Human Thermoregulation: Physiological and Behavioral Adaptations

Thermoregulation is a homeostatic mechanism employed by most warm blooded mammals in order to maintain a consistent internal temperature for optimal cellular activity. As humans we use internal thermoregulation (an aspect of homeostatis) to maintain a normal temperature of thirty seven degrees celcius.In humans our body heat is produced in the deeper organs such as liver, brain and heart. A human 's thermoregulation system is able to make adaptions depending on the climate changes. These adaptions include both physiological mechanisms and behavioural mechanisms. Physiological mechanisms occur as a result of evolution and behavioural mechanisms occur as a result of conscious cultural adaptions. The skin also assists in homeostatis by reacting

The encrine sweat glands are located under the skin and are responsible for secreting sweat. Where as, the hair on our skin prevents heat from being trapped by a layer of still air as a result of arrector pili muscles under the skin relaxing. This will only occur if the environmental temperature is above core body temperature as a response to losing heat and therefore cooling the body down. Also in these conditions the human body undergoes what is known as arteriolar vasodilation. Arteriolar vasodilation is when the cell walls of the arteries are relaxed compared to cold conditions when they are restricted. As a result of the cell walls relaxing the blood flow around your body also increases redirecting blood through superficial capillaries where covention and conduction occur to reduce the body temperature. In contrast, when the body experiences cold conditions we can assume that the opposite would occur to the hot conditions. An example of this assumption is that in hot conditions when we sweat heaps, in cold connditions sweat production is decreased. Another example is the erector pili muscles under the skin relax in hot conditions where as in the cold conditions they contract, making the hair follicle stand upright. As a result to