Human adaptation to climatic conditions and the environment

An important human ability in all centuries has been adaptation. To survive, to get used to something new, to learn something, a person must adapt. There are types of adaptation that depend on the factors of their formation. The very concept of adaptation is relevant today in the light of an ever-changing world.

Man has always been forced to adapt. To catch a mammoth, he needed to create weapons and develop a hunting strategy. To survive in cold or hot conditions, he had to create certain means of protecting his body. Modern man, for example, needs to constantly adapt to new laws or rules of society. And if a person leaves for another country, then adaptation is considered an important element in the process of organizing a new life.

Adaptation is the main stage that allows a person to quickly get used to it and develop habits, according to the online magazine psytheater.com. We can say that even in the process of growing up and living, a person is constantly forced to adapt. This concept should be associated with terms such as change and flexibility. A person must change himself in order to adapt. At the same time, he must flexibly perceive surrounding circumstances in order to undergo the adaptation process favorably for himself.

What is adaptation?

What does the concept of adaptation mean? This is a person's adaptation to the environment. This is done at one of or at all levels at once:

• Physiological.
• Behavioral.
• Genetic.
• Personal.

This looks like a person changing his behavior in accordance with surrounding circumstances. The individual strives to maintain harmony in the conditions of the environment to which he adapts, plus the people who are in it and also adapt to it.

1. Adaptation is the ability of an organism to maintain constant characteristics in changing environmental conditions.
2. Adaptation is the process of getting used to changing circumstances in the environment.

Man as a social being undergoes adaptation at three levels: physiological, psychological and social. Sometimes they influence each other, and sometimes they are not reflected.

Many people talk about adaptability to life. Successful people are proud of this quality. In the literature, you can increasingly read about various kinds of people adapted to life. But what is meant by this phrase?

To answer this question, we should turn to a life example that clearly demonstrates the phenomenon of adaptability to life. Many people may notice that students who studied excellently in schools and universities occupy lower levels of professions than those who were famous for being “low students” during their school years. Cases when once beautiful women suddenly turned into “gray mice”, and successful men into poor people are no exception. Why is this happening? Why do some continue to maintain their status or develop, while others, on the contrary, degrade and fall from their pedestal as kings?

Everything is quite simple. The life of any person is divided into periods: infancy, childhood, school years, adolescence, student life, growing up, etc. Periods can also consist of life events: marriage, birth of a child, new acquaintances, change of place of work, separation from a loved one or starting a new love relationship. By periods we can understand everything that affects the way of life to a greater or lesser extent. Some periods are easily perceived by the individual, while others are difficult. For example, the death of a loved one is more difficult to bear than meeting a new partner whom you will see only once in your life.

So, every period that changes a person’s habitual way of life affects him. It is at this very moment, when a person’s life changes in the slightest way, that changes occur in his personality: he can remain the same, begin to develop, or, conversely, degrade. Simply put, the past lifestyle (period) helped a person to be successful and beautiful, and the new period does not correspond to the person’s usual actions. Everything that worked before has ceased to work, and if a person is unable to change his habits in accordance with changed circumstances, then he turns into a failure.

Many can attribute this to the following factor: previously a person had a goal for which he did something and developed, but when the goal was achieved, a new goal did not appear. Therefore, the person has lost his former ardor, activity or success. Added to all this is the loss of activity of a person who previously was constantly doing something and was passionate about something, but now, due to new circumstances, has become passive, not interested in anything.

This is why some “A” students work for “B” students when they become adults; This is why former businessmen cannot always start a new business; that’s why some former beauties become boring and “gray”, etc. Their lives have changed (they are no longer in school; there is no more business; the woman has reached marriage) and has moved to a new stage of its formation. But the people themselves were not ready for such changes: they did not set new goals for themselves that would lead them to new growth, and they also stopped being active.

What may have come to the fore is depression from the loss of former glory, the opinions of people around him rather than one’s own, the desire to achieve something, fight one’s own laziness and live in accordance with one’s desires. Periods of life constantly replace each other, but a person is ready for only some periods (and then he becomes a King), and not for others (then he becomes an unhappy and unlucky person).

In order not to “fall from the peak” that you have climbed in the future, you should understand that life will not always be stable and constant. You need to be flexible and adaptable to change. The normal course of life will change, but you can set new goals for yourself that will contain everything that is important to you and what you still want to achieve, and also be active in their implementation. Remember, only you can raise yourself up or bring yourself down. Do not succumb to factors that may deprive you of the necessary qualities and abilities. Adapt to life: take care of what you have, set new goals and actively achieve them.

