Beat-the-heat mints.

Did it suddenly become summer? Even in my cubicle afternoons feel so much warmer. Unfortunately, my office doesn't have ice to cool the readily available slightly-cooler-than-room-temperature water. How does one deal with such a dilemma?

Did you know that you have thermoreceptors all over and they are the part of your nervous system that detects changes in temperature? (unless, you are experiencing painful temperatures, that is something else)

Did you know some of these thermoreceptors are specific to cold and some to warm?

Did you know according to 2008 study involving a cat, scientists found...

"Aqueous menthol solutions of 1: 10,000 lead to strong stationary discharge of the tongue's cold receptors at constant warm temperatures at which there without menthol is no discharge. At lower temperatures at which the cold receptors are stationary discharging without menthol, this substance produces a great increase of the stationary cold impulse frequency."

HENSEL, H. and ZOTTERMAN, Y. (1951), The Effect of Menthol on the Thermoreceptors. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 24: 27–34. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.1951.tb00824.x

When I was in school, my teacher said scientists think that capsaicin (what makes peppers spicy, burning hot) make you feel hot via those heat thermoreceptors (along with the pain receptors) and menthol (that freshmaker found in peppermint and mint oils which is found in gum/mints and tingly facial creams) may activate those cool thermoreceptors.

it says ice on the package.

Good Idea: Pop in a mint or chew some peppermint gum (especially try to get some of the mint on the back of the mouth towards the throat). Take a swig of that slightly-cooler-than-room-temperature water. Refreshing.

Bad Idea: Do NOT do this with ice water. Remember those pain receptors I mentioned? They activate with extreme coldness too.

A few days ago my coworker commented we have been out of school so long that some of the things we were taught in college may now be obsolete. It is inevitable, but I still have a stash of mints and gum in my purse. Perfect for days like these.