Why do our teeth chatter when we're cold? - Big Questions (Ep. 14)

Hi, I'm Craig. I've never worn braces because I think my gap tooth is cute

And this is Mental Floss on YouTube. Today I'm going to answer A Bond Unbroken's big question

Why do our teeth chatter when we're cold? Well, A Bond Unbroken, your body doesn't love being cold, so when it gets cold, it does some stuff to try to get warm again

Teeth chattering is one of those things. I'm going to tell you how that works today. Let's get started. Burr

Humans are warm-blooded mammals. Our bodies prefer an internal temperature of 98.6

degrees Fahrenheit. Or blottidy blot degrees Celsius, because I don't know, because I'm just a

dumb American who doesn't understand Celsius is what the majority of the rest of the world uses

Not like you were upset about that in a previous video when I made a joke like that, were you

Or 37 degrees Celsius. Their ability to stay at around that temperature is known as

thermal regulation, and it happens thanks to things like the circulatory system and the digestive system

So when your skin gets colder than expected, your body takes note because it really doesn't want to get hypothermia

Then it does things like decreasing sweat production and decreasing the size of blood vessels towards the body surface The temperature receptors in your skin also get involved They send signals to the hypothalamus in the brain which is what controls body temperature It basically your body own personal

thermostat. So you don't need to go swallowing a thermostat. Okay? You got one right up there

in the hypothalamus, young whippersnapper. The hypothalamus contains something known as the shivering center, which causes involuntary shivering. That shaking you experience happens because

the body's muscles are contracting and relaxing repeatedly. Or you're making a stupid joke

Those muscles include your face muscles, and when your face muscles begin to shiver, you guessed it, teeth chattering is a side effect of that

In 2014, a group of scientists who work for the National Institutes of Health studied how 10 adults reacted to cold temperatures

The scientists concluded that shivering actually boosts metabolism like exercise does, so shivering is kind of good for you

I should mention that shivering is not a recommended workout. I don't want a bunch of people going out in the cold and getting hypothermia because that's not actually going to help you in the long run

You know what might help? A long run. Watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made by these shivering people

If you have a big question of your own, leave it in the comments and it might just get answered

I'll see you next week