'Inhaling cold air' is effective for nausea, why on earth?



When you go out for an excursion, you will inevitably ride a car for a long time, but motion sickness is a characteristic of a long ride. Robert Glatter, an emergency doctor in New York City, explains how to 'inhale cold air', which is effective for 'nausea', which is the biggest problem of motion sickness.

Why does cold fresh air help nausea go away? | Live Science

https://www.livescience.com/why-cold-air-helps-nausea

According to Mr. Glatter, the mechanism by which cold air reduces nausea is related to the 'core temperature,' which is the body temperature in the center of the body. Typical symptoms of motion sickness are sweating, nausea, and vomiting, but in reality, the symptoms of 'the core temperature drops' are also present. The drop in core temperature was already known to sailors about 150 years ago, but the medical community has only begun research in recent decades.

During motion sickness, the capillaries of the skin dilate, and more blood flows near the surface of the skin, increasing the amount of heat released from the skin, which lowers the core temperature. In addition, sweating is also promoted at the same time as this process, so the core temperature is further lowered due to the synergistic effect.

When motion sickness lowers the core temperature, the central nervous system, especially the hypothalamus of the brain, which regulates body temperature, activates in an attempt to suppress the decrease in body temperature. Therefore, people who have nausea or motion sickness may feel hot or have a red face even though the core temperature is low.



According to Glatters, it is the hypothalamus that activates in an attempt to counteract the drop in core temperature that actually produces nausea. Therefore, if you breathe cold air or cool the back of your neck, the hypothalamus, which is activated to raise your body temperature, calms down and relieves nausea.

On the other hand, although it is not clear why lower core temperature and activation of the hypothalamus cause nausea, vomiting and temperature changes are common in that the body's natural defense response to toxins. There is a (PDF file) theory that the cause is. This is because vomiting has the role of excreting toxins from the body, and lowering the core temperature has the role of saving energy to fight harmful substances.

Regarding this hypothesis, Mr. Glatter said, 'Assuming that'cold sweat'with nausea is one of the natural defense responses to toxins and infections, lowering body temperature after detecting toxins is one of the evolutionary approaches. There is a possibility. ' 'Human and experimental animals become hypothermic when given toxic substances,' he said.

in Note, Posted by darkhorse_log