The Skin Acts As The Body's Heat RegulatorOne of the many functions of the skin is to act as our body's heat regulator. It works with our hypothalamus to keep the the body at a comfortable temperature. Have you ever wondered why you shiver when you get cold or sweat on a very hot day? That's because the skin is acting like a thermostat telling the hypothalamus to cool us down or warm us up. You could say the body's thermostat just kicked in and is trying to regulate the body's temperature.
Watch the following video as it explains just what happens.
When the body's temperature goes up or down, even a few degrees, the hypothalamus reacts telling the body what to do. Sweating When the body overheats blood flowing to the capillaries increases, making us sweat. Sweating increases the cooling effect as the water evaporates off our skin. Some feel that evaporation accounts for as much as 90 per cent of the body's cooling. Hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke or sun stroke. This happens when our body gets too hot. Our heat-regulating system can't cope causing our body's temperature to go up. It much like when our air conditioner breaks down during a heat wave. Shivering When we're cold our bodies start to shiver. This reaction is caused by our body contracting the blood vessels, the opposite of being too hot. The shivering contracts the blood vessels helping to keep the body warm. Hypothermia is when the temperature of our body is exposed for a long period of time to low temperatures. Our body cann't keep us warm. It's like a furnace going out or not working properly. The skin works much like the thermostat in a house. The heat is set at say 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In the hotter temperatures of summer the air conditioner comes on and in the winter when it's colder the furnace comes on. Both hyperthermia and hypothermia can be fatal if not treated quickly. As you can see, one of the skin's functions is to act as the body's heat regulator. As the video showed the skin works with our hypothalamus to keep our body at a comfortable and safe temperature.
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