![]() It may not be pleasant, but individuals in desert environments can work through the mid-day sun by drinking copious amounts of water. Anything that impedes evaporation from the surface of the body will reduce heat loss under these conditions and death may occur. When the environmental temperature rises above body temperature, the body must dissipate heat via evaporative cooling-i.e., sweating. The siesta, long a tradition in hot climates, has a real role in human physiology. We can also seek shade and air conditioning to provide a lower outside environmental temperature. A high body temperature allows a human to dissipate heat from exercise and other metabolic activities, since the environment is normally cooler than body temperature. The fact that our body temperature is high (98.6 F) reflects our evolutionary origins in the plains of Africa. As warm-blooded organisms, humans and other mammals have a normal body temperature that is slightly above the average temperature of their evolutionary environment. ![]()
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