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As in other mammals, human thermoregulation is an important aspect of homeostasis. In thermoregulation, body heat is generated mostly in the deep organs, especially the liver, brain, and heart, and in contraction of skeletal muscles. [1] Humans have been able to adapt to a great diversity of climates, including hot humid and hot arid.
One form of homeostasis is thermoregulation. Body temperature varies in every individual, but the average internal temperature is 37.0 °C (98.6 °F). [ 1 ] Sufficient stress from extreme external temperature may cause injury or death if it exceeds the ability of the body to thermoregulate.
Behavioral thermoregulation takes precedence over physiological thermoregulation since necessary changes can be affected more quickly and physiological thermoregulation is limited in its capacity to respond to extreme temperatures. [34] When the core temperature falls, the blood supply to the skin is reduced by intense vasoconstriction. [18]
Hyperthermia, also known simply as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates.
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature as its own body temperature, thus avoiding the need for internal thermoregulation.
The human body maintains a core body temperature at around 37 °C or 98.6 °F through mechanisms controlled by the thermoregulatory center within the hypothalamus.When the body is exposed to high ambient temperatures, intense physical exertion, or both, the thermoregulatory center will initiate several processes to dissipate more heat: [9] [11] [12]
The internal thermoregulation process is one aspect of homeostasis: a state of dynamic stability in an organism's internal conditions, maintained far from thermal equilibrium with its environment. If the body is unable to maintain a normal human body temperature and it increases significantly above normal, a condition known as hyperthermia occurs.
One of the lowest documented body temperatures from which someone with accidental hypothermia has survived is 12.7 °C (54.9 °F) in a 2-year-old boy from Poland named Adam. [6] Survival after more than six hours of CPR has been described. [2] In individuals for whom ECMO or bypass is used, survival is around 50%. [2]