help!

[ajva]

Does anyone know what causes the physical sensation of shuddering (i.e. "someone walking over your grave")?

All suggestions gratefully received.

Comments

[barking-watcher.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find the answer for you, so I submitted the question to the Notes & Queries section of The Guardian website.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

I googled for "shuddering", then "shivering", then took the results of that and googled again for "thermogenesis", then took the results of that and googled for "sympathetic activity". The upshot seems to be that you shudder because something (thinking of something stressful or spooky, maybe) has raised your metabolic rate, which increases heat loss, which triggers shuddering as a means of increasing body temperature.