D E S E R T E C O L O G Y: T H E E F F E C T S O N H U M A N P H Y S I O L O G Y

As the world becomes more crowded and corroded by consumption and capitalism,
this landscape of minimalism will take on greater significance, reminding us... just
how essential wild country is to our psychology, how precious desert is to the soul of
America. 1

TEMPERATURE.2 In order for the human body to function efficiently, its tem-
perature must be maintained at a fairly constant average core body tempera-
ture (taken internally) of 37.0 °C (98.6 °F) +/- a small deviation from this aver-
age based on age, sex, and where the temperature is measured on the body.
When the body’s core temperature fluctuates too far from this average, the
blood is unable to effectively carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells, the
cell’s metabolism shuts down, and many physiological symptoms appear,
ranging from discomfort and exhaustion to death.

In cold environments where the body’s core temperature falls too low, the
process of physiological changes is called hypothermia. In hot environments
where the body’s core temperature rises too high, the process of physiologi-
cal changes is called hyperthermia. Generally, the body has two primary
mechanisms for regulating the body’s temperature: vasodilation (to rid the
body of heat) and vasoconstriction (to retain the body’s heat), and sweating
(evaporative cooling) through the body’s two million or so sweat glands. 3

OSMOREGULATION. The human body’s amazing ability to regulate its core

temperature in hot environments through evaporative cooling (sweating) en-
ables the body to survive in virtually any known terrestrial environment on
earth. However, in order for sweating to cool the body, the body must pos-
sess adequate water to sweat.

At rest, a hydrated person in a comfortably cool environment may lose 2.5

liters (2.6 quarts) of water a day: 60% as urine, 25% through insensible

1 Terry Tempest Williams, RED: Passion and Patience in the Desert (New York: Pan-
theon Books, 2001), 6.
2Unless otherwise noted, the data in this and following sections is adapted from
John Sowell, Desert Ecology: An Introduction to Life in the Arid Southwest (Salt Lake
City: The University of Utah Press, 2001), 152-168.

3 There are basically two forms of sweating: sensate (perspiration as beads of sweat
form on the skin) and insensate (sweating without beads of perspiration on the skin).

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 D E S E R T E C O L O G Y: T H E E F F E C T S O N H U M A N P H Y S I O L O G Y

evaporation through the skin, 10% from breathing, and 5% from feces.
However, in hot, arid (low humidity) environments, a hydrated person may
lose 7 liters (7.4 quarts) of water a day: 90% through insensate sweating.
Even with moderate activity (walking) in hot, arid climates the body can con-
sume 1 liter (1.1 quarts) of water per hour for insensate sweating to keep the
body’s core temperature within its normal range. For the body to sweat and
cool its core, three things are required:

the hypothalamus in the brain must release hormonal and neural signals
to the pituitary gland to secrete antiduretic hormone (ADH), which is se-
creted into the bloodstream to the kidneys to retain water in the body.
This may result in a dehydrated person producing as little as 0.5 liters
(0.5 quarts) of urine in a day;

the kidneys must regulate salt concentration in the blood. Since dehydra-
tion reduces bodily fluid volume and increases salt concentration in the
blood, the kidneys purge salt from the body in sweat and urine. This is
why additional salt is required when the body re-hydrates in order to
avoid heat cramps. Typically, in most cases regular food contains suffi-
cient salt to replace this salt deficit caused by excessive sweating and
dehydration;

a temperature gradient that pulls water vapor from the body to the cooler
outside air must exist. This is a problem in hot, arid environments where
the outside air may be hotter than the body’s temperature. This is why
wearing loose, preferably light colored clothes in the desert is so impor-
tant as the clothes create an air space between the skin and the outside
temperature where a temperature gradient may still exist that enables
evaporative cooling Adequate clothing can save more than 0.25 liters
(0.26 quarts of water every hour in the desert due to reduced sweating.

