What is a shiver?

Question

I can make myself shiver if i concentrate but what is actually happening.
why do i get goosebumps.
why do i feel cold.
why does it start at the top of my neck and move downwards?

Answer 1

a shiver happens when you are cold and you body does it to warm you up by movement.

goosebumps is another way of you body trying to warm up because what it does is stand you hairs on end and lets more heat into the body

you feel cold because you are surrounded by cold so you absorb the cold.

it may feel like that but it usually doesn't start like that and will start where the skin is the thinnest.

Answer 2

The mammalian body will react to a drop in surrounding temperature by raising the skin papilla (goosebumps) and thereby raising the hairs on the skin.
Shivering starts to occur, at lower temperatures, when the brain sends messages to the main skeletal muscles to contract and relax at speed in order to produce warmth by increased exercise.
The sense of feeling cold can come from the process of blood leaving the skin and travelling to essential organs like the brain and liver.
I guess the explanation of the sense of cold travelling down your body, comes from the skin surrounding the head and neck losing blood ( to the brain) sooner than the rest.

Answer 3

The muscles in the skin called Erector Pillis cause the "goosebumps" to occur. This is a nerve response to excitement or due to cold. If in regards to temperature it is the body's way of creating a small increase in body temperature. Muscle contraction creates heat this is why you can get warm from just lifting weights or moderately heavy objects... aerobics is another thing.

Answer 4

Shivering is your body's way of forcing itself to warm up. Involuntary muscle spasms generate heat that is transmitted to the internal organs.

Answer 5

I don't know the scientific term, but it's your internal defenses trying to warm you up & it always starts with the head first because the brain is the most important organ in the body.