In scientific parlance, goosebumps are referred to as horripilation.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Have you ever felt the hair in your arms rise up on a cold night or felt shivers run down your backbone whereas watching a scary film? The colloquial title for this phenomenon is goosebumps. In scientific parlance, this is horripilation.
Characterised by small bumps that develop on an individual’s pores and skin, beneath the hair follicles, horripilation is an involuntary response to chilly climate. It has additionally been recorded in animals, equivalent to when a cat raises its hackles. It is managed by the sympathetic nervous system. Specifically, horripilation occurs when the mind sends alerts to tiny muscle groups referred to as arrector pili in hair follicles inflicting them to contract. This is what makes the hair stand upright.
The most typical reason behind horripilation is chilly air close to the pores and skin. But researchers have additionally documented intense feelings, equivalent to concern, shock, nervousness, love, sexual want and inspiration, as additionally having the identical impact.
In most circumstances, horripilation is momentary. But if it persists, it could possibly be an indication of a medical situation, like keratosis pilaris. Its signs embrace lumps that really feel tough and dry and mimic goosebumps. These lumps are useless pores and skin cells; they seem on the cheeks, backside and entrance of the thighs, and the higher arms. They go away on their very own or could be made to with the assistance of dermatological lotions.
