p. 14 | How to Live in Warm Weather by D. H. Kress

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 8, 1907

How to Live in Warm Weather

By D. H. Kress

How to Keep Cool and Prevent Sunstroke

D. H. KRESS, M. D.

THE human body possesses the power of adapting itself to changes in temperature. The temperature of many things found in nature is influenced by the weather. On a warm day butter melts; water and milk become warm. The stones and the earth itself warm up. In cold weather everything changes in temperature from warm to cold. This is not the case with the human body. It adapts itself to external conditions in such a way that the temperature internally remains practically the same winter or summer, the normal temperature being about 98.6, whether the temperature externally is twenty degrees below zero or one hundred degrees above.

How is this accomplished? In the first place, a steady and equable internal temperature is maintained through means of the circulatory system.

The temperature of the liver and some of the deeper muscles in which oxidation takes place, probably ranges from one hundred degrees to one hundred and five degrees, while the mucous membrane of the mouth has a temperature of only 98.6, and the skin a still lower temperature. The heated blood from the internal organs and muscles is brought to the surface for the purpose of cooling it. The cooled blood is then carried internally to cool off the internal organs, and in this way an equable temperature is maintained. Where the weather is cold, impressions are made upon the sensory nerves of the skin to that effect, and these impressions are conveyed to the blood-regulating centers, and less blood is permitted to be brought to the surface for the purpose of cooling. This accounts for the white skin or goose-flesh appearance noticeable on a cool day. This is nature's way of protecting the body from injury from excessive cold.

Some have imagined that alcohol has a warming influence in cold weather, but this is a deception. It is true there is a sensation of warmth, but the truth is the body is actually colder.

The sensation of warmth is due to the fact that alcohol is an enemy, and counteracts the efforts of nature. It paralyzes the vasoconstrictor nerves, and permits dilation of the small blood-vessels of the skin. This allows a greater flow of the blood to the periphery. This increased quantity of warm blood produces a sensation of warmth to the nerves of sensation located in the skin. But while there exists a sensation of warmth, the blood is being cooled by being brought to the surface. Should we take the internal temperature, we would probably discover a subnormal temperature. In cold countries drunkards frequently freeze to death, and yet they do not realize their danger.

In warm weather we have just the opposite condition. The peripheral, or surface, blood-vessels and capillaries dilate and permit a large flow of blood to the skin for the purpose of cooling. This accounts for the red, flushed faces on warm days, and the red, swollen hands. The cooling of the blood is brought about by evaporation of moisture from the surface of the skin. A normal adult may give off from two to four pints of moisture every twenty-four hours, and yet give no evidence of perspiration. This is what is known as insensible perspiration. If the weather becomes very hot, more moisture oozes out through the pores of the skin for the purpose of keeping the body cool. People who sweat freely do not suffer so much from heat as those who have a dry skin. On a warm day we surround the pitcher of water with a wet cloth for the purpose of cooling the water. The moisture on the skin answers the same purpose.

We can assist the body in its efforts to keep cool in warm weather by regulating the diet. In cold weather we feed our furnaces or stoves in order to keep our houses warm. In warm weather they require less fuel. The human body corresponds to a house. It has within it a living furnace and an automatic stoker or fireman. When an impression of cold is made upon the skin, it is communicated to the heat-regulating centers, and a greater amount of fuel is fed to the body furnace, and a greater amount of heat is produced. In warm weather people frequently eat the same foods, and often the same quantity, as they do in cold weather. The system has no need of it, and can not utilize it. Even if it should be digested, it would not be consumed, but would be piled up as adipose tissue or waste matter. The lack of energy experienced in warm weather is due to the clogging of the furnace and the living machine with this excess of fuel, and not to too little food, as is frequently supposed.

In warm weather the digestive organs can not digest the same quantity or kind of food that they are capable of digesting in cold weather. Wisely, therefore, nature takes away the desire for food, especially for solid food, on a warm day. Dogs fed on the same amount of meat in warm weather as in cold weather become ill, and have to be given, in place of meat, some biscuits. The dog's digestive organs are in a state of debility, and are not capable of digesting meat in warm weather. The result is decay of these foods and auto-poisoning.

The cat is apt to have epileptic fits if it makes no change in its food in warm weather. Much of the sickness among men in hot weather is due to the absorption of poisons resulting from the decay of undigested foods in the alimentary canal. Summer diarrheas are frequently caused by this.

Meat, above all foods, is dangerous and unsuitable in hot weather. Butter and other free animal fats should be used very sparingly in warm weather, if at all. Slow digestion and the deficiency in gastric juice favor fermentation and the formation of acids. Cream, being an emulsion, is preferable to butter. Fruits are, of all foods, the best in warm weather. The food elements in fruit are served in a form to require little effort on the part of the digestive organs to prepare them for absorption, while the acids and pectose are aids in the digestion of the small amount of solid food that it may be necessary to eat in addition to the fruit. They also contain liquids in the purest form obtainable to supply the needs of the body. In warm weather I would therefore recommend that the diet be composed almost exclusively of well-baked breads and fruits, with some additional harmless relish if craved. If this diet should be followed, there would be less summer sickness, and sunstroke would be practically unheard of. Nine times out of ten, sunstroke is due to some error or errors in eating and drinking.

The same amount of clothing should not be worn in summer. Loose cellular linen or cotton underwear is preferable to any other fabric, and this, with light, thin, loosely woven outer garments, is about all that is required in warm weather. The cellular underwear and loosely woven outer garments allow free evaporation to take place. This tends to keep the body cool and comfortable.