Long-term goose bumps are something to flag to your doctor

There’s a lot we still don’t know about goose bumps in humans

Though goose bumps can be associated with changes in skin temperature, the biggest gaps in our understanding are around measuring goose bumps from nonthreatening exposures. These bumps can often occur without our detection, and we have trouble correctly identifying them. The relationship between emotionally induced chills and goose bumps can also be tenuous.

The anatomy of our hair follicles explains goose bumps

The arrector pili muscle contracts when we're cold or scared, causing hairs to stand up and the skin to form the bumps known as goose bumps. This reaction is typically involuntary.

Goose bumps are often triggered by emotions

A physiologist and professor of zoology explains that the subconscious release of adrenaline, a stress hormone, causes a contraction of skin muscles. It’s released in several situations, including when humans are cold, afraid, or feel strong emotions. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Rodent research suggests goose bumps may play a role in hair growth—raising questions about if this knowledge could be used to reactive sympathetic nerves in hair follicles to boost hair growth in people.

Humans accurately detect their goose bumps only about one-third of the time.

Some of us can control our goose bumps

A small 2018 study examined the rare ability to control goose bumps. Researchers found some intriguing associations between having a particularly open and curious personality type and the ability to trigger this sensation—a link that they hope will be explored further in the future.

Goose bumps require a surprisingly complex series of steps

Watch an anatomical breakdown of how goose bumps work—featuring real skin from a human cadaver, a segmented brain, and a detailed anatomical model of the skin—to learn about all the jargon behind goose bump science. (Warning: Includes graphic footage of cadaver skin.)

Scientists have unraveled new details about which nerve cells control goose bumps

Research in 2016 revealed that at least eight different types of neurons are associated with the sympathetic nervous system. One finding revealed that goose bumps and nipple erection are caused by neurons specialized to regulate these specific functions by controlling the erectile muscles in those tissues.

Artificial goose bumps could theoretically be used for information storage

Inspired by how fine hairs stand on the skin with goose bumps, researchers have recently created artificial skin that raises artificial goose bumps when exposed to a laser. This type of precise, localized, and controllable system could potentially fuel later development of programmable machines that could be used for information storage.

The brains of people who experience frisson have unique neural pathways

A small 2016 study aimed to investigate the behavioral and neural differences between 10 individuals who experience goose bumps when listening to music and 10 who typically don’t. Scientists reported that individuals experiencing musical chills had greater white matter connectivity in specific auditory, emotional, and social processing areas of the brain.

Audio and visual cues from "Titanic," Pink Floyd, and more can provoke goose bumps

These audio and visual snippets have been used in research studies to elicit goose bumps.

Music may give some of us the chills and goose bumps—perhaps because it shocks us

The science is still unsettled about why music can trigger a chill down your spine, formally known as frisson, but one theory is that anything surprising to the nervous system—including sudden beat drops or unexpected harmonies—stimulates a type of alarm response that gives rise to this feeling.

Allergies occur when our immune system mistakenly considers a substance a threat

Immunoglobulin E antibodies, or IgE antibodies, may bind to an allergen, effectively labeling it as a threat. That triggers a cascade of actions in the body, including the release of histamine, which causes the characteristic itching and hives of allergies. Sometimes a cooked version of an allergen—like a cooked carrot—may look different enough from its raw form to the immune system that antibodies ignore it, and no allergic response takes place.

Health problems are being misdiagnosed as perimenopause symptoms

Symptoms of menopause and perimenopause (the premenopause period) can be varied enough that clinicians dismiss them in patients in their mid-30s and onward as just a symptom of hormone level change. In this story, a woman's itching was dismissed as a hormonal change, but after two years and 11 separate doctor consultations, was diagnosed as cancer. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Vertigo can last for minutes—or months—and may occur periodically

Vertigo can be caused by a variety of conditions, including as a side effect of medication, but if it comes on suddenly and is accompanied by other symptoms including difficulty with speech or weakness on one side of the body it's important to go to the emergency room to get checked for a stroke. For recurring vertigo, care teams can teach patients exercises to limit panic, lessen nausea and teach the brain to better tolerate head movements.

Charles Darwin studied goose bumps by scaring zoo animals in London with a stuffed snake

Read the famous naturalist’s work from the late 1800s, detailing how he sought to draw comparisons between how animals and humans respond to fear. As part of that work, he exposed monkeys and a peccary to a stuffed snake and noted the animals’ hair-raising fear response.

