Dear
Griffin Post
Hallucinations during Hypothermia
by Elsa Ren
How come when you get hypothermia, you start hallucinating?
Question from: Daniel
Hypothermia is a serious medical condition, but still, it is surprisingly common and it kills hundreds to thousands of people a year. Believe me, there are lots of ways to avoid it, and there are lots of every-day ways it happens. But why would it cause you to hallucinate?
First of all, there are mainly 3 stages of hypothermia; mild hypothermia, moderate hypothermia, and severe hypothermia. During mild hypothermia, your core temperature is around 90-95°F, in moderate hypothermia, your core temperature is around 82- 90°F. When you reach severe/profound hypothermia, your core temperature is below 82°F.
At mild hypothermia, you are extremely alert and cautious, you’re shivering and you have goosebumps, you might also start hyperventilating, and your heart beats more than 100 times per minute at rest (tachycardia). But at moderate hypothermia, you start getting confused, you might start finding difficulty speaking and feeling uncoordinated as your heartbeat starts to slow (bradycardia). Between moderate and severe hypothermia is where hallucinations start. Once it’s severe hypothermia, you are fully unconscious, not shivering anymore, your heartbeat slows to under 60 per minute (bradyarrhythmia) and your breathing slows too (bradypnea).
When hallucinations occur during hypothermia it is because your core temperature dropped below 86-86.9° fahrenheit (30-32° Celcius). Some victims also remove their clothes and dig at the verge of death, an action caused by pure instinct.
Now you know how hypothermia causes hallucinations. There are lots of ways to repel hypothermia and stay warm, such as wearing lots of layers, keeping dry, and keeping at least one room in your house warm, not turning the temperature down to save money. Stay warm and safe and don’t spend too much time outside.
Sources: Severe Hypothermia in the Sunshine State | Hypothermia - StatPearls | Accidental Hypothermia | Preventing Hypothermia
Music Affecting Moods
by Elsa Ren
How does music affect mood?
Question from: Grace W.
Do you enjoy music? Music can be enjoyed by everyone on every corner of the earth. Music can pass down from generation to generation and carry messages. Music can also bring people together. But did you ever think that music could affect your mood or how you are feeling? Music can actually affect your emotions quite a lot!
For example, music might lead to a release of dopamine (a feel-good neuro-transmitter), which could lead to happiness and a better mood. An upbeat song repeated could make your whole day or lead to your interactions with people much better. You could also be a much more happy and spirited person. When you’re listening to a slow, beautiful song, the chills or shivers you’re feeling, might as well be dopamine triggering a sensation of pleasure or well-being. Familiar music might also cause the same symptoms.
Music could also affect your mood in a negative way, not only in a positive way, as listed before. Such as when you’re listening to a sad or angry song, don’t repeat it too many times or your feelings might start reflecting the mood and causing you to feel different emotions or a sudden mood change. If you were in an upbeat mood before, you could start to feel angry or sad after repeating the song too many times or listening to those types of music a lot.
Music could also change your mood through different genres of music. Below are different genres of music and the emotions or mood they typically cause or make you feel:
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Classical music
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Classical music has potential to cause calmness and peace, or clarity. This leads to individuals often feeling relaxed and more focused.
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Heavy Metal
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Heavy metal mostly gives the opposite effect from classical music. Too much heavy metal can lead to increased levels of irritability and nervousness. It might provoke higher feelings of anxiety.
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Rock
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Rock can uplift moods and increase productivity. Through its upbeat rhythm, it can cause excitement and happiness to its listeners
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Pop
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Pop can ease the sense of stress and confusion and make listeners feel happier and more relaxed.
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Country
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Country music can lead to sadness and provoke negative feelings and thoughts. These symptoms are likely to be caused by the fact many country songs include sad messages or lyrics.
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So music can lift moods in many different ways. Whenever you're listening to the above genres of music, try to notice the way your emotions change throughout or after the song, and try to determine whether the music is making you feel happy, or bad.
Sources: Effects of Music Genres on Emotions | How Music Affects Your Mind, Mood, and Body | Why — and How — Music Moves Us
Guinea Pigs?
by Elsa Ren
How many guinea pigs can fit on a plane?
Question from: Ibrahim
First of all, if you don’t know, a guinea pig, also known as a cavy, is a popular pet belonging to the rodent family, native to South America. They are very social animals and belong well in a pair. They are diurnal, meaning active and awake during the day like us humans.
Male guinea pigs tend to be larger than females and they communicate through squeaks. Guinea pigs can live up to 14 years in human care but have an average lifespan of 8 years, though female guinea pigs tend to live shorter lives because they often die due to birthing complications.
Now, to the real question; How many guinea pigs fit on a plane? Well a book by Laura Overdeck would answer this question. The book title is exactly the same as the question. The answer given from this book is that there could fit 472,500 guinea pigs on an average 747 jet.
So in conclusion, the amount of guinea pigs to fit on an average 747 jet would be around 472,500 guinea pigs. If you’re interested in learning more about these random math questions, I recommend you check out “How Many Guinea Pigs Fit on a Plane?”
Sources: Guinea Pig National Zoo | How Many Guinea Pigs Fit on a Plane?
Phone Addictions
by Elsa Ren
Why do people get addicted to phones?
Question from: Anonymous
Almost everyone owns a cellphone, and 90% of those people have a smartphone. Smartphones have many apps and many people love communicating and watching videos on their phones. Many people love their phones so much, they spend most of their time on social media, but why is that?
If we were to approach this scientifically, we’d find out that every time you check your phone or electronic device, your brain releases a small amount of dopamine. And every time you check your phone, you encourage that dopamine, making you want to check your phone more. Though dopamine is only temporary, you eventually start to feel more let down and your brain would want to generate more dopamine, leading us down this path over and over.
But if you’d take this in a more mental way, you might think the reason is that it makes you feel less left out and more caught up. Which makes sense, because addiction comes from relieving discomfort, which includes catching up to the latest trends and feeling you fit in with your friend group.
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Phones also decrease your attention span. There are many ways this happens, like through constant notifications, more and more shorts and short-formed content leads to more distractions and what’s called “brain drain”. This is to the point where just having your smartphone nearby can make your brain work harder without you realizing it. Because it makes it harder to concentrate with it, trying not to constantly check your phone, so people tend to get addicted.
In conclusion, people tend to get addicted to phones because of your brain’s reaction to dopamine and the fear of getting left out, along with the fact that the phones decrease your attention span and ability to focus. Next time you're doomscrolling, just remember that just because you like it, it’s not particularly good for you.
Sources: Brain Drain, The Psychology of Smartphones, Seven Reasons to Break Your Smartphone addiction