George A.Bubenik, a physiologist and professor of zoology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, explains.
Imagine swimming in a lake on a hot summer day. The water is quite warm, but the wind is strong and the moment you leave the water you feel chilly and get "goosebumps." So you change clothes and move inside to warm up. You make a nice cup of tea, get under a blanket and switch on the radio. Suddenly, you hear a song from a long time ago, the song your grandmother used to sing to you when you were a child. Again, you feel a chill on your back and again, you get goosebumps. Why do such seemingly unrelated events elicit the same body reaction? The reason for this is the physiology of emotions.
Goosebumps are a physiological phenomenon inherited from our animal ancestors, which was useful to them but are not of much help to us. Goosebumps are tiny elevations of the skin that resemble the skin of poultry after the feathers have been plucked. (Therefore we could as well call them "turkeybumps" or "duckbumps.") These bumps are caused by a contraction of miniature muscles that are attached to each hair. Each contracting muscle creates a shallow depression on the skin surface, which causes the surrounding area to protrude. The contraction also causes the hair to stand up whenever the body feels cold. In animals with a thick hair coat this rising of hair expands the layer of air that serves as insulation. The thicker the hair layer, the more heat is retained. In people this reaction is useless because we do not have a hair coat, but goosebumps persist nevertheless.
In addition to cold, the hair will also stand up in many animals when they feel threatened--in a cat being attacked by a dog, for example. The elevated hair, together with the arched back and the sideward position the animal often assumes, makes the cat appear bigger in an attempt to make the dog back off. People also tend to experience goosebumps during emotional situations, such as walking down the aisle during their wedding, standing on a podium and listening to a national anthem after winning in sports, or even just watching horror movies on television. Quite often a person may get goosebumps many years after a significant event, just by thinking about the emotions she once experienced, perhaps while listening to the romantic song to which she danced many years ago with the love of her life.
The reason for all these responses is the subconscious release of a stress hormone called adrenaline. Adrenaline, which in humans is produced in two small beanlike glands that sit atop the kidneys, not only causes the contraction of skin muscles but also influences many other body reactions. In animals, this hormone is released when the animal is cold or facing a stressful situation, preparing the animal for flight-or-fight reaction. In humans, adrenaline is often released when we feel cold or afraid, but also if we are under stress and feel strong emotions, such as anger or excitement. Other signs of adrenaline release include tears, sweaty palms, trembling hands, an increase in blood pressure, a racing heart or the feeling of 'butterflies' in the stomach.
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7 Comments
Add CommentGoose bumps can be created at will by any person.It helps redistribute the energy in the body, thus unrinkle the stress, which is nothing but "energy running amuck"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoose bumps can be created at will. It helps redistribute energy in the body.Thus stress can be erased as harmony returns to the body. This is a clear indication of the close relationship between body and mind
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishi l have just read ur articale ,l have a problem with goosebumps l have been getting goosebumps nearly every 10 miniutes and all my body hair stands up l sometimes get a chill but l still get the goosebumps without the chill also this has been happing for nearly 1 month do u know why this might be happning and l wont even be thinking of anything or watching anything they just come and its getting anoying please reply if u now why
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy 9 yr old granddaughter wants to know why do we not get "goosebumps" on our face...only on our bodies? I had never thought about this until she asked me the question. Does anyone have an answer for her.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthanks
I can only think of two reasons:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne: our head is already quite insulated
Two: If hair stood up on our faces we probably couldn't see, and this would not be evolutionary 'intelligent'.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoose bumps are caused by little muscles in the skin called erector pilae.
Each of these muscles is attached to a hair follicle. So, when the muscle
contracts, the hair stands up straight. In many animals this provides
extra insulation by trapping air between the hairs, or makes the animals
look slightly larger by causing all its hairs to stand out (which can be
useful when the animal is threatened and wants to make itself look as big
and mean as possible). In humans the same phenomenon is going on, except
that our hair is not thick enough to make a real difference for insulation
or for threats. Still, the erector pilae involuntarily contract when we
are cold or frightened and give us goose bumps.
i got this from a website this is not my own writing
I think the wider failure to recognise the mechano-sensory function of hairs has led to failure to recognise a significant role that goosebumps still play. It was only very recently (2011) in an article by Dean and Siva-Jothy that any article was published that explored the role of that function with respect to parasite detection and it's implications for evolution of reduced body hair.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHairs transmit movement and vibration to follicular nerves and nerves within our skin and we feel them as a result. This sensory input is so ubiquitous that, apparently, lots of people fail to distinguish it from direct contact with the skin.
Goosebumps, by causing hairs to stand erect, extend the reach of our tactile sense to it's maximum distance beyond the skin. They also cause the hair shafts to separate which reduces the amount of dampening of movements and vibrations, thus increasing sensitivity to small stimuli.
Far from representing a loss of an original function, this probably represents the retention of a function of hair that arguably predates it's function for insulation and goes right back to the precursors of mammals.