Anxiety can arise at any stage of life and make someone feel unsafe in their mind and body.

Surfer's ear, from repeated cold water exposure, leads to new bony protrusions in the ear

Frequent exposure to icy cold water, typical in surfing, can cause tiny bony growths to develop in the ear canal, informally called surfer's ear. While the exact cause for these growths is unknown, it may be the body's protective response to shield the ear drum from the cold. These protrusions can heighten the risk of swimmer's ear, lead to wax buildup, and result in hearing loss.

When to see a doctor over memory lapses

Memory includes various, distinct functions, like working memory (storing information temporarily) and procedural memory (your body's ability to perform a task unconsciously). Forgetting a word or losing your keys can feel like red flag memory lapses, but they are, in fact, language or attention problems, not memory ones. However, a lapse on top of stress, lack of sleep, chronic dysfunction, or an injury may be a red flag to see your doctor.

You can be allergic to grass—but there are other reasons it can make you itch

Fearology, or the study of fear, explores the difference between stress and fear

Our brains involuntarily respond to our environment and signal alarm when that isn't always needed, triggering responses that include goose bumps. But understanding fear and how to talk our brains into calming down can improve daily life.

Stuffy nose congestion occurs because of swelling of the inferior turbinates

These structures in the nose above the nose hairs swell and shrink constantly and are affected by head position. They can fill with blood during illness, causing the feeling of congestion, but also when a person changes position, especially when lying down. Medications can be used to shrink them, providing temporary relief.

Why do you shiver when cold?

Humans are warm-blooded creatures, so our bodies like to maintain internal temperatures separate from and typically above those in their environment. This is made possible by a process known as thermoregulation. When the brain's hypothalamus senses a drop in the body's core temperature, skeletal muscles may be ordered to shiver, sending out waves of muscle contractions and exothermic biochemical reactions whose byproduct includes heat and energy.

The overlooked physical causes of insomnia

Persistent lack of sleep is dangerous for anyone, but women are especially unlikely to have their symptoms taken seriously. This article highlights the physical causes of insomnia—a condition often written off as solely psychological—and the importance of early diagnosis. The writer, Courtney Maum, was diagnosed with an anterior nasal valve collapse as the source of her insomnia.

A BPPV patient describes how a neck massage fueled crippling vertigo

The pressure, she says, dislodged tiny crystals in her inner ear that are crucial to balance. The condition is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV.

Stress and anxiety may lead to similar symptoms, but stress is a response to external triggers, while anxiety is persistent, and its symptoms won't disappear once an immediate stressor is gone.

NASA worries about the reactivation of dormant viruses during missions—particularly the virus that causes shingles—because spaceflight suppresses the human immune system and elevates stress hormones, making it more challenging to stay healthy.

Allergy tests identify antibodies, but not whether allergy symptoms may appear

Skin prick tests and blood tests, the two most common allergy tests, both detect the presence of allergen-specific antibodies. But just because the body has those antibodies doesn’t mean that a person is “allergic” to a substance or that they will develop symptoms of an allergy when encountering the substance. Allergists work with families to interpret the results and sometimes combine that data with approaches including exposure challenges—giving someone a tiny bit of the food or substance they may be allergic to—under medical supervision.

Tick bites can fuel an allergy to a sugar molecule in red meat

Alpha-gal syndrome is on the rise globally as ticks spread due to climate shifts. Bites from some ticks can trigger a sensitivity to a sugar molecule called alpha-gal found in mammal meat, which can lead to allergic responses to hamburgers and steak, among other products. Listen to an expert’s tips for avoiding this allergy, including quickly removing any ticks to limit exposure to their saliva or vomit.

The "reminiscence bump" causes memories from adolescence to last

Research shows that the "reminiscence bump" phenomenon, which applies to memories formed between the ages of 10 and 30, contributes to songs from those ages triggering the most intense nostalgia. This may be due to biological and hormonal changes enhancing memory effectiveness during adolescence.

Breaking down various tongue disorders, from infections to genetics

Taste is one of our fundamental senses, but can be impeded by a wide variety of conditions including glossitis, angioedema, and black hairy tongue. Most are characterized by their color, shape, and sometimes change in function. Causes range from vitamin or mineral deficiencies to fluid accumulation, fungal infection, or more.

A 40-something science journalist was getting more winded during workouts, and experiencing night sweats, forgetfulness and tiredness—she thought it was perimenopause, but these common symptoms turned out to be signs of her blood cancer.

