Human adaptation to climatic conditions and the environment / Directory

The ability to adapt to the conditions of the natural environment is called adaptation. It is a complex social and biological process. Dramatic changes occur in the functionality and systems of the human body. In some cases, it is necessary to change behavior and habits. Finding himself in new circumstances, a person adapts and adapts to the changed environment. Adaptation can occur at the molecular or biocentric level. The ability to adapt is influenced by various factors. Depending on the complexity of natural conditions, the period of adaptation of the organism changes.

Human adaptation to the environment: what relates to natural conditions

Each country has certain natural conditions. The African continent is fundamentally different from European countries. Asia is the complete opposite of the countries of South or North America. Existing natural conditions include:

Features of the geographical location;
Climatic conditions;
The nature of inland waters;
Type of soil and terrain;
Vegetation;
Representatives of the animal world.

The body undergoes two-way adaptation. He adapts to the environment on his own, while at the same time trying to make new conditions comfortable for his body. A person arranges a home, studies the population, and selects a suitable product. He can build a house that is familiar to him or purchase transport to move around a new area.

The process of adaptation of the body to weather and climatic conditions in a new area is called acclimatization. The main difference between acclimatization and adaptation is the absence of genetically fixed new properties in the body. This is a temporary process that occurs in the body forcibly and does not leave its mark on later life. After returning from a country where the weather conditions differed from the natural conditions at home, the acquired skills are gradually forgotten. The next time you travel to another continent, you will go through the acclimatization process again.

Adaptations to the environment

Illumination. In plants, these are separate groups that differ in their need for sunlight. Light-loving heliophytes live well in open spaces. In contrast to them are sciophytes: plants of forest thickets that feel good in shaded places. Among animals there are also individuals whose physiological adaptation is designed for an active lifestyle at night or underground.
Air temperature. On average, for all living things, including humans, the optimal temperature environment is considered to be from 0 to 50 °C. However, there is life in almost all climatic regions of the Earth.

Contrasting examples of adaptation to abnormal temperatures are described below.

Arctic fish do not freeze thanks to the production of a unique antifreeze protein in the blood, which prevents the blood from freezing.

The simplest microorganisms have been found in hydrothermal vents, where the water temperature exceeds boiling degrees.

Hydrophyte plants, that is, those that live in or near water, die even with a slight loss of moisture. Xerophytes, on the contrary, are adapted to live in arid regions and die in high humidity. Among animals, nature has also worked to adapt to aquatic and non-aquatic environments.

What are complex natural conditions: human adaptation to climatic conditions

Difficult weather conditions are those that differ sharply from the standard climate. Let's look at a few examples:

Southern countries with a hot climate. Body temperature turns out to be lower than air temperature. This condition is difficult for an unaccustomed body to tolerate. Heat transfer is complicated, metabolism changes, breathing and blood circulation are disrupted. The person becomes apathetic and feels constant fatigue. The higher the humidity in the air, the faster the body adapts. An unaccustomed person goes through the longest period of adaptation when he finds himself in a tropical forest area. There is no wind, high levels of humidity and heat can trigger heat cramps, exhaustion, and stroke. Water and salt regimes, suitable clothing, and room cooling help speed up adaptation.
Mountain climate. The natural type of climate is characterized by a number of features. Low atmospheric pressure and temperature, intense solar radiation, high level of ionization. The mountain air is filled with oxygen. Hemoglobin increases in the body, the hematopoietic system is irritated, and the minute volume of the heart muscle increases. Hyperventilation occurs. Possible development of altitude sickness. It is extremely difficult for older people to endure the difficult natural conditions of a mountain climate. It will take at least a week to adapt.
Subarctic and arctic climate. The development of light starvation, magnetic disturbance, and magnetic storms may predominate here. From a medical point of view, these natural conditions are the most difficult. It can take more than one year for a healthy body to fully acclimatize.

Physiological adaptation in examples

A person is able to adapt to almost anything. An example is light adaptation - being in bright light for a long time, the eyes reduce sensitivity to light sources, while if you spend a long time in the dark, the effect will be the opposite.

Experiments with heights played the greatest role in the study of the mechanism of human adaptation. Ascent to high altitude causes complex changes, but the most noticeable is hypoxia with reduced barometric pressure. Gradually, dizziness, shortness of breath, various visual and auditory disturbances, common for patients with altitude sickness, begin to appear. However, due to physiological adaptation, these symptoms gradually decline.

