Why don’t icy drinks make me cold all over?

Have you ever thought of why drinking something cold doesn’t make our whole body cold? Or why consuming something hot doesn’t heat up our entire body? There is a process in our body named the thermoregulation process. This process is responsible for the regulation of our internal body temperature.

The actual body temperature refers to the temperature present within our internal organs. Our body is very good at regulating our temperature and maintaining it in a safe range even when the temperature outside is changing.

Regulation of Body Temperature

Regulating body temperature is a prime work of the hypothalamus. Hypothalamus is a small organ present in the brain. It is located near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.

For finding out the normal temperature, the hypothalamus checks the temperature of our internal organs and compare it with the normal temperature of about 37 °C. If the temperature is found to be high, the hypothalamus works by producing sweat and cooling down our body to get the temperature back to normal. Our body cools down during sweating. If the body temperature is too low, our blood vessels narrow. This reduces blood flow to the skin and conserves heat. In such a situation, our body often starts shivering and this motion of the muscles generates heat to bring our body temperature back to normal.

The hypothalamus works to increase our temperature in multiple ways and these are depicted below.

1. Vasoconstriction

When body heat falls down, the hypothalamus sends the message for the constriction of blood vessels. This helps conserve the heat and regulate body temperature.

2. Thermogenesis

When there is a need for increasing temperature in the body, the muscles and organs of the body can also create heat in multiple ways. For example, the liver can create a great amount of heat during the breakdown process of biomolecules in the body.

3. Hormonal Thermogenesis

The thyroid gland can increase the amount of heat in the body by secreting hormones responsible for increased metabolism in the body. This will eventually increase the amount of heat generated in the body and bring the temperature back to normal

Hence, when we drink something cols, there is no feeling of cold due to the presence of temperature-regulating systems in our body.

Fun Facts

1. It is predicted that women are more sensitive to cold as compared to men.
2. Your nose gets heated when you lie.
3. Increased body temperature is known to cause disturbance in your sleep.

Related questions

Some related questions to this topic.

1. Explain Thyroid Gland and its functions.
2. What are the different parts of the brain?
3. Enlist different functions of the hypothalamus.

Objective Quiz

1. The process responsible for the regulation of internal body temperature is known as ________.
   1. Thermoregulation process.
   2. Thermodynamic process.
   3. Thermal process.
   4. All of the above.
2. Hypothalamus is located near __________.
   1. Pituitary gland.
   2. Thyroid gland.
   3. Adrenal gland.
   4. Sweat gland.
3. The term for the process through which muscles and organs can help increase body temperature is ______.
   1. Thermogenesis.
   2. Vasoconstriction.
   3. Thermodynamic.
   4. Hormonal Thermogenesis.
4. Our body cools down by __________.
   1. Sweating.
   2. Running.
   3. Swimming.
   4. Exercise.
5. ________ is considered as the normal internal body temperature approx.
   1. 37°C.
   2. 68°C.
   3. 5°C.
   4. 25°C.

True Or False

1. Our body temperature is the actual temperature present within internal organs.
2. Hypothalamus does not have any role in body temperature regulation.
3. The process responsible for the regulation of internal body temperature is known as the thermoregulation system.
4. Vasoconstriction is used to decrease body temperature.
5. The thyroid gland also has the ability to increase body temperature.