At one time or another, everyone has experienced a fever or has vomited. These two occurrences are not pleasant, but they do serve their purpose. Even though they make you feel miserable, this is actually your body’s way of keeping you healthy and safe.

VOMIT: What is Vomit? You have many names for vomit, such as throw-up, barf, upchuck, hurl, or puke. The actual term for vomit is emesis, which is a Greek word for “to vomit”. Whatever you call it, it’s all the same thing: vomit is soggy, half-digested food along with stomach mucus, saliva, stomach acids, and other chemicals that quickly exit up your throat and out of you mouth.

Why Do We Vomit? There are several reasons why we vomit. Food poisoning, illness, feeling nervous or scared, eating too much, pregnancy, and motion sickness are some reasons. For whatever reason you vomit, whenever something is upsetting your stomach, warning signals are sent to your brain to an area called the emetic center. This center tells your body to quickly get rid of whatever is upsetting you, and this is done by vomiting.

How Does Vomit Happen? Your digestive system carries food down your throat, into your stomach, and through your intestines which leads to the rectum. If you have a virus or other germs in your body, if you feel dizzy or nervous, or if you are pregnant or overeat, the muscles in your stomach push food up back to your mouth. Vomit is forcefully exerted out of your mouth so your body can feel better.

After We Vomit Even though vomiting can feel pretty disgusting and smell really gross, you will feel a lot better after you vomit. Remember, whatever made you feel bad is now gone, so it’s back to normal for your system.

FEVER : What is Fever? The definition for fever is when the body temperature rises. To truly understand what a fever is, you first need to understand what the hypothalamus is. The hypothalamus is in the center of the brain and acts as the body’s thermostat. The hypothalamus tries to keep your body at its average temperature of 98.6°F. Anytime that temperature rises, a fever will occur.

Why Do We Get Fever? A person’s temperature might rise for many reasons. Fever occurs when the body’s immune response is triggered by pyrogens (fever-producing substances). Pyrogens usually come from a source outside the body such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, drugs, and toxins. Examples of pyrogens are colds, the flu, tonsillitis, ear infections, bronchitis, and tetanus.

How Does a Fever Happen? When the body senses fever-producing substances (pyrogens), the hypothalamus then raises the body temperature. Your body rises in temperature to make the conditions hotter. Shivering may occur, which will help increase the heat in your body. Most pyrogens cannot handle the temperatures that a fever brings, so the pyrogens will greatly weaken or be destroyed. Temperatures up to 100.8°F are considered low-grade, a temperature between 101°F - 102°F is considered a mild fever, and a fever between 102°F - 103°F is considered a moderate fever, and anything above 104°F is considered a high fever. High fever, for a prolonged time, can damage the body.

After a Fever Once the fever-producing substance (pyrogen) disappears, the hypothalamus will set the body temperature back to normal. At this time, you might start to feel warm and you may sweat. Don’t worry, these are signs that you’re getting back to your old self.

OVERVIEWOVERVIEW Even though you might feel lousy when you vomit or have a fever, your body is actually trying to help you get better. Different reasons like food poisoning, to overeating, or pyrogens such as the cold and the flu, are stimuli. Stimuli are things that cause an organism to perform an activity or start a reaction. The reactions are what occur in response to the stimuli like vomiting or having a fever.