by Lorelei Cohen

Created on: January 21, 2010

It begins as an icy cold sensation that races down your spine, then follows a tingling sensation on your neck and arms, and then tiny bumps erupt across your affected skin. You have the goose bumps, but it is not contagious, and nor is it hazardous to your health. It is a phenomenon that most of us have experienced at some point in our lifetime.

Goose bumps are the tiny little bumps that appear on your arms, legs, neck, back, or any other area of your body that contains hair. First termed as goose flesh, because the condition generally resembles the pimply skin of a plucked goose, these protrusions have come to be more fondly termed as goose bumps. However if your doctor should mention that you have a bad case of "cutis anserina", do not panic, he is simply using the official medical term for those little bumps protruding from your skin. Goose bumps usually occur when you are either cold, or afraid, and in that case it would probably be your doctors chilly office that is initiating the current outbreak.

Most animals who have feathers, hair or fur are able to experience goose bumps. It is simply one of many defense mechanisms that the body is able to initiate. It begins when you experience a sensation of either cold, or fear, and your body kicks into action to help you out of your current situation. The sympathetic nervous system sends a message down your spine, and from there into your arms, legs and other extremities, for your body to react. This message, in essence, tells the muscles within your hair follicles to contract. As these muscles contract, the hair follicles rise above the skin, forcing the hair to become erect. This then displays itself as a case of goosebumps. While you might just slightly be able to notice that your tiny forearm hairs are standing on end, this effect is much more noticeable in a porcupine, or your average house cat. These animals display a very dramatic case of the goosebumps when they are frightened.

There are a couple of reasons why the body reacts in this defensive manner. Where fear is concerned goosebumps are a protective defensive mechanism of our body. A larger sized body is definitely looks more intimidating than a small one. So by making the hair, fur or feather stand on end, it increases the size that a predator will perceive us as being. 

So how do goose bumps fit in with our simply experiencing a chill in the air around us? Well there is a little bit of science involved in that answer. Although goosebumps won't help most of us humans out when we get cold, this reflex action will help to warm those with thicker hair, fur, feathers. When the follicles rise to an erect position, they lock warm air from the body between them, and this increases the body's ability to maintain it's warmth. This is why many animals appear to "puff or fluff themselves up" in the cold. Their body is actually enabling them to remain warmer for a longer period of time than they would otherwise have been able to.

Those are the basic symptoms, causes, and features of goosebumps. So pop up a nice big bowl of popcorn, turn on that super scary horror flick that you have been anxiously waiting to view, and enjoy a spine tingling night at the movies.

Sources:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?artic lekey=6842

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_bumps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_sys tem

Learn more about this author, Lorelei Cohen.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.