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Because our body has a preventive mechanism to avoid, say, overheating. It works like this: body temperature control is done by balancing the heat that the body produces and what it loses. “The main gains are the heat generated by the simple functioning of our metabolism and by environmental factors such as, for example, exposure to solar radiation”, says physiologist José Guilherme Chaui-Berlinck, from USP.
The losses occur mainly due to the temperature difference in relation to the environment. When the thermometers mark between 22 or 24 ºC, the loss of heat practically equals the heat generated by the metabolism, explains the physiologist.
On a very sunny day, with the thermometers hovering around 30ºC, this balance ends. Although our internal temperature is still higher, we lose less energy to the environment.
Result: the body triggers some mechanisms to increase this loss, such as sweat production and a reduction in the rate of metabolism. All to prevent heat from accumulating internally, which could lead the body temperature to exceed the healthy 37ºC.