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Shivam Patel

Mr. Billman

Honors Anatomy and Physiology

1 October 2012

Effect of Vascularity on Skin Temperature Recovery Lab

1. The baseline temperature is not recovered within the two minutes during which the

data is collected. It takes approximately five to ten minutes for full recovery to be

achieved for each of the two runs. When I am exposed to the cold, for example, my body

starts to go numb the more I am exposed. It takes about five minutes for me to fully warm

up again.

2. The area of the skin that had the most rapid recovery of temperature after cooling was

the face. There is a much richer blood supply in the face, which is why your cheek gets so

red. This is the blush response.

3. Since alcohol causes dilation of arterioles and a sensation of warmth, I would not

recommend that someone who is stranded in the snow drink alcohol to keep warm. The

dilation of arterioles causes a false sensation of warmth but it allows greater heat loss. It

causes your blood vessels to dilate, moving warm blood closer to the surface of your

skin, making you feel warmer temporarily. At the same time, however, those same veins

pumping blood closer to the skin's surface cause you to lose core body heat, which is the

heat you need to survive. This, in effect, speeds up the process of hypothermia and puts

you at a greater risk for death.

4. Hyperthermia is a condition where your core body temperature goes above than what it

should be and your body overheats. It can result when the body’s homeostatic

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mechanisms are no loner adequate to counter the effect of high external temperatures.

Vasoconstriction and vasodilation are methods of temperature regulation in the body.

Vasodilation is the dilation of blood vessels, which decreases blood pressure. This

happens when your body gets too hot and you sweat. Vasoconstriction, on the contrary, is

the constriction of blood vessels, which increases the blood pressure. This happens when

your body is too cold and you are shivering. The skin color of someone who is in the first

stages of hypothermia is probably flushed and red. This is because of the dilated

arterioles in an attempt to release heat. That is what happened when we put the ice on our

cheek. The cheeks turned red.