6 things our body does for a reason
Miscellaneous / / May 11, 2021
Hiccups, goose bumps and wrinkles on wet fingers have a specific purpose.
1. Tickling reaction
Earlier such eminent scientists as Charles Darwin and Francis Bacon consideredThe Mystery of Ticklish LaughterShow affiliationsthat tickling has something to do with a sense of humor and a person's ability to have fun and build social bonds. However, modern researchers have concluded that this is more of an annoying sensation. Not surprisingly, tickling was used in the Middle Ages.Torture: European Instruments of Torture and Capital Punishment from the Middle Ages to Present like torture.
Science considers tickling to be a defensive reactionWhy can't we tickle ourselves?, Exploration of the neural correlates of ticklish laughter by functional magnetic resonance imagingthat occurs when exposed to the skin. Thanks to her, we can in time shake off all sorts of unpleasant and potentially dangerous creatures - spiders and insects.
When people lived in trees, along which furry eight-legged creatures crawled, capable of knocking an elephant down with one bite, tickling was especially relevant.
That is why, by the way, you cannot tickle yourself: the body understands that you are not a spider.
Although, in principle, with the help of a special robotIt’s almost impossible to get a laugh by self-tickling, says David Robson, and the reason why tells us surprising things about the brain and consciousnesscollected at University College London, you can deceive your instincts and engage in self-titillation.
Tickling can also help.The Mystery of Ticklish LaughterShow affiliations development of fighting skills. In the opinionLaughter psychiatrists J. TO. Gregory and Donald W. Black, the most ticklish spots on the human body are those that are most vulnerable to attacks.
Psychiatrist Christine Harris claimsThe Mystery of Ticklish LaughterShow affiliationsthat when parents or older brothers and sisters tickle children, they learn to break free and avoid unpleasant touches. At a time when such touches initiated all sorts of saber-toothed tigers, the skill was extremely useful.
2. The appearance of goose bumps
Goose bumps (otherwise - goose bumps, or piloerection) came to us from our mammalian ancestors. In those days, when people were slightly hairier than they are now, the pilomotor reflex helped them "fluff up their fur."
When there was danger, excitement or in the cold, the muscles of the hair follicles contracted, which made a person's hair literally stand on end, moreover, all over the body.
This phenomenon has had several useful uses in the past. First, fluffy woolWhy Do You Get Goosebumps?, Expression of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and CFTR in the human epidermis and epidermal appendages helps to keep warm a little.
Secondly, thanks to her, the creature becomes larger in appearance, which can plant a grain of doubt in the head of the predator: is there such a formidable-looking creature or is it better to look for smaller prey.
And thirdly, fluffy wool helpsPhysiological correlates and emotional specificity of human piloerection to please the creatures of the opposite sex - perhaps that is why girls with luxurious hair are more popular.
Among our primate cousins, fur is bristly, such asConflict and Cooperation in Wild Chimpanzees, Sexual dimorphism in responses to unfamiliar intruders in the tamarin, Saguinus oedipus, chimpanzees and tamarins. To one degree or another, all mammals do this - even yours. cat.
A person, naturally, does not have enough wool to warm up and scare away predators. So now the pilomotor reflex is just a reminder that we once had fur, like all decent primates.
And yes, some canThe voluntary control of piloerection cause goosebumps of their own accord. Probably a couple of million years ago, this would have been a very cool skill, but now you can not pay attention to this.
3. Hiccups
A common superstition is that if you hiccup, it means that someone is thinking about you right now. But in fact, hiccups are a reflex designed to remove air trapped in the stomach.
Humans and other mammals hiccupHiccups: A new explanation for the mysterious reflex in the womb. This reflex becomes very important when the cub begins to suck milk. Thanks to him, the child can more effectively absorbHiccups: A new explanation for the mysterious reflex food.
Hiccups allow the infant to consume 15-25% more milk, and infants spend 2.5% of their time hiccupping (yes, someone calculated that tooHiccups: A new explanation for the mysterious reflex).
Interestingly, only mammals hiccupHiccups: A new explanation for the mysterious reflexbut amphibians, birds or reptiles are not. But at the same time, amphibians have a respiratory reflex.A phylogenetic hypothesis for the origin of hiccough, similar to hiccups, - it helps tadpoles to swallow air with gills, while preventing water from entering the lungs.
