I don't have the link for this article from The Guardian, as a friend clink-n-dragged it into an email, but it is mildly interesting. It's not going to stop me from wearing a hat or anything...
B
p.s. I'm actually more interested in the "five other myths" they claim to have dispelled!
# # #
Scientists debunk the myth that you lose most heat through your
head
Ian Sample, science correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2008
If as much as 45 percent of body heat were lost through your head,
going out without a hat would feel like going out without trousers.
When it comes to wrapping up on a cold winter's day, a cosy hat is
obligatory. After all, most of our body heat is lost through our
heads--or so we are led to believe.
Closer inspection of heat loss in the hatless, however, reveals the
claim to be nonsense, say scientists who have dispelled this and five
other modern myths.
They traced the origins of the hat-wearing advice back to a US army
survival manual from 1970 which strongly recommended covering the
head when it is cold, since "40 to 45 percent of body heat" is lost
from the head.
Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll, at the centre for health policy at
Indiana University in Indianapolis, rubbish the claim in the British
Medical Journal this week. If this were true, they say, humans would
be just as cold if they went without a hat as if they went without
trousers. "Patently, this is just not the case," they write.
The myth is thought to have arisen through a flawed interpretation of
a vaguely scientific experiment by the US military in the 1950s. In
those studies, volunteers were dressed in Arctic survival suits and
exposed to bitterly cold conditions. Because it was the only part of
their bodies left uncovered, most of their heat was lost through
their heads.
The face, head and chest are more sensitive to changes in temperature
than the rest of the body, making it feel as if covering them up does
more to prevent heat loss. In fact, covering one part of the body has
as much effect as covering any other. If the experiment had been
performed with people wearing only swimming trunks, they would have
lost no more than 10% of their body heat through their heads, the
scientists add.
B
p.s. I'm actually more interested in the "five other myths" they claim to have dispelled!
# # #
Scientists debunk the myth that you lose most heat through your
head
Ian Sample, science correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2008
If as much as 45 percent of body heat were lost through your head,
going out without a hat would feel like going out without trousers.
When it comes to wrapping up on a cold winter's day, a cosy hat is
obligatory. After all, most of our body heat is lost through our
heads--or so we are led to believe.
Closer inspection of heat loss in the hatless, however, reveals the
claim to be nonsense, say scientists who have dispelled this and five
other modern myths.
They traced the origins of the hat-wearing advice back to a US army
survival manual from 1970 which strongly recommended covering the
head when it is cold, since "40 to 45 percent of body heat" is lost
from the head.
Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll, at the centre for health policy at
Indiana University in Indianapolis, rubbish the claim in the British
Medical Journal this week. If this were true, they say, humans would
be just as cold if they went without a hat as if they went without
trousers. "Patently, this is just not the case," they write.
The myth is thought to have arisen through a flawed interpretation of
a vaguely scientific experiment by the US military in the 1950s. In
those studies, volunteers were dressed in Arctic survival suits and
exposed to bitterly cold conditions. Because it was the only part of
their bodies left uncovered, most of their heat was lost through
their heads.
The face, head and chest are more sensitive to changes in temperature
than the rest of the body, making it feel as if covering them up does
more to prevent heat loss. In fact, covering one part of the body has
as much effect as covering any other. If the experiment had been
performed with people wearing only swimming trunks, they would have
lost no more than 10% of their body heat through their heads, the
scientists add.
