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Ever wonder why your body begins to shake a bit when you’re cold – even when you try really hard to stay still? Our friends at Mental Floss help us understand why this happens.
A Thing Called Homeostasis
Dictionary.com defines homeostasis as “the tendency of the body to seek and maintain a condition of balance or equilibrium within its internal environment, even when faced with external changes.” This is why, no matter how hot or cold the external environment is, your body will work to keep its internal temperature more or less the same.
Since heat always flows from a hot object to a cold object, when your warm body is exposed to cold air, the heat from your body will flow into the air. When the air is super cold, it will take away your body heat, leaving you feeling – you guessed it – cold!
As part of the process of homeostasis, shivering is one way that your body tries to produce more warmth and make up for all the heat it’s losing to the cold air.
Muscles Generating Heat
So how does shivering actually occur? We’re glad you asked!
When muscles move, they generate heat. When you feel cold, tiny sensors in your skin send messages to your brain telling you that you need to warm up. Your brain then sends messages to nerves all over your body telling your muscles to move. Your muscles begin to quickly tighten and loosen over and over again in a short period, which is what we call shivering.
The energy that’s created to make your muscles produce shivers gives off heat, helping to keep you a bit warmer!
Looking for more Never Stop Asking "Why?" questions? Catch up on all of the past "Why's" on the blog!
