Class #5, 2010

Let's talk about Humidity.

The other day one of the teachers said, "My sensor said humidity was 30%...it started to rain, and I looked down a minute later and it was 50%!" Welcome to Seattle in wintertime, folks.

So yesterday I taught the 8 a.m. and the temp was a little low, but the humidity was toward 50% - so the heat index, the "feels like" temperature, was definitely where it needed to be. I decided to stay for the 10 a.m., well, I had already decided, but I decided again.

Humidity is evil. I think we all know that. I'm all for a 105 degree, 40% humidity class - or it's equivalent. Today was brutal. The very, very seasoned instructor did all he could to manage it - fans on probably for the half the class, on high, and hardly making a difference. At one point, he said, "In case you didn't know, my sensor indicates the humidity is out of control in here." Thanks for the newsflash (I actually said that to him :) and then later, he said, "How high does the humidity have to get for it to rain in here?" Another student replied, "Uh, 100%." We would've normally laughed, but who had the energy or wherewithal for that?

I posted something about this to my facebook to which my darling baby sister, a self-admitted geek, responded with a link to Wikipedia's entry on Humidity - I prompted read the segment titled, "Effects of Humidity" Here is an excerpt:

Effects on human body

The human body sheds heat by a combination of evaporation of perspiration, heat convection in the surrounding air, and thermal radiation. Under conditions of high humidity, the evaporation of sweat from the skin is decreased and the body's efforts to maintain an acceptable body temperature may be significantly impaired. Also, if the atmosphere is as warm as or warmer than the skin during times of high humidity, blood brought to the body surface cannot shed heat by conduction to the air, and a condition called hyperpyrexia results. With so much blood going to the external surface of the body, relatively less goes to the active muscles, the brain, and other internal organs. Physical strength declines and fatigue occurs sooner than it would otherwise. Alertness and mental capacity also may be affected. This resulting condition is called heat stroke or hypothermia.

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Yeah, what they said.

So the deal is, here we are in a class meant to flood our organs, glands and muscles with loads of oxygen rich blood and fluids, but at a certain point, it's physically impossible for that to happen. Trusting that our teachers are on our sides (they are, I believe that), it's then our jobs to monitor ourselves. Hard to do...ego, ego, ego...but in this case, I was losing my mind. I kept seeing spots (blacking out just a wee bit is good for you, right?) and could hardly organize myself, at times, to get in and out of postures. But, with the help of another teacher next to me who kindly mouthed swear words back and forth with me as an outlet, we got'er done. Brutal. But I got to see a little more of what I'm made of, and also, got a (yet another) reminder to take it down a notch, especially if the teacher is telling us to. Duh.