can you please explain what a "cold pressor response" is in laymens terms? and then in scientific specific terms? how it is directly related to chewing minty gum? thanx

Oddly enough, this came up the other day:

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3597

Yes, it did.

 

In any event, in laymans terms, a cold pressor response is how your veins and capillaries respond to cold. We have a core temperature of 38 degrees celsius. Our core temperature is critical, and deviation of a few degrees either way from that value will kill us. Our bodies evolved certain mechanisms to help regulate our core temperature, one of which is the ability to divert blood to, and away from the surface of our bodies.

 

When we get hot, the veins and capillaries close to the skin dilate and we become flushed. We sweat and evaporation cools the skin and the blood in the capillaries close to the skin loses heat, cooling us down.

 

When we are cold the opposite happens. The veins and capillaries close to the skin constrict keeping warm blood deep inside and away from the cold body surfaces. This helps prevent us from losing heat.

 

This vasodilation and constriction is called the vasopressor response. The cold pressor response is the vasopressor response to cold. As you can see, we also have a vasopressor response to heat (vasodilation).

 

How does this relate to minty chewing gum? Well, along with heat, certain chemicals also induce localised vasopressor responses. The chemical in chilli peppers (capsaicin) for example, causes vasodilation. There are other chemicals which also cause vasodilation and minty chewing gum, and particularly something like Wrigley's Airwaves, which contains menthol, cause vasodilation.

mod note: I changed the title for clarity. hope this doesn't cause any confusion