There are good reasons to considerA phylogenetic hypothesis for the origin of hiccough hiccups as an evolutionary relic, a variation of this very reflex, inherited by us from our amphibious ancestors. Instead of getting rid of the rudiment, mammals turned it to their advantage. Although due to hiccups sometimes there are troubles.
A man named Charles Osborne, from Iowa, manages to cry incessantlyOsborne, Charles, Longest attack of hiccups 68 years in a row.
He started doing this after trying to raise a pig - Charles worked in a slaughterhouse. During the first decades, Osborne hiccups 40 times a minute, but then the number of hiccups dropped to 20. Otherwise, Charles lived a completely normal life, was married and had children. He died at the age of 96.
And finally, a fun fact: there is experimental evidence.Termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage that hiccups can be cure rectal massage. Perhaps Charles would not have had to suffer for so long if he knew about it.
4. Puckering of the skin on the fingers
Due to prolonged exposure to water, the skin on the arms and legs becomes wrinkled. And this also has a reason.
Irregularities in the toes help people slip less on wet soil when walking. This conclusion was reachedWater-induced finger wrinkles improve handling of wet objects, Are Wet-Induced Wrinkled Fingers Primate Rain Treads? Tom Smulders, an evolutionary neuroscientist at the University of Newcastle, and Mark Changizi at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho.
In addition, Smulders experimentally provedA gripping tale: scientists claim to have discovered why skin wrinkles in waterthat wrinkles on the fingers made it possible to better grip wet objects. And researchWater-immersion finger-wrinkling improves grip efficiency in handling wet objects 2020 confirmed this. Scientists at the University of Manchester Metropolitan University have found that, thanks to wrinkled skin, it takes about 20% less effort to grip wet objects.
It used to be that the skin swells on contact with water as a result of some kind of chemical reaction or osmosisOsmosis - penetration of liquid into the pores. However, in 1935, Drs. Lewis and Pickering found outEver wondered why your fingers go wrinkly in water but not other parts of your body? The answer's in the evolution of your gripping hands ...that when some of the nerves in the fingers are damaged, they stop wrinkling. That is, this is not an accidental side effect, but a beneficial reaction of the body that appeared as a result of evolution.
Thanks to her, our ancestors climbed better on wet branches and remained stable, moving in the rain.
5. Yawn
Yawning is contagious. Some individuals are able to start yawning when they see someone else doing it. Or even just by reading this word.
There are many theories as to why people yawn. It used to be consideredLittle mystery: Why do we yawn?, Yawning... And Why Yawns Are Contagious, Yawningthat it provides oxygen flow when the content of carbon dioxide in the blood is increased. However, experts at the University of Maryland conducted an experimentYawning: no effect of 3-5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise, changing the content of fresh and musty air in the room with the subjects, and realized that the frequency of yawning does not depend on oxygen.
In fact, yawning serves two purposes. First, it is used as a thermoregulatory mechanism.The thermoregulatory theory of yawning: what we know from over 5 years of research, A thermal window for yawning in humans: Yawning as a brain cooling mechanism the brain, cooling it if necessary. Therefore, people with a cold compress on their forehead yawn much less often than usual.
Secondly, this reflex makes the person become more alert.What's in a Yawn. If you are bored, lost in your own thoughts, or dozed off, yawn will force you to come to your senses and collect. Therefore, parachutists or extreme athletes yawn.Yawning may boost brain's alertness in stressful situations.
Psychologically contagious yawningYawning may boost brain's alertness developed in humans and other collective animals as a way to maintain the vigilance of the group. It serves as a signal to tired pack members to stay alert.
6. Shiver
Shivering is a thermoregulatory mechanismAccidental hypothermia, Primer on the Autonomic Nervous Systemwhich helps us keep warm. Skeletal muscle tissue begins to contract from the cold, and this activity helps the body generate more heat.
The command to the skeletal muscles is given by the hypothalamus - the part of the brain that connects the nervous system with the endocrine system.
It is interesting, by the way, that babies do not know how to shiver. Therefore, they suffer more from the cold.Heat loss prevention in neonatesthan adults. The situation is somewhat corrected by the increased amount of brown adipose tissue in them, but still: leaving children in the cold is a bad idea.
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