is the body's response to the change in the seasons. Actual information. What changes occur to the human body in the winter season


It is no secret that winter and cold affect our body. And quite strongly: starting with the mood and ending with frequent colds, drowsiness, and so on. I will share the main points on how to comfortably survive the winter. I probably won’t tell you anything new, because sleep, sports and Fresh air still remain the main sources of strength and health for a person. But in winter time year, everything has its own nuances:

  1. If you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter, you need more calories in your daily diet compared to the warm seasons. Women 1500 kcal per day. Men 1800 kcal per day. They will not become “superfluous”, as they will be spent on heating the body. To avoid cravings for unhealthy fast food, consciously add healthy fats as vegetable oils, nuts or oily fish. Immunity needs enhanced support in winter, so take care of a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals in the diet. Choose natural seasonal products. And here it will be very useful to recall the national Russian cuisine. Sauerkraut, garlic, cranberries are rich in vitamin C, and beets contain a lot of glutamine - an essential amino acid, which is a kind of "fuel" for immune system. It is also abundant in meat and dairy products.
  2. Short daylight hours have a depressing effect on mood. From the lack of ultraviolet radiation in the body, the production of serotonin decreases. This can lead to drowsiness, laziness and even depression. Try to be outside during daylight hours, such as taking a walk at lunchtime. In addition, follow the regimen: do not allow yourself to stay up late so as not to wake up in the dark and get the maximum amount of daylight. Healthy and uplifting. They just activate the production of serotonin and endorphins.
  3. Be sure to get enough sleep. In winter it important condition prevention of colds.
  4. Just like in summer, remember to drink plenty of water because artificial sources heating greatly dry the air, and with it our skin and mucous membranes dry up. However, if in the summer the body itself requires water, then in the winter you need to drink, regardless of whether you are thirsty or not.

Many researchers note that the seasonal variability of physiological processes is similar to their daily periodicity. That is, the state of the body in summer and winter resembles that of the day and night, respectively. In comparison with summer, in winter the sugar content in the blood decreases (a similar phenomenon is observed at night), the amount of ATP increases (it is a universal source of energy for all biochemical processes occurring in living systems) and cholesterol.

It should be noted that an increase in body weight in winter can be associated not only with an increase in cholesterol levels, but also with a number of other factors, including:

1. Thyroid, whose hormones affect metabolism - behaves less actively, thereby slowing down the metabolism.

2. The length of daylight hours in winter is significantly less than at other times of the year. Avitaminosis.

3. In winter period we spend most of our time indoors.

In addition to changes in the physical condition, a number of psycho-emotional transformations (read: depression) also occur. There is even a term - "winter depression" - a disorder in which people experience the following symptoms in the winter season:

1. Weak concentration of attention, decreased intellectual activity.

2. Various violations sleep. Sleep becomes longer, but is not restorative. Increased need for daytime sleep, difficult or premature awakening from sleep.

» Impact on organisms of some environmental factors

Seasonal Rhythms

is the body's response to the change in the seasons. Actual information buy float valve from us.

So, with the onset of a short autumn day, plants shed their leaves and prepare for winter dormancy.

winter calm

are adaptive properties. perennials: cessation of growth, death of above-ground shoots (in grasses) or leaf fall (in trees and shrubs), slowing down or stopping many life processes.

In animals, a significant decrease in activity is also observed in winter. A signal for the mass departure of birds is a change in the length of daylight hours. Many animals fall into hibernation

- adaptation to endure the unfavorable winter season.

In connection with the constant daily and seasonal changes in nature, certain mechanisms of an adaptive nature have been developed in living organisms.

Warm.

All life processes take place at a certain temperature - mainly from 10 to 40 ° C. Only a few organisms are adapted to life at more high temperatures. For example, some mollusks live in thermal springs at temperatures up to 53 ° C, blue-green (cyanobacteria) and bacteria can live at 70–85 ° C. Optimum temperature for the life of most organisms, it fluctuates within narrow limits from 10 to 30 °C. However, the range of temperature fluctuations on land is much wider (from -50 to 40 °C) than in water (from 0 to 40 °C), so the limit of resistance to temperature at aquatic organisms narrower than those on the ground.

Depending on the mechanisms of maintaining a constant body temperature, organisms are divided into poikilothermic and homeothermic.

Poikilothermic,

or cold-blooded,

organisms do not have constant temperature body. Temperature rise environment causes in them a strong acceleration of all physiological processes, changes the activity of behavior. So, lizards prefer a temperature zone of about 37 ° C. As the temperature rises, the development of some animals accelerates. So, for example, at 26 °C in a caterpillar of a cabbage butterfly, the period from leaving the egg to pupation lasts 10–11 days, and at 10 °C it increases to 100 days, i.e. 10 times.

Many cold-blooded animals have anabiosis

- a temporary state of the body, in which vital processes slow down significantly, and visible signs lives are missing. Anabiosis can occur in animals both with a decrease in the temperature of the environment, and with its increase. For example, in snakes, lizards, when the air temperature rises above 45 ° C, torpor occurs, in amphibians, when the water temperature drops below 4 ° C, vital activity is practically absent.

