This article was inspired by an older woman that spoke at the Minneapolis Antlers Toastmasters Group on 7-20-2011. The woman went on to speak about how much care went into taking care of the horses in the cities when the heat index gets over 100 and the dew-point reaches 75 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. She went on to tell the group that most horses in the US can trace their blood lines back to Arctic horses. This means they can die if they get too hot, and it made me think how this relates to humans.

With that said, American’s are, for the most part, from the cooler parts of Europe, (Especially in my home state and place of business.) Before 1980 something like 91% of Minnesotans were of Norwegian, Swedish, French Canadian, Danish, and German decent. In recent years, with many immigrants from Africa, South East Asia and Mexico, this has changed drastically.

With the advent of Air Conditioning people from all backgrounds have been able to be comfortable in any climate. Much like horses, if our heritage is from a cold climate we are better suited to live in it and vice versa for a warmer climate. Caucasian get sunburnt, and people with darker complexions don’t usually have such a problem with this.

A way to show this is with this _________________. Prior to the 1950’s most American’s lived north of the Mason Dixon line. Once AC came there was a huge migration of people to southern states such as Arizona, Florida and California. Some of you may be having an ah-ha moment after reading that, (I know when the idea was first brought to me it made sense.)

In all, if you have sensitivity to heat or sun, it is likely because your ancestors didn’t have to deal with the extreme heat often. If you have sensitivity to cold, your ancestors probably lived in a tropical or arid climate and never saw snow.