Ever been stuck under heavy rainfall? You finally find shelter along the way, but suddenly; your teeth begin to chatter and your body begins to shake uncontrollably or in other words, you start to shiver. Shivering is a method through which the body tries to keep you warm when it’s cold out there. It is part of a process called homeostasis; which means that your body wants to keep your inner temperature about the same no matter how hot or cold it is outside.

So the question is: how does your body manages to maintain the temperature through shivering? You see, the normal temperature for our body is about 98.6-degree Fahrenheit or 37-degree Celsius. But during heavy rainfall or the harmattan season, the outside temperature drops, our bodies begin to lose heat. This is because heat always flows from a hot object to a cold object as a way of balancing out differences in temperature. So when the body’s heat starts to flow outside, its inner temperature decreases. This prompts an important part of brain called the Hypothalamus, located at the base of the brain, near the pituitary gland to get activated. Its job is to regulate the body’s temperature so when the hypothalamus detects the fall in temperature, it sends a signal to our muscles to tighten and relax rapidly, causing you to shiver. This rapid muscle movement eventually generates enough heat to warm a body and helps it to maintain the normal temperature.

Cold is not the only thing that causes shivering. Sometimes you shiver when you are excited or afraid. When you feel these things, your brain and nerves send out messages through your body that cause your muscles to get excited, so you shiver. For some people, stress or mental health factors can also cause shivering. This is due to a condition called psychogenic movement disorder, which can affect any part of the body. Also if a person has not had food or water for a long time, the level of glucose in their blood can drop. This low blood sugar can cause shivering or shaking.