Hormonal and nervous responses to extremes in external temperatures?

[Mr Rayon]

Hi everybody! I'm interested in hearing how the body responds when it is faced by conditions of freezing and hot climate. For example, vasodilation of arterioles and capillaries occur when the body is faced by extremes in heat. However it does the opposite when conditions are cold. Does anyone know where I can possibly get a list of all these different responses to different external temperatures faced by the body? Or if this is not possible, if anyone could tell me some interesting reponses made by the body to different temperatures.

 

 

Anything relevant said of the above will be appreciated!

[iNow]

I don't have time to go look this up for you, but my first thoughts are...

 

When it's hot, aggression goes up and fights and murder rates rise. There have been many studies showing how murders in hotter climates tend to be higher in frequency than murders in the control group (cooler, more temperate climates).

 

Also, there is Seasonal Affective Disorder, where too much time in a dark rainy climate increases depression. Studies have also shown that the suicide rate is higher in areas where it rains frequently relative to a control group (areas with mostly sunny days, moderate temps, rain not excessive, but also not lacking).

 

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder/DS00195

 

 

If you find studies on those topics, I would presume you could find data on proposed mechanisms in neural and hormonal systems. Have fun.

[GDG]

The process in general is acclimitization. One interesting adaptation is TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) release, which increases in cold weather. This ramps up your metabolism (good for generating more heat). Probably also the reason that 70 degrees F fees cool in the summertime, but pretty warm in the winter.