Why does the human body tolerate cold better than heat?

Question

I'm basing this question on the fact that few humans can live in climates 25 degrees hotter than body tempurature, but have no problem in tempuratures much colder (I have a lot of friends who wear shorts and t-shirts at 50 degrees).

Answer 1

While your body has a certain number of ways of regulating energy that don't require extra energy (fat, loss of heat through respiration and excretion), most of the ways your body controls its internal temperature DO. This is a good thing - you don't want to be sweating when it's cold out... only when it's hot.

And THAT is the problem. Heating up requires energy and cooling down requires energy.

That may not SOUND like a problem, but essentially what your body does to GET energy is to 'burn' sugar. Sure, it's not really setting fire to the stuff, but neither does it capture every bit of energy the suger gives off, either... the extra becomes HEAT (and makes the chemical reactions go well... which is also a good idea).

This is a double benefit when it's cold out - you produce extra heat just by increasing your metabolism, and then you use the energy your metabolism made to get even warmer. Win-win. But if it's hot out, then you end up PRODUCING heat to try and GET RID OF heat. Eventually you reach a point where the heat you make to get rid of heat actually makes the problem worse rather than better!

This is why your body sometimes reacts to extreme heat by just shutting whole systems down. With those things 'asleep' and thus not using energy, you produce less heat. Unfortunately, if you turn too many things off, it will also kill you. It's a last-ditch desperate measure that we call a 'heat stroke'. I had one once. I wouldn't recommend it.

Answer 2

Are really that stupid? Buds training is not something you can just get ready for because you can take a little pain. You have to handle pain, extreme cold and heat, sleep deprivation and have mental clarity and toughness. You can either handle it or you can't. Hurting yourself in the manor you are talking about will not prove you have what it takes to be a Navy Seal. It will just prove you are an idiot. From what i've read here, don't bother trying. There is a lot more to it than just pain. Oh, you will feel pain, but that is just a part of everything else you will have to deal with and I didn't mention everything.

Answer 3

It depends on what you consider heat and what you consider cold. The body isn't made for being optimally at 98 degrees for example, and in fact, that temperature is really hot for the body. The body is attuned more to what we call room temperature, which is from about 68 F to 78F a full 20 to 30 degrees cooler than body temp. That being the case we would need to look at deviation from this optimal temperature. So 98 degrees is actually 20 degrees higher than the upper limit of the optimal range. At 98 degrees with minimal clothing the body functions fairly normal if it is not exerted, with exertion, there is danger of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. 20 degrees below this optimal temperature is actually 48 degrees F. While the body deals with this fairly well, it only does so with extra protection in the form of clothing. A body in 48 F water, for instance will quickly develop hyopthermia and death is a real danger.

So the truth is, that the body doesn't necessarily tolerate one better than the other, you just need to more carefully lay the boundries of what you consider cold for the body and what you consider hot for the body.

Answer 4

There are more people living within the boundaries of the equator than within the polar rims.

The cost of living and surviving when winter comes for six months out of the year is a lot great than the "cool" periods along the equator.

Think about that assumption again.

Answer 5

The mechanisms in the body are more efficient for generating and retaining heat than for dissapating it Also, high temperatures bring into play the loss of water while colder temps do not.

Answer 6

i think its because it takes life processes - metabolism - alot longer to shut down as temperature decreases than when it increases.
also, things that are partially fcrozen can be thawed, while things that are partially burnt remain so permanently.
there are probably other reasons too, like in the other answers.

Answer 7

Because cold does not denature proteins, where as heat does. So cold temperatures just stop them from working, so you cant get energy and cant move as quick, where as heat permenently deforms them, breaking them down, and causes lasting damage.

Hope this helps

Ashley