In insects (bumblebees, locusts, butterflies) during the flight, the body temperature reaches 35-40 ° C, but with the termination of the flight it quickly drops to air temperature.

homeothermic,

or warm-blooded,

animals with a constant body temperature have more perfect thermoregulation and are less dependent on the temperature of the environment. The ability to maintain a constant body temperature is an important feature of animals such as birds and mammals. Most birds have a body temperature of 41-43°C, while mammals have a body temperature of 35-38°C. It remains at a constant level, regardless of fluctuations in air temperature. For example, in a frost of -40 °C, the body temperature of the arctic fox is 38 °C, and that of the ptarmigan is 43 °C. In more primitive groups of mammals (oviparous, small rodents), thermoregulation is imperfect (Fig. 93).

seasonal changes climate affect the work of the organism. Let's take a look at how to deal with this.

The emotional state directly depends on the weather, so in autumn and winter, when the days are getting shorter and there are fewer sunny days, it is easy to fall into.

How to deal with autumn blues

The main thing is not to get hung up on a bad mood. Vitamins (fruits, vegetables) will come to the rescue, and physical activity. Daily walks are enough to keep the body in good shape: 30 minutes before work and 1.5 hours after - this is an example :) Just get off one stop earlier or walk to the metro. This is especially important if you spend most of your working day sitting at a computer.

Human biorhythms in autumn

Due to the reduction of daylight hours, the body is “lost in time” and experiences stress. As a result, seasonal changes appear - weakness, drowsiness and apathy.

What to do: There are days when it is absolutely impossible to get out of bed. And if you succeed, then the whole day uncontrollably pulls you to sleep. Effective way wake up - inhale slowly and deeply 10 times, do gymnastics and drink a glass of freshly squeezed vegetable or fruit juice. Blood will carry oxygen to all cells of the body, and glucose will activate brain activity.

Cheerfulness and good condition also depends on proper lymph flow. Lymph moves through the vessels and capillaries due to muscle contraction, freeing the body of toxins. You can stimulate the lymph flow with massage. When taking a shower, rub your body from the bottom up - from the feet to the hips, from the bones to the shoulders, from the waist to the neck.

Diseases of the digestive system

The body intensively prepares for winter and accumulates fat reserves. Many at this time manifest constant feeling hunger, and someone suffers from stomach disorders.

Prevention

To avoid exacerbation gastrointestinal diseases, exclude spicy, salty, fatty foods, carbonated drinks and spices from the diet. It is recommended to eat often, but in small portions. Steam cooking is best. If the stomach is particularly sensitive, switch to pureed foods for a while. In addition, it is recommended to eat a handful of nuts and dried fruits (previously soaked in water overnight), they have a beneficial effect on work. digestive system, if there is in moderation, of course.

Heart diseases

Like the whole body the cardiovascular system during the autumn period it works in enhanced mode. Can be bothered by fluctuations blood pressure, and cores are generally at risk.

Prevention

You need to limit yourself in certain foods. For example, it is strongly recommended to give up salt and salty foods in general - herring, caviar, olives, cucumbers, dried fish etc. They contribute to the thickening of the blood and can provoke a stroke or heart attack. But you can eat plenty of nuts, dried fruits, vegetables - they contain substances that strengthen the heart muscle. Start your day with a glass of water and healthy breakfast- fruit or fruit salad.

Seasons These are seasons that differ in weather and temperature. They change with the annual cycle. Plants and animals adapt perfectly to these seasonal changes.

Seasons on Earth

It is never very cold or very hot in the tropics, there are only two seasons: one is wet and rainy, the other is dry. At the equator (on the imaginary midline) it is hot and humid throughout the year.

In temperate zones (outside the lines of the tropics) there is spring, summer, autumn and winter. Generally, the closer to the North or South Pole, the cooler the summer and the colder the winter.

Seasonal changes in plants

Green plants need sunlight and water to form nutrients and grow. They grow most in spring and summer or during the wet season. They tolerate winter or dry seasons differently. Many plants have a so-called rest period. Many plants store nutrients in thickened parts underground. Their aerial part dies, the plant rests until spring. Carrots, onions and potatoes are the type of nutrient storage plants that people use.

Such as oak and beech shed their leaves in autumn because at that time there is not enough sunlight to form in the leaves. nutrients. In winter, they rest, and in spring new leaves appear on them.

evergreen trees always covered with leaves that never fall. To learn more about evergreen and shedding trees.

Some evergreen trees, such as pine and spruce, have long, thin leaves called needles. Many of the evergreen trees grow far north, where summers are short and cool and winters are harsh. Keeping their foliage, they can start growing as soon as spring arrives.

Deserts are usually very dry, sometimes there is no rain at all, and sometimes there are very short rainy seasons. Seeds germinate and give new shoots only in the rainy season. Plants bloom and produce seeds very quickly. They store nutrients

Seasonal changes in animals

Some animals, such as reptiles, reduce their activity and go to sleep to survive the cold or dry season. When it gets warmer, they return to an active lifestyle. Other animals behave differently, they have their own ways of surviving in harsh periods.

Some animals, such as the dormouse, sleep through the winter. This phenomenon is called hibernation. All summer they eat, accumulating fat so that in winter they can sleep without eating.

Most mammals and birds hatch their young in the spring, when there is plenty of food everywhere, so that they have time to grow and get stronger for the winter.

Many animals and birds undertake long journeys each year, called migrations, to places where there is more food. For example, swallows build nests in Europe in the spring, and fly to Africa in the fall. In the spring, when it becomes very dry in Africa, they return.

Caribou (called reindeer in Europe and Asia) also migrate, spending their summers above the Arctic Circle. Huge herds eat grass and other small plants where the ice melts. In autumn they move south to the evergreen forest area and feed on plants such as moss and lichen under the snow.