Heat loss from extremities
I have a rather peculiar and random question about heat loss during cold weather.
The head, the hands and the feet all emanate a great quantity of heat and are important regulators in mantaing optimal body temperaure. In cold weather, vasoconstriction occurs in the extremities in order to save heat; also, sometimes there appears the cold induced vasodilatation (CVID) effect.
My question is if the legs recieve more bloodflow than the hands when walking, shouldn't the toes also have a slightly higher temperature than the fingers from the hand? Or is the adrenal vasoconstriction preventing this from happening?
P.S: I couldn't find any study that measured this absurd effect.
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The arteries and veins act as a counter current heat exchange system so the veins extract heat from the arteries as blood flow returns to the heart. The further the distance from the heart the blood has to travel the more the heat is lost to the venous system running parallel to the arteries. This is why the feet are colder than the hands.
www.biology-pages.info/H/HeatTransport.html
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