It should be known that from history humans walked about naked, then they started using leaves and skin of animals as a cover and to protect their bodies. Today humans have evolved to a more sophisticated mode of dressing and fashion in its entirety is one of the most lucrative economic activities today. Although there are still some interior parts in the world where indigenous people still move about with very little clothing, they just have what they can cover their midsection both women and men. Besides looking beautiful, eloquent, the most essential need for clothing is to protect us from harsh weather conditions; the reason why our mode of dressing differ from season to season, activity to activity and from area to area considering our varied climatic conditions.
I am not a medical expert but from my observation many particularly females dress today more preoccupied to look sexy even in unfavourable climatic conditions as such they dress up in more revealing outfits. I even noticed that in real and deep cold winter weather some people dress so light with just a sleeveless top or shorts while others have on thick clothing and still do not seem to overcome the cold temperature, and then I wonder what those moving about clad in light clothes are made of.
Medical reports hold that exposure to the cold does affect the number of winter deaths‚ but it is very unusual for the cold to kill people directly. In the main these deaths are from respiratory or cardio-vascular ailments. Overall deaths are from heart attacks‚ strokes‚ bronchial and other conditions‚ and may often occur several days after exposure to the cold.
Children and old people are particularly vulnerable or susceptible and there are many cold related illnesses like - common cold, influenza, asthma exacerbation, bronchiolitis, croup, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis, postnasal drip, sinusitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis. I will however leave the medical details to Experts, but will love to share my notion about dressing and outcomes.
Even in Cameroon some areas can be really cold especially in the North West and Western part of Cameroon. I lived in Buea town by the foot of mount Fako or Cameroon rising to 4,040 metres (13,255 ft) above the coast of west Cameroon, known as the South West Region today. Many people understand Africa generally is very hot and so did these Volunteers for my sister’s NGO from the US. In fact the lady was really surprised when she developed a cold and stayed in bed all day; my mom had to provide her with a sweater and she took some medications.
For my interaction with some people, I noticed they have a misconception about outfits. For instance, some people associate all long sleeves clothing as only what we can dress up with in cold weather only but that should not be so. The material is more the determinant aspect here. Light materials like cotton, polyester, silk are suitable for hot weathers whether long or short sleeves while heavy linens like wool, leather short or long sleeve are more convenient for cold temperatures. Colours of linens equally are an important factor to consider as part of our dressing. Darker colours like black, grey are known to activate intensive body heat during very hot weather because they absorb and retain a lot of heat, the reason why it is advisable to dress in lighter and brighter colours during hot temperatures.
It is important to note that normal human body temperature, also known as normothermia or euthermia, is a concept that depends upon the place in the body at which the measurement is made, and the time of day and level of activity of the body hence, the human body temperature vary with age, level of activity, size or weight, and fluctuates with the time of the day with the lowest levels around 4 a.m. and the highest in the late afternoon, between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. Temperature is increased after eating, and psychological factors also influence body temperature.
Even so, women approaching menopause also experience hot flushes and night sweats characterised by feelings of heat that spread to the chest, neck, face or even the whole body and may be accompanied by sweating, nausea, heart palpitations, and flushed skin. Being around such people they will always have the tendency to turn the cooling temperature higher than normal. What is important is that we should understand our bodies and protect it accordingly, we should not copy from others by trying to avoid keeping warm when we are indeed cold because we see others having lighter garments on. As a matter of fact, when we travel or migrate to colder places than where we resided originally, it is advisable for us not to try to dress up like the people because the inhabitants are accustomed to their climatic condition and we are bound to suffer immensely from the impact of this climate change particularly if we are not conscious.
Children for instance develop higher temperatures with activities like playing, but this is not fever because their set-point is normal. Elderly patients may have a decreased ability to generate body heat during a fever, so even a low-grade fever can have serious underlying causes in geriatrics. Normal body temperature may differ as much as 1.0 °F between individuals or from day to day. With this in mind, we should not dress our children especially babies with very little or very light clothing because we as adults experience higher temperature levels. This has led many children to suffer constantly from common colds like cough which is usually accompanied by running nostrils. Medically, Cough is regarded as a bothersome symptom many children with upper respiratory tract infections (URI) experience. It is also a troubling symptom because it adversely affects sleep for both the child and the parents. Parents often have anxiety about their child's cough; concerns range from fear of the child dying, it is therefore necessary to always keep our children warm.
Reading about ozone layer depletion, I also got to understand the dangers of Ultra Violet Rays known as UVs. Actually the sun is a flaming star full of burning hot gases. Its heat makes life on earth possible but along with its warmth are deathly UVs which harm all life on our planet- people, animals and plants thus we must protect ourselves from the dangers of UVs.
Summer is fast approaching and I guess we are all eager and excited to enjoy as much sunshine as we can but please we should protect our skin with clothes which cover our arms and legs especially those whose jobs exposes them to direct sunlight. We should wear hats to cover our heads and sunglasses to protect our eyes. This is due to the fact that UVs may not only burn but also wrinkle our skin causing one to look old. They also cause cataract in eyes which can lead to blindness, weaken ones body resistance to diseases causing one to get sick easily. Children are in particular danger because UVs damage could result to cancer later. We should therefore always avoid the sun when it is high up in the sky by staying in the shade and use sunscreen lotions if we can afford it.
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