BEING COLD STINKS!
Extremely cold temperatures
in fact do negatively impact the survival of human beings. Temperatures being
extremely cold allow the body to be exposed to hypothermia, frost-bite, and
death. Hypothermia can be caused by drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol makes a
person feel as if they are warmer but it is not a permanent feeling. The
alcohol that the person drinks can be dangerous and lead to hypothermia because
it can allow the body to lose heat faster. A facultative adaptation would be
when the body needs to retain heat in order to maintain life it can begin the
"narrowing of blood vessels near skin surface (vasoconstriction). When
this happens the skin becomes colder and there is more heat retained than
before. Shivering is a short term adaptation that allows the body to
retain heat and survive extreme cold conditions. There have also been many
cultural adaptations that have helped human beings survive such cold weather.
In some places families sleep together to keep warm or they wear appropriate
clothing for cold weather. Others have had a custom to eat "high calorie
fatty foods" that allow their bodies to make more heat for themselves. The
developmental adaptations that human beings have had in order to be able to
live in extreme conditions would be the developing of what is said is a "thick
fat insulation" that is around the organs that are needed the most in our
bodies.
The many benefits of studying human variation
across environmental clines are that we are able
to study how the human body is
able to adapt both culturally and physiologically to the extreme conditions it
is placed in. In that way we are able to learn what we should and should not do
when we are under weather that is not suitable for human bodies. It can also be
informing to be able to know the extreme points that the body is able to handle
and what it is not able to handle. It can also be informing to know what the
body can withstand under the consumption of certain foods to let humans know
what to eat depending where they are. It also could be very useful to know what
dangers a person is prone to under harsh conditions to be able to take care of
themselves instead of not knowing and making a mistake that could be fatal.
To be completely honest I would not know how
to use race to understand variation but to the knowledge that I have here I go... It might
possibly be the pale skin tone that people have in order to retain vitamin d in
much colder places because they need the vitamins and it causes them to be that
skin tone, same as in which in much hotter areas where there is more radiation
of the sun the race may be more of darker skin because that is what they need
in order to survive. The study of environmental differences is a better
way to understand human variation than race because race is a term created by
society that discriminates a certain group of people that has the same sort of
characteristics, and that is where inequality and freedom come into the
equation. Society has dedicated itself to distinguish people by the way their
features are and categorize them instead of looking at their characteristics as
needs for survival that are passed down from generation to generation. Studying
environmental influences allows us to picture and learn where the
characteristics came from and why they have been passed on. Why they were needed
in the people that have obtained those features over the years and how it has
helped them adapt.
Okay on your opening discussion, though a little more detail on how cold can lead to these problems would have been good.
ReplyDeleteDrinking alcohol is not a short term adaptation, which are biological in nature and provide some type of real benefit, not just the illusion of a benefit. As you state, drinking alcohol (which is a cultural behavior) actually provides more harm than benefit. I see that you do mention shivering later, which is a short term adaptation.
Vasoconstriction is more of a short term adaptation and can't be continued for long as it results in tissue damage in the extremities. The body starts to practice alternating vasoconstriction/vasodilation to allow some oxygenation of the extremities.
Good discussion of the developmental and cultural adaptations.
Why did you feel that you had to find a use for race? :-) It was acceptable to go with your initial gut feeling and say that there was none!
"...race is a term created by society that discriminates a certain group of people that has the same sort of characteristics, and that is where inequality and freedom come into the equation. "
Exactly. Well stated.
Hello Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog very informative and interesting. I think the most fascinating adaptation in culture is the example you made of families sleeping together to maintain body heat. I also agree with you that it vital to study the human bodies adaptation in order for us to have a better understanding of how our bodies adapt culturally and physiologically to extreme weather conditions.
Great pictures!
-Martin
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you pointed out how humans adapted to the cold by developing fat around important organs. I knew that fat or blubber helps retain heat, but I didn't know that the body forms fat around important organs. But I wonder if there is a large excess amount of fat, or just in small areas?
(I am oddly convinced someone spends a lot of time on tumblr...)
ReplyDeleteAnyho, I can give my own example of drinking alcohol to stay warm. I use to live much farther north where there was a problem with the homeless, desperate to feel warmth in negative temperatures, would drink to feel warm. As you pointed out, that warmth isn't real and can aid the onset of hypothermia, because a person doesn't notice the signs until its too late. The snows were also very heavy and coat the ground over night. So every spring, when the snow started to melt and the temperature raised, the police would find bodies of people who had been buried under the snow. They died of hypothermia, unaware because they were too drunk to notice.
All that to say, please do not use alcohol to feel warm. It can cause far more damage than good.