seconds), the song "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" duet Air Supply (the first 53 seconds), the vocal symphony "Mythodea" by the Greek composer Vangelis (the first 3 minutes 21 seconds. By the way, it was this symphony that became the official music of the NASA Mars Odyssey mission launched in 2001), as well as the works "Oogway Ascends" by Hans Zimmer (first 2 minutes).

The condition of the participants was recorded by the method of galvanic skin response (GSR) - a bioelectrical reaction recorded from the surface of the skin, as well as by their own assessment. GSR, like fMRI, made it possible to trace the stages of the onset of goosebumps.

As a result of the experiment, the assumptions of the researchers were confirmed: the frequency of shivering was positively correlated with the openness of the participants to the experience. Nevertheless, scientists managed to find out new facts.

If the results of previous studies said that people with a developed “openness to experience” often get goosebumps from music because of their high emotionality, now scientists have stated that it is not emotions that play the main role here, but the cognitive component.

Goosebumps arise from the fact that a person with developed intellectual abilities is able to mentally make certain assumptions about how the melody will develop further. And if these predictions coincide with reality, there is a tremor.

By the way, people can experience pleasant sensations - such as goosebumps or a pleasant tingling of the skin - not only from listening to music. In 2010, the term “autonomous sensory meridian response” (ASMR, autonomous sensory meridian response) appeared on the Internet, which refers to the appearance of goosebumps or skin tingling in response to a variety of external factors: sounds, visual and cognitive stimuli, as well as situations associated with showing concern for the person.

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Such factors can be whispering softly, paper rustling just audibly, watching another person draw or write, talking to a hairdresser or doctor, doing hair or makeup, getting selfless help from someone. Experts say that the phenomenon of ASMR is still difficult to study and has not been explained from a scientific point of view. So, Tom Stafford, Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Sheffield, commented on :

“This may indeed be a real phenomenon, but it hasn't been researched yet.

Our inner experiences are the subject of numerous psychological studies, but when it comes to something that cannot be seen and felt, and not everyone is able to feel it, it becomes a "white spot". As with synesthesia, it was a myth for many years, and then in the 1990s, there were tools to study it.


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