Why YSK: “Our bodies have a kind of emergency temperature relief valve. That valve is a special type of blood vessel: they’re called arteriovenous anastomoses. Most arteries and veins connect through a bed of very thin capillaries that bring nutrients and oxygen to cells. AVAs, though, are different. They are direct junctions of arteries and veins, so blood flows through them pretty quickly. And the real key to their heat relief function is they are concentrated in just a few places in the body. We found that in the palm of the hand, the soles of the feet, and the upper part of the face, which are called non hairy skin, there are special blood vessels, and those blood vessels can shunt the blood from the arteries to the veins directly, bypassing the capillaries.”
On the wet towel on neck trick: “The reason is the brain has a thermostat that it uses to trigger the body’s natural cooling mechanisms, like sweating or passing blood through those AVAs. That brain region is located near the back of the neck. It uses neck skin temperature, and blood temps in major vessels there, to measure how hot you are. So your cold towel is going to fool the brain’s thermostat into thinking that your body has cooled down. It’s going to shut down all your other natural cooling methods. And you’ll stay uncomfortably and sometimes dangerously hot.”
Could you please add a “Why YSK:”? It’s rule #2. :)
Done, thank you!
Good one
It’s not that I don’t believe this, but I have Raynaud’s syndrome and my hands and feet (sometimes knees, hips, nose and wrists) are always icy cold, even when they rest of me is hot and sweating. Right now it’s 26C in my bedroom. I have loose cotton clothes on and the fan is blowing. My socked feet are wrapped in a blanket. The second the fan isn’t on me I’m sweating but my feet never warm up.
There has to be more to it, because unless I’m a complete freak of nature my body should always been cool if my hands and feet are icy.
So… would putting a warm towel on your neck have the opposite effect?
I feel like it should, since it sounds like a cool towel fools your brain into thinking you’re cool, a hot towel should fool it into thinking you’re hot. I used to wear a water soaked buff in order to stay cool outside when doing work/exercise, so maybe I’ll just wear a dry one and see how that goes. Maybe it’ll act as an insulator and trick my brain into starting the cooling response early
It’s not that I don’t believe this, but I have Raynaud’s syndrome and my hands and feet (sometimes knees, hips, nose and wrists) are always icy cold, even when they rest of me is hot and sweating. Right now it’s 26C in my bedroom. I have loose cotton clothes on and the fan is blowing. My socked feet are wrapped in a blanket. The second the fan isn’t on me I’m sweating but my feet never warm up.
There has to be more to it, because unless I’m a complete freak of nature my body should always been cool if my hands and feet are icy.
I’ve got no diagnosis, but I have been struggling with this lately. It’s very hard to stay cool when my hands and feet are so cold and reading your comment made me feel seen and validated.
deleted by creator
That’s fascinating. I wonder if I can rig up some refrigerated handlebars on my bike to beat the summer heat!
Im fairly healthy, but have hyperhidrosis and sweat like crazy in the first place. Like way more sweat than a body needs to cool off. I recently got a cooling towel and started putting around my neck. It’s a life changer. If it’s tricking my brain into not sweating then imma risk it
deleted by creator
