stranger bodies

what’s a brain freeze?

Next time you eat your ice cream too fast, yell out “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.” That’s the scientific term for a brain freeze. A brain freeze is a short-term headache linked to rapid consumption of cold food or drinks. When something cold touches the roof of the mouth, the sudden decrease in temperature stimulates nerves to cause rapid swelling of blood vessels in an attempt to bring temperatures back up. Next, the dilation of blood vessels trigger pain receptors, which release pain-causing prostaglandins, increasing your sensitivity to further pain and producing inflammation while sending signals through the trigeminal nerve to alert the brain to the problem. No worries, though. The pain is short-lived. All that for a sundae? The answer is always yes.

why do certain smells bring back all the feels?

Ever experience a giant whi of nostalgia? Us, too. Maybe it’s the perfume your mom used to wear or the apple pie your grandma used to bake—no doubt, certain smells can spark a flurry of emotional memories. After a smell enters the nose, it travels through the cranial nerve through the olfactory bulb (the emotional center of the brain), which helps the brain process smells.

As a member of the limbic system, the olfactory bulb has access to the amygdala, which also plays a role in emotional memories. This would explain why memories associated with smells feel nostalgic and emotional, rather than memories associated with words that feel concrete and detailed.

are yawns contagious?

Fun Fact

Yawning occurs as early as 20 weeks after conception. Hmm, wonder if the mother’s yawn is in sync?

The theory that we yawn to supply our brain with more oxygen has been debunked. It does, however, slightly lower the temperature of your brain. The motion of opening your jaw wide sends more blood up to your brain, while the inhalation of cool air makes that blood flow relatively cool. Yawning behavior decreases when ambient air is warm. Why then, do yawns spread like wildfire? Empathy plays a big role. This theory is supported by evidence gleaned from MRIs of the brain. Now that we are all yawning, let’s proceed. what make us sneeze? Sneezing is considered a reflex. When imposters such as germs, dust, pollen, animal dander or pollutants infiltrate the lining of the nose, the brain sends out a signal to get rid of them. That triggers a deep breath, held in the lungs. Thus, the chest muscles tighten and pressure builds. The tongue pushes against the palate, forcing breath to come out fast through the nose—achoo!

why can’t we tickle ourselves?

This one is straightforward. Your subconscious mind is always one step ahead of you. When you tickle yourself, no matter how cleverly you try to disguise it, it is always going to be expected.

Ancient Romans used tickling as corporal punishment. They tied o enders down, soaked their feet in salt and had goats lick it o . Yuck, right?

why do we feel like we have a lump in the back of our throat?

If you’ve ever watched Marley and Me, you know exactly what we are talking about. There’s nothing worse than that feeling you get in the back of your throat when you are sad or on the verge of crying—especially when you know nothing is physically there. Apparently, this is a counter-reaction to the body’s automatic nervous system. When humans are exposed to stressful situations, the body automatically increases blood flow to vital organs and muscles. The vocal folds are opened, allowing your lungs to receive more inhaled oxygen than normal. Although this process is beneficial in real stressful situations when you would need more oxygen, other times not so much. Our advice? Just give in

and toes wrinkle up?

A common assumption is that wrinkling is the result of water passing into the outer layer of the skin and making it swell up. The truth may surprise you. When your fingers are wet and wrinkled, they provide better gripping powers. Wrinkled fingers may have helped our ancestors gather food from wet vegetation—or wrinkled toes, for better footing in the rain.

what causes the hiccups?

you voluntarily ask someone to scare you silly, you might have a case of the hiccups. These annoying gasps for air usually occur when a spasm contracts the diaphragm. This spasm causes an breath that is suddenly stopped by the closure of the vocal cords. This closure causes the “hiccup” sound. Usually, they only last a few minutes to a couple hours. If they last any longer—well, looks like you need to enlist a scarier person’s help.

American Charles Osborne experienced the most extreme case of hiccups ever recorded. They lasted 68 years, from 1922 to 1990. That’s an estimated 430 million hiccups!