Title: Acclimatization (adjusting to the temperature) | University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics
Headings: Acclimatization (adjusting to the temperature)
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Acclimatization (adjusting to the temperature)
Outdoor acclimatization
Factors affecting climate acclimatization
Body fat
Age
Medications
Metabolic rate
Prepare to cope with the heat
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Content: Acclimatization usually occurs over a period of about two weeks in healthy, normal persons. This process is faster in response to heat, but slower in the cold. Factors affecting climate acclimatization
Your physical condition, age, and other factors also affect how your body copes with heat and cold. Body fat
Lean people tolerate heat better than obese people. The more obese a person is, the less skin surface area the person has in relation to his or her weight. Greater surface area provides more exposed skin to perspire and cool the body through evaporation. But this same fat can be beneficial to a person who lives in cold climates because the fat insulates skin tissue. The Inuit, who live in cold regions, tend to have more body fat than people who live in warmer climates. Age
Elderly persons usually don't tolerate temperature extremes as well as do younger people. As a person ages, the body's response to temperature change–shivering in low temperatures and sweating in high temperatures–is delayed and reduced.