Wilderness Medicine Updates Ep. 27 - Thermoregulation: The Physics and Physiology of Body Temperature Regulation
Nov 4, 2025
Discover how your body regulates temperature through fascinating methods like conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation. Learn the importance of measuring core temperature and the physiological responses such as shivering and sweating. Delve into how age and pregnancy affect thermoregulation, and why understanding these principles is crucial for treating hypothermia and heat illnesses. Explore the brain's role in thermoregulation and the surprising effectiveness of behavioral responses.
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Humans Act Like Thermostatted Houses
- Humans are homeotherms that maintain a stable core temperature across varied environments.
- Set point shifts with fever, metabolic stress, age, illness, and pregnancy which narrows regulatory range.
Prioritize Core Temperature Measurement
- Measure core temperature, not skin temperature, when diagnosing heat or cold illness.
- Use tympanic or oral methods for awake patients and esophageal/rectal probes for unconscious patients.
Four Modes Of Heat Exchange
- Heat exchange occurs via conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation.
- Water conducts heat far better than air, and Mylar strongly reflects radiative heat.