Oh baby. It's definitely cold outside and snuggle weather is upon us again. Once we get that 'shiver' thing going, it's sometimes
difficult to stop. I guess it's to be expected in the morning when we get
in a cold car (love those vinyl seats) or when we take out the garbage in our
pajamas, but you know it's cold when you need to snuggle just to keep your teeth
from chattering when you go to bed at night. My wife kind of likes me this winter...
Shivering is involuntary muscle tensing that generates heat and offers a warming effect. When you first become slightly chilled, you'll find
yourself doing an isometric type of muscle tensing that can increase your metabolic rate two to four times.
As you get further chilled, you'll find yourself hopping from foot to foot and jumping around. This is Nature's way to get you to generate heat and warm your body. If you become so cold that you start to shiver, these vigorous muscular contractions generate lots of heat--perhaps 400 calories per hour. Such intense shivering quickly depletes your muscle glycogen stores and drains your energy.
A drop in body temperature stimulates the appetite and you experience hunger. Hence, if you become chilled during winter
you'll likely find yourself searching for food. Eating "stokes the furnace," generates heat, and helps warm your body.
Food's overall warming effect is known as thermogenesis (that is, "heat making"). Thirty to sixty minutes after you eat, your body generates about 10% more heat than when you have an empty stomach. This increased metabolism stems primarily from energy released during digestion. Hence, eating not only provides fuel but also increases heat production, warmth.
(In that case, you should be able to fry an egg on my forehead after how much I ate during the Christmas holidays...)
Does
snuggling really help keep us warm in the winter? You better believe it, but there are ramifications. More newborns arrived in the late summer / early fall than any other time of the year. It makes sense if you think about what happens nine months earlier in most of the country — the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors with their sweeties. If the antidote to shivering is snuggling, that makes the antidote to snuggling; babies. Hmm? Who's kidding who...
