acclimatization (to cold)
Last reviewed 01/2018
Other animals adapt to cold environments by a variety of physiological mechanisms ranging from hibernation periods to increasing the thickness of fat or fur surface-insulating layers. Man, with his greater reliance on behavioural responses e.g. building shelters, starting fires, wearing clothes, has far fewer physiological solutions.
However, one well-documented acclimatization response is cold-induced vasodilatation. Individuals exposed to chronic cold environments have cutaneous blood vessels which adapt by vasodilatation, not vasoconstriction. Although promoting quicker loss of core body heat, the response is believed to reduce the tendency for frostbite to develop in peripheries.