• Question: Why do you get goosebumps when you are cold

    Asked by paulfee1 to Cathal, Ciara, Emma, Michael, Sive on 13 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 13 Nov 2013:

      Hi Paul,

      It’s a reaction to help you to retain heat. When we feel cold, it causes tiny muscles in our skin to contract so that they create shallow depressions in the skin and then bumps beside them. This contraction of the muscles also causes our hair to stand on end. Raising the hair acts like a blanket and traps a layer of warm air between our skin and the hair. It’s not very effective now because we don’t have that much body hair but our ancestors were much hairier! So next time you get goosebumps imagine your hairy ancestors with their own personal blankets 🙂
      Sive

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