The Benefits of Heat Acclimation: Training Your Body to Handle the Heat

Global warming makes outdoor activities quite challenging, especially sports. Moreover, our bodies only have a small tolerance for increasing body heat. An increase in core temperature of 3°C can even be life threatening, even for healthy young people.

There are several things we can do to prevent a spike in body temperature when we are actively moving in the heat. A number strategy precooling or cool down before activities can help. Most of the time the method is to drink very cold drinks (eg ice slurry or ice slurry before exercising.

However, “training” your body to be stronger in the heat is the best way.

Hot training strategies are very important to maintain athlete endurance. Athletes who implement simple health protocols before competing in the heat on average have better performance. They are also at less risk of needing medical attention due to heat-related injuries.

In the midst of a warming environment, perhaps it is time for us to consider heat training or hot workouts for non-athletes, especially people who work outdoors.

Heat acclimation exercisesheat acclimation) is often done by athletes. Actually this exercise was first made for underground gold mine workers in the 1940s. They are often exposed to ambient temperatures above 50°C with almost 100% humidity.

How heat acclimation is beneficial

Athletes who implement a simple heat acclimatization protocol before competing in hot weather on average perform better and are less likely to require medical attention for heat-related injuries. (Shutterstock)

Studies continue to examine the benefits of acclimation or our adjustment to hot weather. In fact, this technique—known as heat therapy or heat therapy not only regarding heat tolerance, but also regarding improving cardiovascular health.

To increase our tolerance for heat, the benefits are quite simple:

Heat therapy can reduce resting body temperature (body temperature when we are at rest), thus providing greater reserves as our core temperature rises before heat problems occur.

Increases the rate of sweating, which optimizes the potential for heat loss through evaporation, thereby reducing the rise in our body temperature.

Increases our plasma volume (the liquid part of the blood), which reduces cardiovascular stress due to increased core temperature, while increasing plasma reserves to control sweat rate (sweat comes from plasma).

In addition to the three factors above, our perception of heat comfort can also improve. There are also other benefits from increasing heat tolerance, such as maintaining salt content, metabolism, and anti-inflammatory effectsbut the three benefits above are the most important.

Heat acclimation method

There is a subtle difference between heat acclimation and heat acclimation.

Acclimatization takes place naturally over a longer time. Meanwhile, acclimation is an ‘artificial’ method or done for a specific purpose in a shorter time. Although both can increase our heat tolerance, they are not the same.

Training the body to handle the heat may be the best way for outdoor workers and athletes to beat heat waves. (Shutterstock)

Heat acclimatization, and in certain cases, can occur naturally in people who are continuously exposed to hot and humid environments. However, for those who live in humid continental environments (including the most populous areas above the 40th parallel–such as New York, parts of Central Europe, and Beijing), or for those accustomed to using air conditioning in the summer, natural heat acclimatization rarely happening. They require special efforts.

The degree of heat adaptation also depends on the duration, intensity and frequency of heat exposure.

The gold standard for heat acclimation is usually related to controlling the increase in our core body temperature by around 1-2°C for at least an hour. This process is carried out for a minimum of five consecutive days, or over a two-week period with a rest period of several days.

The greatest adjustments will occur in the first days of acclimation. After that, acclimation will provide the maximum effect for about two weeks, then additional benefits will be added after that.

Unfortunately, the benefits of acclimation to increase our heat tolerance don’t last forever.

Most of these benefits will last about a week after the last heat exposure. After that, around 75% of the benefits will be lost if we are not exposed to any heat for three weeks.

Fortunately, we can repeat the heat acclimation and the process will be less severe. We can also reach a “stable state” of heat acclimation if we continue to be exposed to hot weather at least three times a week.

Heat acclimation at home

You can still perform heat acclimation even if you don’t have access to a heating chamber or a thermistor (like an internal thermometer pill that can enter the body) to monitor core body temperature. All you need is a bathtub.

Recent studies states an effective (and practical) way for partial but useful acclimation is to soak in water at 40°C for 40 minutes after exercise, with moderate intensity for 40 minutes at room temperature.

Heat exposure is unavoidable for those who work or do outdoor activities. (Shutterstock)

The key is that we have to exercise hard enough so that our body temperature exceeds the sweat threshold. After that, we must immediately enter the bath.

According to the study’s authors: “A hot shower up to the neck, for up to 40 minutes, after regular exercise in temperate conditions, can be a practical and economical heat acclimation – eliminating the need for increased training load, access to environmental space or moving to a hot climate .”

However, strategies to avoid excessive heat exposure remain paramount, especially for those who are more susceptible to heat-related injuries, including the elderly and people with conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

But now, heat exposure is increasingly unavoidable, especially for those who work or do outdoor activities. Efforts to combine heat acclimation methods, along with common mitigation strategies — sheltering from direct sunlight and maintaining hydration — will make your body better protected against heat-related injuries.

2023-10-13 04:30:20
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