Adaptation often becomes necessary during the period of achieving a goal. This is where barriers and difficulties arise. These are the very external circumstances to which you need to adapt. In what ways?

• Gain new knowledge.
• Set a clear goal.
• Adequately assess the situation.
• Make your actions such that the barrier is removed.

Adaptation mechanisms are:

1. Social intelligence is the perception of relationships and connections between objects.
2. Social imagination - creating experience by being aware of oneself, one's own capabilities and resources, placing oneself in current circumstances and predetermining the future.

Defense mechanisms during adaptation are:

1. Denial is ignoring the traumatic and unpleasant.
2. Regression is a manifestation of infantile behavior.
3. Repression is the erasing of unpleasant memories from memory.
4. Formation of a reaction is a change in emotional states and irrational impulses to the opposite.
5. Suppression is the same as repression, only conscious.
6. Projection is the endowment of others with qualities that a person himself possesses, but is not aware of them.
7. Rationalization is an attempt to interpret an event in such a way as to alleviate the traumatic element.
8. Identification is the attribution to oneself of the qualities of another real or fictitious person.
9. Humor – reducing emotional tension through funny stories.
10. Sublimation is the transformation of instincts into socially acceptable forms of behavior.

Emotions are a regulator of how well a person adapts. Successful adaptation is a feeling of physical and mental balance in the external environment. In this case, a person experiences balanced and calm emotions.

Adaptation factors

A person has to adapt to many factors, some of them are natural, others are artificially created:

• Natural factors: wildlife, climatic factors, natural disasters.
• Material environment: surrounding objects, cars, equipment and other artificial elements, work, home.
• Social environment: state, ethnic group, people.

Adaptability is the ability of a person to adapt to new conditions. Everyone gets used to the same conditions at different paces. Some adapt quickly, others more slowly. This is influenced by two factors:

1. Subjective. Include physiology, age and psyche of a person. The psychological factor includes a person’s ability to perceive, react emotionally to situations, practically take actions and motivate himself.
2. Environmental. They include the environment in which a person lives: home, people, work, hobbies, economy, etc.

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.

Types of adaptation

The adaptation includes:

• Biological adaptation. This is the path of evolution. The human body changes in accordance with the environment where it lives. If the body cannot adapt, then it gets sick.
• Social adaptation. It is the habituation of a person to social routines in order to be able to achieve personal goals. Adaptation can be expressed in various forms - from complete adaptation to reluctance to work or communicate with someone. In this case, a person usually adapts passively. However, the active (conscious, intentional) form of adaptation is considered more acceptable and effective.
• Ethnic adaptation. Adaptation of a person to the society in which he lives.
• Psychological adaptation. This is a person’s adaptation in character, behavior, worldview, values, which will cause harmonious and calm feelings in the world around him.

Unacceptable forms of adaptation are:

1. Deviant behavior is antisocial, directed against society, against its rules and laws.
2. Pathological behavior is neurotic and mental disorders.

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.

Bottom line

A person is always forced to adapt at different levels of his life. First, a person adapts physiologically, getting used to control of his body, then to the surrounding nature. Social adaptation begins at the moment when parents begin raising a child. At the same time, psychological adaptation occurs when a person develops character traits that will help him feel harmonious in existing conditions.

Adaptation does not always imply exclusively effective and successful, acceptable behavior. You can adapt by developing an illness or bad behavior, which also helps you achieve your goals more quickly under existing conditions.

Let's summarize

Onboarding should not be viewed as a process of learning a new job. It involves immersing an employee in a new environment, understanding the rules of behavior, interacting in a team, accepting corporate norms, and establishing relationships with colleagues and partners.

The adaptation process is mutual: the organization evaluates the employee, and the employee evaluates the organization. A lot of time is spent searching for a suitable specialist, especially a highly qualified one, so every employer is interested in ensuring that the employee starts working with maximum efficiency and benefit as quickly as possible.

Adaptation of new employees can go in different ways: somewhere a newcomer is thrown into the thick of things, hoping that he will figure it out on his own; somewhere they are treated with care so that the stress experienced by the employee is minimal.

It is important to understand that the duration of adaptation does not coincide with the duration of the probationary period; it can take up to four months or more. A developed adaptation plan, the assignment of a mentor, and a system of training and corporate education will help speed it up.