Sweatology+Close+Reading+Notes+-+Rachel

=**"Sweatology" by Abigail Zugar; NY Times 8/14/07**= EXCELLENT
 * 1. Sweating / Skin / Excretory system**

A) sweat: the body's "interior coolant"

B) Dr. Jablonski - "sweat glands evolved as body hair vanished" if people did not have a great number of sweat glands, humans would still be "living largely apelike lives."

C) when outside temperatures are 90+ skin begins to absorb outside heat instead of losing it (same thing happens when excerising)

D) sweat patterns vary on: "age, sex, genes, weight, and shape"

E) body has 2-4 million sweat glands people with bigger glands are more sensitive and produce more sweat heavy sweaters: glands can be 5x larger than the average size

F) factors such as sex or weight or gender are not as major as the body's level of //activity// sweatiest = most active

G) clothing is critical. ex. WWII Carlifornia desert research between standard green clothed soldiers, light tan "summer uniforms," and bare soldier showed that "unlcothed 'soldiers' sweated about 30% more than the others - an indication of how much heat their unprotected skin was absorbing from the environment."

H) when body acclimates to the heat sweat glands enlarge


 * 2. Body Temp. Regulation**

A) body functions within a small range of internal temperatures

B) body CAN recover from //cooler// temperatures ie. when body temp is &gt;20 below normal (long periods of time: hypothermia) __BUT__ the body CANNOT tolerate //hotter// temps. ie. "the brain malfunctions with six or seven degrees of fever;" internal temp of 110+ is "cited as the upper limit compatible with life." __THUS__ good sweat glands are //essential//

C) after ovulation women's bodies are 1/2 degree higher; men are more "thermally stable"

D) past "age 60 //both// sexes sweat less" (see 4A)


 * 3. Circulatory System**

A) "excess metabolic heat easily moves from blood vessels at the surface of the skin into the surrounding air." thus water evaporates from skin cells to add to the cooling process


 * 4. Medical Consequences**

A) because the body sweats less after 60, seniors are at a higher risk of heat stroke

B) obesity and heat i. fat insulates the inside of the body from extreme external temperatures, but "compromises heat transfer from interior to skin" (see 3A) ii. simply: because obese people weigh more they produce more metabolic heat which in turn needs to be sweat out through the sweat glands //but// scientist have theorized that even though these people are large they do not posses more sweat glands


 * 5. Water**
 * 6. Salt**
 * 7. Other Reading Notes**

what about the future and global warming? the body will compensate because of familarity with the heat; the change will not be very dramatic, since the body acclimates itself to the rising temperatures

United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado has developed a sweating robot. the robot is mostly used to determine level of sweating in cars and has been an aid to determining the clothing for underneath an astronauts' suit.

Nina G. Jablonski Links: http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/jablonski.shtml http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/science/09conv.html?ex=1325998800&en=23069718dfd4d4b3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Craig Crandall Links: http://www8.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,18601,00.html