system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If your skin temperature is lower than usual and you stick your hand/foot in hot water, does it do actual damage?

I was thinking of this as I went to take a shower last night and my feet were cold. The water wasn't hotter than it normally would be but it felt like sticking my feet in boiling water. Is it just the sensation or is there actual damage being caused? Also, what exactly causes this to happen?
gpt
Sensory or neural adaptation is a change in time in responsiveness to a constant stimulus, for example, what your clothes feel like on your skin.  When your feet are cold, the neurons that transmit a feeling of warmth are not firing.  When you submerge them in warm water, these warm-sensing neurons begin firing rapidly signaling heat, but you're also signaling a rapid temperature change.  Because of the rapidity with which your body was sensing the rise in temperature, nociceptors, or receptors that signal pain, became activated, warning you that something may be potentially wrong.

Unless you are actually using boiling water, there is likely no damage being caused.