A person adapts to the following conditions:

first, the number of red blood cells increases (up to 8 million per 1 mm);
there is an improvement in the functioning of hemoglobin - it binds oxygen better;
ventilation becomes stronger;
general improvements in the nervous system and heart are noted.

The changes affect absolutely everything, from the subcellular level to the entire organism.

Human physiological adaptation can be trained. In this case it proceeds much faster.

For example, hardening allows the body to quickly adapt to light and temperature stimuli. In fact, with regular and prolonged exposure to extreme stimuli, it is possible to expand the capabilities of the human body.

Examples of human adaptation to climatic conditions

All people are dependent on climatic conditions. During life, the body gets used to a certain environment, so even in the hottest or frostiest countries, the population lives as usual. A few examples of how people adapt to harsh climates:

Peoples living in countries with bright sunshine and hot climates are black or dark-skinned. Residents of cold regions have fair skin;
Characteristic clothing helps protect the body from difficult weather conditions. Many of them become traditional - the national costume of the inhabitants of the north or the outfits of Africans;
Flared nostrils in people with dark skin;
Asian eye shape.

In any case, each person goes through a certain adaptation period, moving temporarily or for permanent residence to another region. Depending on the conditions, there are different adaptation methods:

In the Arctic, special fur overalls are used to protect against the cold;
In temperate climates, people build houses from wood to avoid cold winters and hot summers;
In tropical regions with sandstorms, people wear long capes made of light fabrics. Nomads use goat skins to build housing;
In areas with an equatorial climate, people live in huts built from branches and leaves. This protects from the scorching sun.

Behavioral (psychological) adaptations

Examples of human adaptation are more related to the psychological factor. Behavioral characteristics are common to flora and fauna. Thus, in the process of evolution, changes in temperature conditions cause some animals to hibernate, birds to fly south to return in the spring, trees to shed their leaves and slow down the movement of sap. The instinct to choose the most suitable partner for procreation drives the behavior of animals during the mating season. Some northern frogs and turtles freeze completely during the winter and thaw and come to life when the weather gets warmer.

Adaptation and correction as categories of special psychology

Adaptation in a broader sense in psychology is the adaptation of a person to his environment.

Adjustment is a person’s adaptive actions, which represent internal changes in a person and are aimed at restoring the disturbed balance between a person and the environment, as a result of changes occurring in the environment.

Human adaptation has two aspects:

Biological (adaptation of the body);
Psychological - adaptation of a person as an individual to existence in society (micro- and macrosocial environment) in accordance with the needs of society and one’s own needs, motives and interests.

The specificity of adaptation processes in developmental disorders is characterized by:

Deficiency of certain functional systems due to organic damage to the analyzers or the central nervous system;
manifestations of some general patterns of impaired mental development - the greatest influence on the adaptation process is exerted by:

a) difficulties in interacting with people in the environment; And

b) slower rates of assimilation and processing of information.

Features of adaptation of sensory organs whose functions are partially impaired.

Adaptation processes in children with developmental disorders proceed more slowly, and the state of maladaptation occurs more easily than in normally developed children.

Reducing adaptation difficulties and bringing the mental development of abnormal children closer to a normal state (normalization) is achieved through correction and compensation of developmental disorders.

Correction in the modern sense is overcoming or mitigating deficiencies in mental and physical development through various psychological and educational influences.

Amendments are measures aimed at correcting violations of various aspects of mental function.

In Russian defectology, the term “correction” (pedagogical correction) was first used by V.P. Kashchenko in relation to children with behavioral disorders. It was then extended to mentally retarded children. Today, the correctional orientation of pedagogy is considered one of the basic principles of work in all special educational institutions.

Psychologists and teachers (Italian teacher M. Montessori (1870-1952), Belgian teacher Decroli (1871-1933), Russian teacher A.N. Grabarov (1885-1949), G.M. Dulnev) developed systems of therapeutic and pedagogical work with developmentally delayed and mentally ill children.

