Environment and performance: effect of exercising in the heat

Environmental factors can profoundly affect health and performance of athletes, failure to consider these effect can lead to serious problems, even death. The body's temperature regulating mechanism consists of hypothalamus, heat and cold receptors, muscles and nervous system. Individual differences in body fat, number of sweat glands, fitness level, and possibly gender may influence to response heat. Exercising heat and the humidity is high and evaporation cannot take place, heat is stored, body temperature rises, and performance is severely impaired, due to this alarming rise in body temperature called hyperthermia. To recover this stage, fluid replacement is important. Regular practice in heat environment athlete can acclimatize the condition and improve circulatory and cooling efficiency, most of the process occurs after 5 to 10 days of work in a hot environment. Highly fit people become acclimatized in 4 to 5 days. The problems related with heat environment and solutions range from improving fitness and acclimatization to hydration and energy with the demands of sports. Fitness, although especially important in the heat, improves performance in all environments.