| Re: Officials Confirm Two West Nile Virus Cases in Lewisv... |
Poster: Runfellow Posted: 2012/7/19 15:12:02 Many outdoor workers are required to wear long sleeves and pants due to OSHA Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) regulations. Practically speaking, their need for proper PPE is going to be more important than their heat regulations. If you have to choose between the lesser of two evils, workplace-specific safety is going to be more important than heat. But for the general population, that's not practical. Yes, clothing can protect your skin from (certain kinds of) long-term sun damage (though short-term sunburn doesn't really affect anything that negatively), but physiologically, more protective clothing reduces tolerance for heat (PDF) and it's even worse for females. I spend many hours outside during the summer. I've been sunburned many times, but I've also experienced heat stroke, and I would gladly take the worst sunburn over that any day. I don't really get the cold versus heat thing... I'm fairly sure people aren't typically affected by cold weather in Texas in summer. It's all a matter of practical application. Since more clothing reduces the ability of your body to regulate core temperature, and since that leads to a lot of bad things, it just makes no sense to advocate that the general population wear excessive clothing because of dubious claims that it will somehow reduce your likelihood of getting West Nile. -BC |