Including programs:

1) Sensorimotor correction:

Sensory development (enrichment of sensory experience);
Motor development

2) studying the native language and mastering speech;

3) study of general education subjects;

4) special lessons on instilling a culture of behavior,

5) scientific work, 6) games, 7) drawing, singing, 9) movements, Þ formation of sensory culture; Þ formation of a culture of action 10) Development of memory processes

11) Formation of mental activity (sensorimotor, speech, general education subjects, etc. contribute to the development of thinking);

As noted by L.S. Vygotsky, correction is most successful in relation to secondary deficits, while primary deficits can only be slightly reduced due to corrective (psychological and pedagogical) influences.

Phenomena of the human body

A person has a huge reserve of safety inherent in nature, which is used in everyday life only to a small extent. It manifests itself in extreme situations and is perceived as a miracle. In fact, the miracle lies within us. Example of adaptation: the ability of people to adapt to normal life after the removal of a significant part of their internal organs.

Natural innate immunity throughout life can be strengthened by a number of factors or, conversely, weakened due to an incorrect lifestyle. Unfortunately, addiction to bad habits is also a difference between humans and other living organisms.

Adaptation as a social phenomenon

Social adaptation is not only a state of the individual, but also a process in which a social organism acquires balance and resistance to the influence and influence of the social environment. Social adaptation becomes especially relevant at critical stages of a person’s life and during periods of radical economic and social reforms.

Social adaptation is understood as the process of a person’s active adaptation to new social conditions of life. In the process of adaptation, a person acts as an object of influence from the social environment and as an active subject aware of the influence of this environment.

The adaptation process represents a wide polyphony of assimilation of social values through socialization mechanisms. Man, as an active subject, studies and uses in his life the products of human civilization, which include managerial, economic, psychological, educational technologies and methods of developing social space. In fact, all elements of human culture are involved in the formation of personality through the mechanism of adaptation, which is an integral part and a necessary dominant of social development. Sociality is an important aspect of a person, his qualitative characteristic. The only exceptions are mentally ill people or those who have not gone through the stages of socialization since childhood (“Mowgli effect “1”).

The immediate impetus for the beginning of the process of social adaptation is usually the realization by a person or a social group that the behavioral stereotypes learned in previous social activities no longer ensure success and that it becomes important to rebuild behavior in accordance with the requirements of new social conditions or a new social environment for the adapting person .

As a rule, there are four stages of a person’s adaptation to a new social environment: 1) The initial stage, when an individual or group realizes how they should behave in a new social environment, but are not yet ready to recognize and accept the value system of the new environment and tend to adhere to the previous system values; 2) The stage of tolerance, when the individual or group and the new environment are mutually tolerant of each other’s value systems and behavioral patterns; 3) Accommodation, i.e. recognition and acceptance by the individual of the basic elements of the value system of the new environment, with simultaneous recognition by the new social environment of part of the values of the individual, group 4) Assimilation, i.e. full coordination of the value systems of the individual, group and environment.

The intensity of adaptation processes in society largely depends on the stage of its development. In times of serious social changes, and even more so in times of social catastrophes, adaptation processes acquire particular intensity and affect almost all layers of society. The example of post-Soviet society clearly shows that almost every person must solve the problem of adapting to new social conditions, defining and recognizing a new position in society, and this process is not always equally successful. In addition, it should be noted that with the acceleration of social development, the intensity of adaptation processes in society as a whole increases. This leads to the fact that the processes of social adaptation become almost continuous in an evolutionarily developing society, and the ability to adapt to changes becomes vital not only for young people, but also for older generations. Readiness for change becomes one of the main conditions for a person’s success in life. As a result, the role of purposeful activities of state and public organizations, the role of education and applied science in the implementation of social adaptation processes in modern society is significantly increasing. Society, through a system of institutions and targeted programs, pays special attention to facilitating the processes of social adaptation of its members, whose ability to independently adapt to changes is limited. Thus, in many countries, programs for the social adaptation of disabled people, retired military personnel in the event of massive reductions in the army, migrants, released prisoners, etc. are being developed and implemented. Programs to promote the social adaptation of youth are no less important in a modern transitional society.

A distinction should be made between adaptation as a process and adaptability as a result of the process of social adaptation. There are subjective and objective adjustment criteria. Objective is the degree to which a person implements the norms and rules of life accepted in a particular social group. The subject is satisfaction with belonging to a certain social group, the conditions that are provided for the satisfaction and development of basic social needs.