How does skin regulate body temperature?

Answer 1

When you are hot, the capillaries near the surface of your skin open up to release heat from your body. When this happens you usually sweat as well to help cool off the skin. What is interesting is that this also happens when you are cold. It is called hyperemia. At first the capillaries constrict so that you don't loose body heat, but after a while your body dilates them in order to provide oxygenated blood to the skin.

Answer 2

When muscles contract and ATP is broken down, heat is released.

The skin, under the direction of the brain, plays an

active role in whether this heat is conserved or released to the environment in order to maintain a body temperature of 36.2-37.7C (97-100F).

If body temperature starts to rise,

the blood vessels in the skin, which are a part of the cardiovascular

system, dilate so that more blood is brought to the surface of the skin for cooling, and the sweat glands become active. Sweat absorbs body heat, and this heat is carried away as sweat evaporates.

If the weather is humid, evaporation is hindered, but cooling can be assisted by a cool breeze. If the outer temperature is cool, the sweat glands remain inactive, and the blood vessels constrict so that less blood is brought to the skin's surface.

Whenever the body's temperature falls below normal, the muscles start to contract, causing shivering, which produces heat.

The arrector pili muscles attached to hair follicles are also involved in this reaction, and this is why goose bumps occur when a person is cold. If the outside temperature is extremely cold and blood flow to the skin is severely restricted for an extended period,

a portion of the skin will die, resulting in frostbite.

Ref: Mader- Understanding Human Anatomy, 5th Ed. McGraw-Hill Companies,2004

Answer 3

it regulates our body temperature when whe sweat because we are hot.
the sensory nerves in your skin send messages to your brain telling it when you are warm or cold. if you are warm, the brain tells your skin to sweat, cooling you off. if you are cold, it tells your muscles to contract and release (shivering) to heat you up.

Answer 4

Blood vessels and sweat glands play an important part in regulating body temperature. Thermoreceptors found in the skin detect a change in body temperature. Let's say the body is getting too hot. This information is sent to the brain (specifically the hypothalamus) which sends a message to the blood vessels to dilate (expand). When a blood vessel dilates, it allows more blood to reach the surface of the skin thus allowing heat to radiate from the body cooling it. The hypothalamus also tells the sweat glands to produce more sweat so that the body can also be cooled due evaporation of the sweat off the body.

Answer 5

They increase in size when it is warm to lose more heat to the air and shrink in size when it is cold to lose less heat to the air

Answer 6

"As the body temperature rises, capillaries near the skin's surface dilate, allowing heart to escape the body."

Glencoe Health : Ninth Edition Copyright 2005