Why does water, etc feel so much colder in your mouth after you have a mint?

It just seems so weird that mint makes your mouth that sensitive.

Why does water, etc feel so much colder in your mouth after you have a mint?
The reason things feel cool or hot are because your brain perceives them that way. There are specialized channels proteins located in the sensory nerves in your skin, called TRP channels, that do all sorts of interesting things. One thing they do is sense temperature. When the temperature goes up, one set of these channels are activated in your sensory nerves to tell your brain that your hand is hot. Interestingly, there is a chemical called capsaicin found in hot peppers that directly activates this channel. So, the reason hot peppers feel hot is because they are actually confusing your sensory neurons that you are hot by activating that set of TRP channels.





Amazingly, there are another set of TRP channels that respond to cold. Again, when your hand gets very cold, this set of TRP channels is activated in sensory neurons and they convey the message "My hand is cold" to your brain with electrical impulses. Menthol, the active incredient in pretty much every mint product on the market, directly activates these "cold channels" and fool your sensory nerves to tell your brain that the body part is cold.





The reason water seems even colder is probably because your mouth, after eating somethign minty, already is being told by your brain that it is cold, and here you are putting something else that is actually cooler than body temperature in there. The signals sum, and now your brain is like, "Damn, this water is real cold".





Reality is the construct of perception built by your brain. Never forget that.
Reply:i think its so hot its cold?!
Reply:it doesn't make your mouth sensitive, it makes it fresh and cool, therefore whatever you eat or drink after feels like that.
Reply:Mint has a chemical that makes a cool sensation. Water enhances the cooling......blah blah blah.
Reply:Because mint speeds up the blood flow through blood vessels, releasing much more heat than usual. Having anything cold makes the heat taken away by higher rate than usual, so the "weird" feeling occurs.