the.com/numbing
the body's mercy switch, flipped when feeling becomes too much to bear
means Causing a loss of sensation or feeling, whether physically (cold, anesthetic) or emotionally (overwhelm that dulls you).
from From the verb 'numb,' which comes from Middle English 'nomen,' meaning 'taken' or 'seized' — the past participle of 'nimen,' to take. The idea was of a body part 'taken' or deprived of feeling, as if seized by cold or shock. The silent 'b' was bolted on later by writers who imagined a kinship with words like 'thumb' and 'dumb.' Distantly related to German 'nehmen,' to take.
- cold trick
- Ice works by slowing nerve signal speed
- dental origin
- Cocaine was the first local anesthetic in 1884
- emotional version
- Brains numb feelings too, not just nerves
- pins and needles
- That tingle is nerves waking back up
- frostbite paradox
- Severe cold feels warm before it kills tissue
lidocaine injections — local anesthetic used in ~300 million procedures annually worldwide
frozen lake michigan swim — polar plunge events in chicago where thousands immerse in near-freezing water
novocain dental anesthetic — procaine-based numbing agent used by dentists since 1905