DEHYDRATION. Dehydration in hot, arid environments is common. Not only

is drinking adequate water to satisfy the body’s needs difficult, but, with ex-
ertion, may not be completely possible. The effects of dehydration on the
body are progressive, rapid, and potentially lethal. Without adequate hydra-
tion, the volume of blood in the body decreases as its viscosity increases,
and blood pressure decreases. There is less efficient blood flow, less vasodi-

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 D E S E R T E C O L O G Y: T H E E F F E C T S O N H U M A N P H Y S I O L O G Y

lation in the skin, and less heat transfer from the core. This results in heat
build-up in the core resulting in faster pulse rate and quickened breathing
that signal an insufficient blood flow and oxygen deficiency to the body’s
cells. The progressive symptoms of dehydration include:

Water Deficit (as % of body Symptoms

mass)

2%-3% thirst, headaches, general feeling of being uncomfortable,

irritability, heat syncope (fainting) due to insufficient blood
flow to the brain from pooling of blood in the extremities.
Treatment is to cool the person and provide fluids w/ salt,
having the person lie down w/ the feet elevated to im-
prove blood flow to the brain

5% fatigue, weariness, sleepiness, reduced coordination (de-

hydration exhaustion)

6%-7% dizziness, labored breathing, skin becomes pale or bluish,

walking becomes difficult

8% salivation stops, speech is indistinct, mental processes

become unreliable

14% delirium and high fever, inability to walk, kidneys fail,

sweating ceases, heatstroke is common, drinking is im-
possible (water must be introduced intravenously, rectally,
or through a stomach tube)

15% Death usually occurs (in hot environments). In cold envi-

ronments, a person may survive with as much as a 25%
deficit.

In hot, arid environments, dehydration, sweat gland fatigue, sunburn, and

disrobing (removing clothes so the skin is exposed to the sun) all contribute
to increased water deficit and the physiological symptoms that accompany
this deficit. 4

ACCLIMATION. The most important means to acclimate to hot, arid envi-

ronments is to drink more water than normal. Often, much more water than
one normally would drink. An adult, on average, needs to drink as much as
eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. However, for some adults, especially
those over 50 years of age, one’s thirst mechanism does not work as effi-

4 In deserts, drought is more than just lack of precipitation, but results in “an ex-
treme depletion of soil moisture that can last for long, uncertain periods of time.”
See Bruce M. Pavlik, The California Deserts: An Ecological Rediscovery (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2008), 152.

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ciently as when one was younger. The body can be dehydrated even as one
does not perceive him/her-self as being thirsty. With any physical exertion in
hot, arid climates, the body’s need for hydration (whether one perceives him/
her-self as being thirsty) can easily increase to one quart an hour.

Just as it is good advice to spend a few days going slowly before heavy ex-
ertion in high altitudes to avoid mountain sickness, it makes sense to spend
a week or so in the extremes of the desert to help the body to function better
in this environment. Vigorous exercise can increase the rate of acclimation.
The body adapts by increasing its rate of sweating by as much as 20%,
builds new capillaries in the skin to improve the efficiency of sweating, in-
creases blood volume as much as 15%, and reduces basal metabolic rate
and the salt concentration of sweat, all in anticipation of improving the
body’s ability to survive in this hot, arid climate.

Some individuals are just genetically better adapted than the average person
to live in the desert. Some individuals, especially those who were born and
raised in the desert may be better equipped to live in the desert by virtue of
having as many as two times more the normal number of sweat glands of an
average person. This gives such a person much better capacity to sweat and
to adjust internal core body temperature through evaporative cooling.

Note: Whereas today spreads the vast Anza-Borrego Desert, part of the
Colorado Desert of southeastern California with scant rainfall and tempera-
tures ranging from 20 degrees F to 122 degrees F (173 days with highs
above 30 degree C [90 degrees F] and only three days with lows of 0 de-
grees C [32 degrees F]), “this was once a verdant landscape - an environ-
ment of rivers and streams, lakes, forest, and savanna. Before that it held
and inland ocean.” Today, this desert contains one of the richest, most var-
ied, 7-million year fossil history of life in North America. The sediment that
comprises this desert comes from the erosion of the Grand Canyon by the
Colorado River that spilled into the Salton Trough.5 Today, the Park is a world
biosphere reserve and national natural landmark. This is the second largest
state park within the continental U.S.

5George T. Jefferson and Lowell Lindsay, eds,, Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego
Desert: The Last Seven Million Years (San Diego: Sunbelt Publications, 2006), xi, xiii.

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