Short Term: Sweating
Sweating plays a huge part in our lives. It is a way to keep the body cool. We sweat a lot in heat climates. This is why it is important to keep the body cool during the heat. Sweat can also cause the body to become dehydrated, which will cause many people to faint or many other dangerous problems if you don't drink enough. Your body is constantly sweating out all the water in your body so it is extremely important to keep drinking water when you are in hot climates.
Facultative: Swimming
Swimming is the first thing individuals adjust to in the heat. Not every one can tan. Some are naturally dark, and tanning will increase the risk of skin cancer. Many people run to the community pool for a quick dip or take trips to the beach to cool off in the water. Swimming is an excellent way to keep the body cool and since your body is a big body of water, it will not have to sweat as much which causes the body to stay cool and hydrated.
Developmental Adaptation: High Heels
High Heels are the perfect developmental adaptation. It is a permanent change to the body unintended. Many women may wear shoes that are too small which may cause a lot of future orthopedic problems. A lot of women are trying to abide by the rule that small feet are sexy. So they often buy shoes that are too small just to trick individuals into thinking their feet are much smaller than what they really are. Women love wearing high heels, it not only makes them feel sexy, but it also makes them feel independent and confident. We don't think of the negative impact of wearing heels everyday will have on our lives in the future because we often live in the moment.
Cultural Adaptation: Marriage
Marriage is a huge cultural adaptation. Many people change a lot of things in their lives just to be accepted by the individual they love. A wedding can cause a lot of cultural changes. For example, if a woman was marrying a Jew, she would find a way to adapt to the Jewish cultural in order to accepted by the man's family. And when marrying an individual with cultural differences, you have to think of the changes you will have to adjust if you decide to have children. People adjust their whole lifestyle when it comes to marriage. It not only keeps their marriage long lasting, but it can also have a positive impact on their lives.
Humans are quiet interesting. They are all diverse individuals. Studying humans from different clines is the perfect way to get a better understanding on how each human is different. If we didn't study human beings in different environmental climates we wouldn't have learned death is one of the worst outcomes that can happen to an individual in temperatures that are too hot and temperatures that are too cold. We also have learned there are many diseases out there that can cause an individual to break out, blood pressures rise or even allow the heart to stop working. These facts can be useful. It informs human beings of all the risk they are taking whenever they are out in the weather climate. Perfect way to warn them to dress appropriately in weather climate and keep warm and cool in order to stay healthy.
Race would be used in certain comparisons. Not every race can tan. Some light complected individuals can tan which allows them to gain a natural sun glow which can last a few months. As for more darker complected people can no tan because it can increase their risk of skin cancer. Race wouldn't matter too much when it comes to people sweating. Everyone sweats. Some more than others, but if you stay cool and keep drinking lots of water you won't pass out. Any race can swim. Race would not play a role in the way we keep our bodies cool and hydrated. Race plays a role in Marriage. If you come from a different background like the example I used earlier about Jews, than how your mate adjusts to the way your lifestyle is can be a huge impact. That person is changing their whole cultural background to fit into their mates. Which makes race a big factor in the way an individual might do things.
You give a thorough discussion on the cultural implications of heat, but we are focusing on the biological implications for this assignment. How does heat affect homeostasis? What happens to the body when body temperatures rise above the optimum other than, ultimately, death?
ReplyDeleteSweating is a short term adaptation to heat, but how does sweat work to cool the body? Another name for sweating is "evaporative cooling". How does that name explain how sweating helps to cool the body?
Facultative traits are biological ones, controlled and directed by genes that can be turned on and off as needed. Swimming is a behavioral and cultural trait and not facultative. A facultative adaptation to heat is vasodilation of the capillaries to allow excess heat reach the skin's surface more readily.
Likewise, developmental traits are also genetic and biological. High heels are cultural and don't qualify. An example of a developmental trait is body shape, namely long lean shapes that have greater skin surface area to dissipate excess heat from the body. This is an example of Bergmann and Allen's rules. This information is available in the assignment folder for Week 8.
How does marriage help with heat stress? The focus was intended to be on the stress of your choice. Examples of cultural adaptations to heat stress include lighter, looser clothing, air conditioning, houses structured to allow ventilations, napping during the heat of the day, etc.
"If we didn't study human beings in different environmental climates we wouldn't have learned death is one of the worst outcomes that can happen to an individual in temperatures that are too hot and temperatures that are too cold."
I suggest that this was understood with out without the environmental approach, but I agree that here are many medical and health benefits to understanding how the body responds to heat stress.
The final question is asking whether you can use race to better understand human biological variation. While you are including race in the discussion, you are really just identifying the biology behind these traits (tanning, sweating). Race is a social construct and different cultures have different systems of race classification. Which system should we use, if any? How can we use a subjective cultural biased system that has no basis in biology to objectively understand biological variation? Answer: You can't.
A couple of cautions: Jewish people are both a religious and an ethnic group, not a race. Race is really just based upon external phenotypic traits, not on ethnicity or religion.
People with dark skin can and do tan, it is just more difficult to see the results. All people run the risk of increased skin cancer when exposed to the sun, though people with a higher base level of melanin in their skin have greater protection than do people with lighter skin tones.
I found your post to be a bit off. Isn't swimming a short term adaption to heat since people go to pools and large bodies of water to swim but don't stay there for days and days on end and the cooling effects of the water only last for a short while. I don't understand how high heels could ever be an adaptation of any kind to heat even if being taller and leaner make it easier to adapt to heat high heels only give the illusion of being taller since your body is still the same size. I don't see what marriage has to do with heat at all, and as a person with rather dark skin i can tell you first hand that I have tanned (not intentionally) and my skin is darker than it used to be thanks to being in the sun frequently.
ReplyDeleteSorry to say but I think you misunderstood the directions of this assignment. I agree with all the information you provided on the implications of heat stress on our daily lives but never provided how heat stress affects on our body. The information you provided on short term adaptation of sweating is correct but you only provided what sweating can do to your body and left out how sweating cools your body. For facultative traits its asking for a controlled and directed by genes. Also for developmental traits its asking for how your body adapted to heat stress. For cultural adaptations marriage has nothing to do with heat stress, you could've use swimming or loose clothing. Good try tho! lol
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstood this assignment because you did not focus each adaptation to your topic which was heat. Great useful information though :)
ReplyDelete