The Survival of The Scorching Heat

 
Heat can negatively impact the survival of humans. It has been reported that about 688 people die each year from extreme heat. This statistic was according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The heat alone isn’t the killer; it needs the aide of humidity to cause all the harm. When there is tremendous high temperatures and high humidity, a person begins to sweat but the sweat is not drying on the skin whatsoever. It becomes a major factor when the ridiculous temperatures remain overnight, that is when the body becomes overwhelmed from not getting the respite that it desperately needs. For example, a person that had spent an entire day under the heat, the first thing that shuts down is the ability to sweat. When someone sweats and it dries up by the air is because it is the way the body cools off. But since the ability to sweat has ceased then it leads the person into having a heat stroke. There are also heat rashes and muscle cramps that arise from that as well. Hyperthermia is a common term when humans tend to reach the temperature of 105-107 degrees. Surpassing that degree rate leads to deterioration of internal organs and eventually death. Those who are under the medication of diuretics for high blood pressure and beta blockers become more susceptible to extreme heat and its danger. The way humans cope with the heat is through perspiration and breathing. There is also the invention of air conditioning which greatly helps create some of the environments cooler. Keeping cool by drinking enough fluids replacing the ones that have been sweated out previously and showering with cool water to keep the body temperature at a reasonable temperature is another way. Sports drinks such as Gatorade or PowerAde are very beneficial to drink in order to replace electrolytes that were loss through profusely sweating and exerting oneself. It is said that skin pigmentation also becomes a benefactor when it comes to the heat. It helps protect it from the sun and allows for absorption of the heat. 

 

 (Nick Miller known as the guy who profusely sweats so much especially when lying)

A short term cause from being under extreme temperatures would be heat exhaustion like previously mentioned. There is also sunburn which indicates that the human body has been under extreme heat for a long period of time. The lighter the skin the more it is affected by the tremendous heat because of the less protection they carry and that is because not enough melanin is produced by them. That is one factor and the other would be perspiration and the drying of perspiration in order to cool down the body.

A facultative adaptation from being under the heat would most definitely being passing out. This is the body losing its state of consciousness. It is temporary and it is caused by lack of oxygen in the brain. This also brings a side effect of causing hypotension (low blood pressure). This mechanism is for the body to reprogram itself from the heat and normalize oxygen levels again.

Developmental adaptation comes from the body frame from every individual. It is said that slimmer and taller people are way more adapted to heat. It is able to release heat more effectively than a thicker person. There is less cells and less body exposed to the heat. It is said that cells are the ones that make heat in the body and if there is less cells then there is less heat being produced and more room for cool temperatures. As it should already be known, the larger the frame then the more heat there is.

Developmental adaptation comes from the body frame from every individual. It is said that slimmer and taller people are way more adapted to heat. It is able to release heat more effectively than a thicker person. There is less cells and less body exposed to the heat. It is said that cells are the ones that make heat in the body and if there is less cells then there is less heat being produced and more room for cool temperatures. As it should already be known, the larger the frame then the more heat there is.

 

A cultural adaptation as I previously mentioned would be the air conditioning. Thanks to Willis carrier for inventing such a magnificent way of living, we have been able to survive various heat waves. This has helped keep homes, schools, buildings and even mode of transportation very cool in order to make the heat bearable. Some would have said that a fan would be another cultural adaptation which I can see how it can be. However some scientists have said that it just makes it worse. It is just hot air being circulated throughout the area.

The benefit from studying human variation is a better way to fully understand who we are. As great as the first benefit sounded like, the second may be of upmost importance of why learning human variation is important and that is because it helps us value the human welfare. Human genetics is an applied science instead of it being fundamental. It has lead to the discovery and description of the contributions of genetics to many human diseases. It has been a motivation to a growing understanding of how some genes tend to develop diseases such as cancer, heart disease and even diabetes. A great deal of money has been investing in such study because of the potential there is to improve human health. One great example of this would be from the very knowledge of sex chromosomes that was gained through the study of patients with sex chromosome abnormalities. Another great example but current one would be the understanding of cell growth and reproduction, and just solely gained from a study on genes, that when mutated it can cause a greater risk of cancer. Recombinant techniques of DNA has transformed the study of genetics. The third reason for studying human variation would be that it gives us a powerful tool to understand and describe human evolution more thoroughly.

Briefly going back to the discussion of adaptation to heat, race or in other words ethnicity does not have any greater effects in the role of adaptation to climate changes. There is no such thing as a race of people who have been selectively bred to survive conditions that others were unable to survive to. It is just that cultural groups tend to make all sorts of adaptations to account for the climate that is existential in their area. But also the denial of ethnicity not having a role in adaptation cannot be accepted because there haven’t been much studies of it other than the idea of the more skin pigmentation (melanin) then the more protection one has from the heat. Two people could be out in the same temperature. It could be cold for one and for the other it could be a pleasant climate. Then there is a few other people that feel and think of the climate similarly. But if it were to be used in order to understand the variation of adaptation would be by placing people with the same race in the same climate they have been adapted to. From doing such procedure it would show how they adapted to such climate and how might they have gradually changed over time. The benefit that comes from the study of environmental influences on adaptations would be better used through race is because it gives us hard evidence on how people have evolved through periods of time by these outside stressors. Adaptation and change is an ability that is greatly inherited in all the human beings which is the major connection that should bring us together as one despite of our outside differences. Not only that but if we were all to see this similarity then we can all come together to help find cures for the major ongoing disease that keeps taking away loved ones from us and that is cancer. This study and interest helps us get closer to many answers and helps us create a safer environment for all of us in order to keep surviving and reproducing.