Where Does the Majority of Your Body Heat Escape?

Where Does the Body Lose Heat?

Where do you lose most of your body heat? Well, the answer is head. You lose most of the heat through the head.

This was most likely taken from an old U.S. Army Field Manual from the 1950’s based on arctic survival research when military researchers exposed subjects to frigid temperatures. The problem with the study is that while the research was performed on subjects wearing cold-weather gear, they were not wearing hats. Naturally, in circumstances like this, body heat will escape from whatever area is exposed – in this case, the subjects uncovered heads.

Then later in 2006, scientists began to reopen the question. They tested subjects in cold water with and without wetsuits, sometimes with their heads out of the water and sometimes with their heads submerged.

How Much Heat Do You Lose through Your Head?

Researchers found that the head accounts for about 7 percent of the body’s surface area, and the heat loss is fairly proportional to the amount of skin that’s showing.

According to a report in 2008 in BMJ, a person loses 7 percent to 10 percent of their body heat through their head.

Scientist on Heat Loss through Head

Dr. Daniel I. Sessler, an anesthesiologist, and expert on hypothermia at the University of Louisville medical school said, “The popular myth stemmed from military experiments conducted five decades ago. In those studies, he said, researchers dressed subjects in Arctic survival suits and exposed them to frigid conditions. But the suits only covered the subjects from the neck down, he said, so naturally, most of their body heat escapes through their heads”.