Seasonal allergies don't always show up in childhood

The human immune system may become sensitized to pollen and develop an allergic reaction to it after prolonged exposure. Other triggers for new seasonal allergies may include exposure to new environments and changing climate conditions that affect allergy season length and conditions for various pollens.

Food poisoning can sometimes cause serious long-term health issues

Although foodborne illness can be relatively mild and cause short-term discomfort, more rarely it can also cause long-term severe health consequences, depending on your individual risk factors, the severity of your sickness, and the care you receive. Kidney failure is one serious complication associated with certain types of food poisoning. Meningitis, hepatitis, arthritis, and pancreatitis are also rare and serious foodborne illness complications. If a pregnant person gets food poisoning, it can cause health issues for the fetus.

Anxiety is one of the world's most common mental health disorders, causing persistent excessive fear and worry that interferes with daily activities.

Telogen effluvium is a common, temporary type of hair loss that can be triggered by severe stress, illness, or other body changes like childbirth—it pushes as much as 70% of hair into its resting phase, causing hair to fall out.

Panic attacks are intense fear episodes that often occur without a clear trigger

Unlike typical fear responses to real danger, panic attacks can mimic serious health problems, such as heart attacks. Sweating during a panic attack may seem random, but it's a leftover survival mechanism that made it easier for our ancestors to escape by slipping out of an attacker’s grasp.

Measles infection can cause long-term immune system “amnesia”

The measles virus attacks the body's immune system, including preying on T and B cells in the lymphatic system. These cells hold memories of past infections, which can be degraded as the virus destroys them. This leaves patients susceptible to other infections for a year or longer.

Eczema appears to heighten the risk of developing shingles.

Central vestibular disease is another common cause of vertigo

Unlike peripheral vestibular disease that is caused by factors like inflammation in the inner ear, central vestibular disease involves dysfunction of one or more parts of the central nervous system. Vertigo of this type may last for seconds, hours, or even days. It's typically caused by issues with the brain stem and cerebellum and could be caused by stroke, tumor, and vestibular migraine, among other conditions.

Itching is caused by stimulated nerve cells in the skin

Scratching produces low-level pain signals to the brain, distracting from the itch. Scratching also releases serotonin, a neurotransmitter that creates a happy sensation, which resets the itch signal. This can cause a cyclical itch-scratch cycle.

Fevers are an immune response to create hurdles for pathogens

Substances called pyrogens prompt the brain to raise the body temperature to levels where bacteria and viruses struggle to survive. The higher temps also support immune cells fighting off the invaders.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

If you have a cold, the body produces excess mucus to trap germs

This process clogs up narrowed nasal airways, which results in congestion. This process is often accompanied or triggered by swelling of blood vessels in the nose.

What exactly are hiccups?

If you don't know a surefire cure for hiccups, it's not really a surprise—while there are some known facts about this funny affliction, a surprising amount remains a mystery. Doctors believe that a round of hiccups usually either comes from...

The word allergy is partly derived from the Greek word 'allos' for 'other'

For people with allergies, their immune systems recognize substances as a harmful "other"—cuing an inflammatory response. This podcast explores allergy details and related topics, including how scientists are interested in if the same allergic response mechanisms could underpin other health issues, including severe, painful symptoms around the time of menstrual cycles. Since estrogen acts on white blood cells called mast cells, which leads to the release of histamines—similar to what happens during allergic responses—an understudied question is whether the same process is fueling some of the uncomfortable symptoms around menstruation. An allergist guest notes this raises questions about if antihistamine medications like Pepsid might alleviate them, something that hasn't yet been explored in clinical trials.

Menopause can exacerbate anxiety

Some research shows that menopause can fuel anxiety and also that preexisting anxiety can boost the chances of experiencing other menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, insomnia, and brain fog. But treatments—including hormone replacement therapy, breathing exercises, and other forms of exercise—can alleviate some of these symptoms.

Based on its varied symptoms, scientists think that long COVID is not a single disease, but rather a group of different conditions triggered by COVID-19 infection.

Home allergy tests don’t work well and experts urge caution

Doctors do not recommend at-home allergy test kits because their results may be inaccurate and confusing, and lead people to make lifestyle changes that are not warranted. Tests that require sending in a hair sample, for example, will not be helpful because hair does not have the relevant antibodies that blood testing would detect.

We're typically born with all the hair follicles we'll ever have, just as women are born with all their eggs.