I was feeling cold yesterday and I noticed goosebumps all over my hand. I just started wondering, why does this even happen? We don't have fur like dogs or cats.
So I checked small and what I found is really interesting.
Goosebumps happen because of tiny muscles under our skin called arrector pili muscles. When you feel cold or even when you feel strong emotion like fear or excitement, your nervous system tells those small muscles to contract..🧏🧏That contraction pulls your body hair to stand up.
For animals with plenty of fur, this makes sense. When their hair stands, they trap more air and stay warm. And when they are scared, they look bigger to scare predators. So it is useful for them.
But for us humans, we don't have that much hair again. So the goosebumps don't really keep us warm or make us look bigger. It is just leftover evolution. Our body still acts like we have full fur, even though we have lost most of it.
That is why you get goosebumps when you are cold...., when you hear a good song..., or when you are scared.🫣 It is not your skin reacting, it is your nervous system remembering an old survival trick.
Biology is funny because even though we have evolved, our body still keeps some of these old codes.
Have you ever noticed how your goosebumps show more when you listen to emotional music?... That one still amazes me.
IMAGE IS AI GENERATED