Now you’ve done it and the whole crowds’ attention is focused on you!



Blushing is a natural involuntary response. It seems to start with a reddening of the cheeks, then a flushing of the face, neck and ears. A small amount of adrenaline, a natural hormone and stimulant is released in the body making the breathing faster and the heart rate increase. Embarrassed, usually the blushing individual will look down avoiding eye contact and with the heart palpitations, a tingling sensation goes out over the whole body. Naturally-skincare will not alleviate blushing, the universal response to social non-acceptance and comes along with other responses.

There may be an inability to function normally or there may be a feeling of a deep fear (the fight-or flight response). This causes the pupils to dilate in order to gain as much information as possible. The digestive process is slowed down also so that the energy can be used by the muscles if the fight-or-flight response is needed. All these subconscious actions take place in just a fraction of seconds.

Everyone has done it at one time or another. Blushing is a universal human response that is brought on by a social situation. Some do not show the effects of true blushing while others look like a flashing neon light when attention is turned to them. Blushing may happen when a situation becomes decidedly uncomfortable or embarrassing.

Blushing seems to have something to do with the law of attraction. He looks, she blushes. The more accustomed to a situation a person gets, the less they blush making the young and inexperienced, the innocent to manifest a blush quicker. Also it is natural for a man to blush less readily than it is for the female gender.

But the question still is there, why do we blush? The sympathetic nervous system is responsive to the impulses of the mind. When the mind is in confusion, it sends signals out through the sympathetic nervous system. The peripheral capillaries are caused to expand when the vasodilators are stimulated. This in turn, sends more blood rushing to the surface of the neck and face resulting in the reddening effects.

The brain generates these sympathetic responses unconsciously. The sympathetic nerves that send the response out so we blush are in the same area that controls the organs to our chest, the thorax. These nerves are near the center of the spinal cord.

Scientists have been very interested in the human response of blushing since it is an unusual response from the veins. Usually, other types of blood vessels are more responsive to adrenaline when adrenaline is present, but veins generally are not. This adrenaline response from the veins only happens in this area of the body. In other areas of the body, the adrenaline hormone has little or no effect on the veins. This system, the sympathetic nervous system also activates the fight-or-flight responses. Though our thoughts trigger this response, we do not consciously think about producing them.

Only humans blush. Animals do not have the ability to think conceptually and thus do not have moral issues to consider. Blushing seems to be a way to keep the higher intelligence of humans more in check of their intellectual behaviors. Once a person becomes wise as to the ways of the world, the less they blush. In a way, blushing may be a protection of innocence and a guard for the conscience. Sometimes it serves as a humbling for someone with an inflated ego.

People even blush when they are in private. The thought of an undesirable circumstance, a stupid act, meeting someone we feel is very important, or even praise that brought a crowds’ attention may trigger the blushing response. We are not in control of when or where we blush.

There is one nice aspect to blushing and that is the fact that it will pass, although blushing may return with the remembrance of the circumstances surrounding the blushing situation.

It is interesting to note that even Helen Keller, being deaf and blind, blushed just like other teenagers and showed the same tingling responses.

More about your skin and how to care for it along with innovative home spa ideas are at http://www.naturallyskincare.com