water babies

I think I've become somewhat acclimated to the heat of summer. I looked up some tips for doing so, and bottom line, you just have to go outside and be uncomfortably hot for a while. At the same time, however, go too far outside your comfort zone and set yourself up for being heat sensitive forever. It's a fine line.

Apparently, there are scientific physiological processes at work other than just tricking our brains to "get used to it". As one article I perused puts it:

"Heat training has been shown to increase your standard rate of sweat, which in turn helps you regulate your body temperature. Further still, the body naturally will increase its volume of blood plasma (An adaptation similar to how altitude training increases your red blood cells)"

In short, your body learns to sweat more - bathing you in evaporative cooling. I took part in an impromptu study of such on Saturday.

Saturday was our town's annual Brickies™ (don't-call-it-LegoⓇ ) Creation Festival. The women of my P.E.O. chapter work the various booths, and, in turn, the downtown association gives us a pile of money. This was my second year volunteering. 

As with last year, this year's was a cute, wholesome, fun time. I mean, really. If you're feeling down about hearing of bad parents or thinking that kids are just a bunch of little hell-raisers, go spend some time at a Lego Fest. The contrast is rejuvenating!

I showed up at my assigned time of around 2pm. We had shade canopies, but it was still hot hot. The shade helped somewhat, but there was very little breeze. In fact, I looked down at the sweaty P.E.O. sister whom I was relieving of duty (she's very short), and she told me how her companion had to bug out early to barely avoid succumbing to heat exhaustion.

No sooner had I set down my bag that I could feel the sweat rolling down my face. This continued to be the case for the remainder of the afternoon a la...

this guy from Airplane.

And certainly not just my face. I periodically checked my shirt for noticeable signs of the great drenching. Thankfully, nothing seemed to break through the surface while I knew all too well what was happening underneath. 

As far as I can tell, I didn't frighten any children away from my station with my "increased standard rate of sweat and volume of blood plasma" as the line to take part was relentless until closing ceremonies were announced. 

More importantly, we all survived.